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The Red Hat
"Once upon a time, high atop the world, there lived a boy named Billy Hightower and the wind. When a new neighbor appears--a girl in a red hat--Billy Hightower can hardly wait to meet her and introduce himself. But the wind has other ideas"--
40 pages, Hardcover
First published December 8, 2015
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 88 reviews
November 28, 2015
There is a story out there, and I don’t know if it is true, that the great children’s librarian Anne Carroll Moore had such a low opinion of children’s books that involved “gimmicks” (read: interactive elements of any sort) that upon encountering them she’d dismiss each and every one with a single word: Truck. If it was seen as below contempt, it was “truck”. Pat the Bunny, for example, was not to her taste, but it did usher in a new era of children’s literature. Books that, to this day, utilize different tricks to engage the interest of child readers. In the best of cases the art and the text of a picture book are supposed to be of the highest possible caliber. To paraphrase Walter de la Mare, only the rarest kind of best is good enough for our kids, yes? That said, not all picture books have to attempt to be works of great, grand literature and artistic merit. There are funny books and silly ones that do just as well. Take it a step even farther, and I’d say that the interactive elements that so horrified Ms. Moore back in the day have great potential to aid in storytelling. Though she would be (rightly) disgusted by books like Rainbow Fish that entice children through methods cheap and deeply unappealing, I fancy The Red Hat would have given her pause. After considering the book seriously, a person can’t dismiss it merely because it tends towards the shiny. Lovingly written and elegantly drawn, Teague and Portis flirt with transparent spot gloss, but it’s their storytelling and artistic choices that will keep their young readers riveted.
With a name like Billy Hightower, it’s little wonder that the boy in question lives “atop the world’s tallest building”. It’s a beautiful view, but a lonely one, so when a construction crew one day builds a tower across the way, the appearance of a girl in a red hat intrigues Billy. Desperate to connect with her, he attempts various methods of communication, only to be stumped by the wind at every turn. Shouting fails. Paper airplanes plummet. A kite dances just out of reach. Then Billy tries the boldest method of reaching the girl possible, only to find that he himself is snatched from her grasp. Fortunately a soft landing and a good old-fashioned elevator trump the wind at last. Curlicues of spot gloss evoke the whirly-twirly wind and all its tricksy ways.
Great Moments of Spot Gloss in Picture Book History: Um . . . hm. That’s a stumper. I’m not saying it’s never happened. I’m just saying that when I myself try to conjure up a book, any book, that’s ever used it to proper effect, I pull up a blank. Now what do I mean exactly when I say this book is using this kind of “gloss”? Well, it’s a subtle layer of shininess. Not glittery, or anything so tawdry as that. From cover to interior spreads, these spirals of gloss evoke the invisible wind. They’re lovely but clearly mischievous, tossing messages and teasing the ties of a hat. Look at the book a couple times and you notice that the only part of the book that does not contain this shiny wind is the final two-page image of our heroes. They’re outdoors but the wind has been defeated in the face of Billy’s persistence. If you feel a peace looking at the two kids eyeing one another, it may have less to do with what you see than what you don’t.
Naturally Antoinette Portis is to be credited here, though I don’t know if the idea of using the spot gloss necessarily originated with her. It is possible that the book’s editor tossed Portis the manuscript with the clear understanding that gloss would be the name of the game. That said, I felt like the illustrator was given a great deal of room to grow with this book. I remember back in the day when her books Not a Box and Not a Stick were the height of 32-page minimalism. She has such a strong sense of design, but even when she was doing books like Wait and the rather gloriously titled Princess Super Kitty her color scheme was standard. In The Red Hat all you have to look at are great swath of blue, the black and white of the characters, an occasional jab of gray, and the moments when red makes an appearance. There is always a little jolt of red (around Billy’s neck, on a street light, from a carpet, etc). It’s the red coupled with that blue that really makes the book pop. By all rights a red, white, and blue cover should strike you on some level as patriotic. Not the case here.
Not that the book is without flaw. For the most part I enjoyed the pacing of the story. I loved the fairytale element of Billy tossed high into the sky by a jealous wind. I loved the color scheme, the gloss, and the characters. What I did not love was a moment near the end of the book where pertinent text is completely obscured by its placement on the art. Billy has flown and landed from the sky. He’s on the ground below, the wind buffeting him like made. He enters the girl’s building and takes the elevator up. The story says, “At the elevator, he punched UP, and he knocked at the first door on the top floor.” We see him extending his hand to the girl, her hat clutched in the other. Then you turn the page and it just says, “The Beginning.” Wait, what? I had to go back and really check before I realized that there was a whole slew of text and dialogue hidden at the bottom of that previous spread. Against a speckled gray and white floor the black text is expertly camouflaged. I know that some designers cringe at the thought of suddenly interjecting a white text box around a selection of writing, but in this particular case I’m afraid it was almost a necessity. Either than or toning down the speckles to the lightest of light grays.
Aside from that, it’s sublime. A sweet story of friendship (possibly leading to more someday) from the top of the world. Do we really believe that Billy lives on the top of the highest building in the world? Billy apparently does, and that’s good enough for us. But even the tallest building can find its match. And even the loneliest of kids can, through sheer pig-headed persistence, make their voices heard. A windy, shiny book without a hint of bluster.
For ages 3-6.
With a name like Billy Hightower, it’s little wonder that the boy in question lives “atop the world’s tallest building”. It’s a beautiful view, but a lonely one, so when a construction crew one day builds a tower across the way, the appearance of a girl in a red hat intrigues Billy. Desperate to connect with her, he attempts various methods of communication, only to be stumped by the wind at every turn. Shouting fails. Paper airplanes plummet. A kite dances just out of reach. Then Billy tries the boldest method of reaching the girl possible, only to find that he himself is snatched from her grasp. Fortunately a soft landing and a good old-fashioned elevator trump the wind at last. Curlicues of spot gloss evoke the whirly-twirly wind and all its tricksy ways.
Great Moments of Spot Gloss in Picture Book History: Um . . . hm. That’s a stumper. I’m not saying it’s never happened. I’m just saying that when I myself try to conjure up a book, any book, that’s ever used it to proper effect, I pull up a blank. Now what do I mean exactly when I say this book is using this kind of “gloss”? Well, it’s a subtle layer of shininess. Not glittery, or anything so tawdry as that. From cover to interior spreads, these spirals of gloss evoke the invisible wind. They’re lovely but clearly mischievous, tossing messages and teasing the ties of a hat. Look at the book a couple times and you notice that the only part of the book that does not contain this shiny wind is the final two-page image of our heroes. They’re outdoors but the wind has been defeated in the face of Billy’s persistence. If you feel a peace looking at the two kids eyeing one another, it may have less to do with what you see than what you don’t.
Naturally Antoinette Portis is to be credited here, though I don’t know if the idea of using the spot gloss necessarily originated with her. It is possible that the book’s editor tossed Portis the manuscript with the clear understanding that gloss would be the name of the game. That said, I felt like the illustrator was given a great deal of room to grow with this book. I remember back in the day when her books Not a Box and Not a Stick were the height of 32-page minimalism. She has such a strong sense of design, but even when she was doing books like Wait and the rather gloriously titled Princess Super Kitty her color scheme was standard. In The Red Hat all you have to look at are great swath of blue, the black and white of the characters, an occasional jab of gray, and the moments when red makes an appearance. There is always a little jolt of red (around Billy’s neck, on a street light, from a carpet, etc). It’s the red coupled with that blue that really makes the book pop. By all rights a red, white, and blue cover should strike you on some level as patriotic. Not the case here.
Not that the book is without flaw. For the most part I enjoyed the pacing of the story. I loved the fairytale element of Billy tossed high into the sky by a jealous wind. I loved the color scheme, the gloss, and the characters. What I did not love was a moment near the end of the book where pertinent text is completely obscured by its placement on the art. Billy has flown and landed from the sky. He’s on the ground below, the wind buffeting him like made. He enters the girl’s building and takes the elevator up. The story says, “At the elevator, he punched UP, and he knocked at the first door on the top floor.” We see him extending his hand to the girl, her hat clutched in the other. Then you turn the page and it just says, “The Beginning.” Wait, what? I had to go back and really check before I realized that there was a whole slew of text and dialogue hidden at the bottom of that previous spread. Against a speckled gray and white floor the black text is expertly camouflaged. I know that some designers cringe at the thought of suddenly interjecting a white text box around a selection of writing, but in this particular case I’m afraid it was almost a necessity. Either than or toning down the speckles to the lightest of light grays.
Aside from that, it’s sublime. A sweet story of friendship (possibly leading to more someday) from the top of the world. Do we really believe that Billy lives on the top of the highest building in the world? Billy apparently does, and that’s good enough for us. But even the tallest building can find its match. And even the loneliest of kids can, through sheer pig-headed persistence, make their voices heard. A windy, shiny book without a hint of bluster.
For ages 3-6.
July 28, 2017
A boy in a city looks out atop his building only to see a girl across the way atop of her building. And so it brings...
January 5, 2017
The story is evocative of a fairy tale quest, maybe a bit Rapunzel, maybe a bit East of the Sun, West of the Moon, but mostly original. Nice, charming, fresh. But the art really makes it a winner. And the ink (?) used for the wind, so subtle that it looks different, depending on your light source, as you read, really adds a wow factor. Not in-your-face like the awful Rainbow Fish, but an artistic statement that makes the wind a character in the book.
March 5, 2017
I really liked this book as it endeavourec to tell the very beginning of a love story. With that said, the book is still great to read for children as they do not quite catch the overall subtle meaning of the story that us adults do.
January 15, 2016
One of my favorite picture books of 2016.
December 17, 2015
A boy named Billy Hightower lives at the top of the tallest building in the world, so high that he is above the clouds. Then one day, another building is built nearby. Billy soon sees a girl on top of the building wearing a red hat. Billy tries to call to her, but the wind sweeps away his words before she can hear them. He tries to send her a note via paper airplane, but the wind snatches that away too. The kite doesn’t work either. When Billy tries to use a blanket to fly across the gap to the girl, the wind pushes him down to street level and takes the girl’s hat too. The vicious wind continues to push Billy around, but soon Billy has figured out where the girl lives and finds a way through the wind to see her.
Teague keeps his text very simple in this picture book. He tells a straight forward story, but one that also is about loneliness and how important it is to reach another person. It is also clearly a book about love, about obstacles and finding an alternate way to connect and be together. Children may see it as a book more about wind, and that is completely wonderful too. Some of the best books work on different levels.
Portis’ illustrations use a little gimmick of the wind being shiny on the page. But these illustrations are beautiful in their simplicity and the wind itself is so capricious and involved in the story that it deserves its own style and feel. Done in only a few colors, the red pops on the page, the color of love.
A lovely picture book that can be enjoyed on different levels by different readers. It would make an interesting discussion for slightly older children about imagery and hidden meanings. Appropriate for ages 3-5.
Teague keeps his text very simple in this picture book. He tells a straight forward story, but one that also is about loneliness and how important it is to reach another person. It is also clearly a book about love, about obstacles and finding an alternate way to connect and be together. Children may see it as a book more about wind, and that is completely wonderful too. Some of the best books work on different levels.
Portis’ illustrations use a little gimmick of the wind being shiny on the page. But these illustrations are beautiful in their simplicity and the wind itself is so capricious and involved in the story that it deserves its own style and feel. Done in only a few colors, the red pops on the page, the color of love.
A lovely picture book that can be enjoyed on different levels by different readers. It would make an interesting discussion for slightly older children about imagery and hidden meanings. Appropriate for ages 3-5.
April 28, 2016
I really like the design of this book and the energy created by use of angles and swirls. Some students think of the text as two friends while other students think it is love and go "ew." It's funny the different reactions to the last page. I see something different in the pictures every time I read it and am more engrossed in them than text. Beautiful illustrations.
November 24, 2020
The story of a boy who lives on the top of a windy highrise building. One day he sees a girl at the top of another building in a red hat. He tries to yell hello to her and talk to her with many creative attempts from a paper airplane to a kite and he's blown down off the building and is determined to find the girl, which he does.
Great read aloud book to preschool up to younger school age children. The story is a page turner and the illustrations are wonderful with mostly black and white and a blue sky and highlighted red items in the story like the scarf, hat, kite, paper airplane, etc. The illustrations had good angles and perspectives to look at in a city environment. Good opportunity for print awareness as there is text that moves with the illustration. Also good vocabulary building with descriptive words with the wind like roared, swooped, swirled, soared, raged, bellowed, and yowled. I also liked that the ending said "the beginning." It doesn't look that there has been a sequel published at this point.
Possible storytime extensions could be making paper airplanes or kites with messages on them. Or a print out of a page from the book created for kids to draw what method they would use to say hello to a new friend on another building similar to Billy's paper airplane or kite attempts. Obviously there could be a caveat shared about safety with the wind and heights as I saw critical comments about this. Heaven forbid if a story is fanciful and we need to suspend our disbelief.
Great read aloud book to preschool up to younger school age children. The story is a page turner and the illustrations are wonderful with mostly black and white and a blue sky and highlighted red items in the story like the scarf, hat, kite, paper airplane, etc. The illustrations had good angles and perspectives to look at in a city environment. Good opportunity for print awareness as there is text that moves with the illustration. Also good vocabulary building with descriptive words with the wind like roared, swooped, swirled, soared, raged, bellowed, and yowled. I also liked that the ending said "the beginning." It doesn't look that there has been a sequel published at this point.
Possible storytime extensions could be making paper airplanes or kites with messages on them. Or a print out of a page from the book created for kids to draw what method they would use to say hello to a new friend on another building similar to Billy's paper airplane or kite attempts. Obviously there could be a caveat shared about safety with the wind and heights as I saw critical comments about this. Heaven forbid if a story is fanciful and we need to suspend our disbelief.
December 8, 2015
What a sweet story that captivates my children! A delight to receive an advanced copy of this book for review. I know this will be a favorite for a long while to come!
February 27, 2016
Lovely and an unexpected possibilty for Valentines Day.
January 4, 2017
Love the illustrations. Not sure if I'd use it for storytime. Wind & weather.
Read
August 21, 2019I like the art in this book - it’s simple with few colors.
A boy who lives on top of a skyscraper wants to meet a girl with a red hat who lives in the skyscraper across from him.
A boy who lives on top of a skyscraper wants to meet a girl with a red hat who lives in the skyscraper across from him.
June 28, 2025
I would love it if they made this into a short or a movie of some sort. I didn't think they made books like this anymore. Wonderful.
It's surrealism and magical realism in a wonderful surprise.
A boy lives at the top of a giant skyscraper so tall the clouds are below him. He is all alone. They, he sees a girl with a red hat on the building next to him. He wants to learn her name and he tries yelling, or sending paper airplanes or kites and the wind just won't let anything get to her.
I do love this ending. It's surprising and sweet and just such an old style children's book. I love this sort of story. Delightful.
The artwork is red, white, blue and black. It could be digital and it also looks a little charcoal or marker or something. I enjoy the simplifed artwork. It works with the magic.
Great for anyone that likes an interesting story and doesn't mind breaking the laws of reality.
It's surrealism and magical realism in a wonderful surprise.
A boy lives at the top of a giant skyscraper so tall the clouds are below him. He is all alone. They, he sees a girl with a red hat on the building next to him. He wants to learn her name and he tries yelling, or sending paper airplanes or kites and the wind just won't let anything get to her.
I do love this ending. It's surprising and sweet and just such an old style children's book. I love this sort of story. Delightful.
The artwork is red, white, blue and black. It could be digital and it also looks a little charcoal or marker or something. I enjoy the simplifed artwork. It works with the magic.
Great for anyone that likes an interesting story and doesn't mind breaking the laws of reality.
June 13, 2019
underwhelming and creepy.
A boy is interested in connecting with a girl who lives in a tall building next door. The wind thwarts his efforts, again and again. Eventually both the boy and the girl's red hat are blown away by the wind. But that mishap allows the boy to posses the hat and then return it and thus meet the girl and begin a romantic relationship with her. YUCK. Coy, smarmy, age-inappropriate, dull, and full of really disturbing sexual Freudian allusions. Red hat, as we learned from Bettelheim, is a stand in for the loss of virginity, the boy's name is Billy Hightower, and the girl's unreachable status at the top of a tall building clearly references Rapunzel. Triple yuck.
A boy is interested in connecting with a girl who lives in a tall building next door. The wind thwarts his efforts, again and again. Eventually both the boy and the girl's red hat are blown away by the wind. But that mishap allows the boy to posses the hat and then return it and thus meet the girl and begin a romantic relationship with her. YUCK. Coy, smarmy, age-inappropriate, dull, and full of really disturbing sexual Freudian allusions. Red hat, as we learned from Bettelheim, is a stand in for the loss of virginity, the boy's name is Billy Hightower, and the girl's unreachable status at the top of a tall building clearly references Rapunzel. Triple yuck.
August 15, 2019
Billy Hightower wants to meet the girl who lives at the top of the new tower next door.
He tries to shout to introduce himself.
He tries to send a paper airplane.
He tries to fly a kite over.
He tries to fly/parasail himself over.
All fail.
When he lands on the ground, he discovers the right building and rides the elevator up.
And then, The Beginning.
Lots of reviewers are assuming this is a romance. I see nothing that says this can't be about a friendship.
From an engineering perspective, you could see all the ways that the boy is complicating this. He could have gone down the elevator in his building and up the elevator in hers from the very beginning. KISS rules!
He tries to shout to introduce himself.
He tries to send a paper airplane.
He tries to fly a kite over.
He tries to fly/parasail himself over.
All fail.
When he lands on the ground, he discovers the right building and rides the elevator up.
And then, The Beginning.
Lots of reviewers are assuming this is a romance. I see nothing that says this can't be about a friendship.
From an engineering perspective, you could see all the ways that the boy is complicating this. He could have gone down the elevator in his building and up the elevator in hers from the very beginning. KISS rules!
July 19, 2017
Well, if I lived in a penthouse apartment, I wouldn't want to encourage my children to think they could jump off the top with a blanket for a parachute and land safely. Since I don't live in a penthouse, I would happily read this to my children. It is a cute, very basic story which is fabulously illustrated! I loved the twist at the end which says the beginning, once they finally meet!
First Line: "Billy Hightower lived atop the world's tallest building."
First Line: "Billy Hightower lived atop the world's tallest building."
February 3, 2018
When you live above the clouds, making friends is hard. And when a new friend moves in across the way but the wind keeps snatching your words away, fantastic measures must be taken!
David Teague reminds us of the adventure that making friends can be, particularly for children. With stark colors and wonderful opportunities to spice the narrative with sounds and different voices, this is a great book to read aloud for a variety of age ranges.
David Teague reminds us of the adventure that making friends can be, particularly for children. With stark colors and wonderful opportunities to spice the narrative with sounds and different voices, this is a great book to read aloud for a variety of age ranges.
February 27, 2024
A young boy, Billy, lives high above the city and loves spending time on the roof. When a new building is built, he sees a young girl on the roof and tries to introduce himself. The wind has other plans and whips away all of his communication attempts. He even tries flying himself over using a blanket as a parachute - it does not go well. Finally, he walks up to the building and meets her in person. The story ends with them talking together. The illustrations show the power of the wind.
October 2, 2019
Getting ready for a "wind"/"fall" toddler tales, so I grabbed this book. I like the cute story of the boy trying to get to the girl and the wind getting in their way. I'm not sure if I would use this for a group setting, but more for a one on one reading. Great illustrations!
February 11, 2020
This reminded of a Disney Pixar Short called Paperman. I really liked it, but I also liked Paperman, so no surprises there. It's a charming story, and the illustrations use a three color palette to perfection. There's nothing not to love about this.
August 1, 2017
My 2nd grader kept wanting to read this because he really liked the story.
September 17, 2017
so cute :')
January 11, 2018
Absolutely adorable! Sweet story. Great illustrations.
April 29, 2018
A prime example of an adult translating a childhood memory into a children’s story, with disastrous results; five stars for the whimsical rendering of the wind by the illustrator.
December 17, 2018
Love love love how the wind is illustrated: swirling lines that shine/shimmer when you turn the pages.
August 26, 2025
Beginning of a YA romance? Simple picture book emphasizing the windy with a different texture from the drawings.
Adventurous in urban setting
Adventurous in urban setting
October 30, 2025
I enjoyed how the words go across both pages. It was a cute adventure story, I liked the ending where it said the beginning.
August 22, 2017
Billy Hightower lives in a very tall building in a very big city. A girl with a red hat moves into a building across the way and he's determined to meet her, but is continually thwarted by the wind. Will their paths ever cross?
This is a library book that I renewed just because I didn't get the chance to look through it properly, and I'm glad I finally did. Its graphic style was unique and a little striking but also subtle and charming, and while the story isn't super original (basically Paperman, but what's wrong with that???) it kept my interest and just the other day The Boy (4) told me on the tall backyard playset that he's Billy Hightower, so it clearly made an impression.
This is a library book that I renewed just because I didn't get the chance to look through it properly, and I'm glad I finally did. Its graphic style was unique and a little striking but also subtle and charming, and while the story isn't super original (basically Paperman, but what's wrong with that???) it kept my interest and just the other day The Boy (4) told me on the tall backyard playset that he's Billy Hightower, so it clearly made an impression.
December 15, 2015
Fanciful. I like the way the words, color, patterns, angles, and lines are all essential parts of the story, reinforcing each other and moving the imaginative simple plot forward through the illustrations. Billy Hightower lives in the tallest building. A girl with a red hat appears at the top when a new high building is built within sight of his perch, so he wants to meet her. He tries numbers of ways to communicate, but winds swirl and he cannot talk to her or reach her during several attempts. But he makes up his mind he will find her, finally delivering the red hat that blew off her head to her in person, boldly promising the beginning of a new friendship.
February 24, 2016
It can be as gentle as puppy's breath or as fierce as a lion's roar. It scatters seeds planting them where they fall. It creates currents in the sky for gliding birds. It moves boats of all shapes and sizes through waters, large and small.
It sends visual, vocal and written messages a few feet or across an unknown amount of miles. The wind can unwittingly (or maybe by plan) lend a helping hand in the forming of friendships. The Red Hat (Disney Hyperion, December 8, 2015) written by David Teague with illustrations by Antoinette Portis traces paths taken amid great gusts.
My full recommendation: http://bit.ly/1VACd54
It sends visual, vocal and written messages a few feet or across an unknown amount of miles. The wind can unwittingly (or maybe by plan) lend a helping hand in the forming of friendships. The Red Hat (Disney Hyperion, December 8, 2015) written by David Teague with illustrations by Antoinette Portis traces paths taken amid great gusts.
My full recommendation: http://bit.ly/1VACd54
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