Happy Birthday Madame Chapeau by Andrea Beaty, illustrated by David Roberts

Throughout this book, you'll see some well-known hats. Look closely above and there's the one Beatrice wore to the royal wedding. And I've been googling that white beauty on the left, I know I've seen it before, I just can't find where. Anyways, the inspiration for this book was Isabella Blow, famous supporter of milliners and hat lover extraordinaire. And its a great tribute, this book contains fabulous style - she would have approved.

However, this not a book just for hat lovers, it is one for two to five year olds who love a really beautifully illustrated rhyming story.

P.s. As you can see, the author Andrea Beaty left a message below (Andrea Beaty looked at my blog!). She mentions her website and how we can see an illustration from Happy Birthday Madame Chapeau in progress here. The site is FULL of interesting stuff and the illustration in progress is great - and I'd say, particularly great to show to little artists, so they can see the fantastic results of perseverance. (It took three weeks!)

She also says that each and every hat in this book is based on an actual hat - each and every one. Like all my favourite books, this means that the illustrations reward really close inspection. And - the author and illustrator are there too - having their favourite cakes and coffee!