Aunt Flossie's Hats (and Crab Cakes Later)

by Elizabeth Fitzgerald Howard

Hardcover, 1991

Status

Available

Genres

Children's Books

Publication

Clarion Books (1991), 31 pages

Description

Sara and Susan share tea, cookies, crab cakes, and stories about hats when they visit their favorite relative, Aunt Flossie.

User reviews

LibraryThing member lpsinterpreter

This historical fiction book is about a woman named Aunt Flossie who had boxes and boxes of different kinds of hats. She had a story that went with each hat. This story related to the African-American culture where the women have a custom of wearing hats when they dress up.

This story was very fast

paced. It held my interest, but seemedto be over quickly. I could imaging along with the text, the stories that went with each hat.

For an activity bring in hats and let the children put them on and tell a story about the one they are wearing. Have a tea party with the children dressing up and wearing hats.

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LibraryThing member conuly

This story is about two young girls listening to their great-aunt's stories.

She tells three stories relating to an event that happened when she was wearing each of three hats. Predictably, the "best" story is the one with no historical significance, but the one that involves the two young girls :)

Children are like that, it's very realistic.

Afterwards they have crab cakes, and it's clear that this is the normal weekly end to their visit.

This is a very simple story, very loving, and I suspect it's based on the author's actual family.

Please note that it's somewhat wordy, and is probably better suited for the older end of the 4-8 range.

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LibraryThing member AlisonLucas

This is a neat book about Sarah and Susan's Aunt Flossie, who has them over every Sunday afternoon. The girls love her fun hat collection, and adore hearing the stories that the hats remind her of. Each hat takes them back in history to different events Aunt Flossie has experienced.

The

illustrations are rich, realistic paintings.

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LibraryThing member GayWard

Sarah and Susan share tea, cookies, crab cakes, and stories about hats when they visit their favorite relative, Aunt Flossie.

LibraryThing member MarissaWilliams

Summary:
This book is about two young girls that often go visit their great aunt. Aunt Flossie has boxes and boxes of hats that the girls enjoy going through. Every book has a story behind. NOt only is this time spent with family, but also it becomes story time.

Personal Reaction:
This book somewhat

reminded me of myself. When I was little, I loved for people to tell me stories from their past.

Classroom Extension Ideas:
1. Let the class each design their own hat and cut outs.
2. Have the students bring in an object that holds a story and share that story.

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LibraryThing member jessotto

This is a great book that touches on the traditions that a family has. It tells a brief history about what life was like for Aunt Flossie growing up and captures the important of family in a child's life. The book takes place in Baltimore and the traditions of the state. Maybe learning about the

Chesapeake Bay or blue crabs and their importance to the well being of the city and state. The real importance here and bigger picture I think this book gives is the love of a family and the things they do and share together. Aunt Flossie shares her life and her experiences with her nieces while giving them a mini history lesson. A good book for a cold day in the classroom.. I thought it was very nice.

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LibraryThing member AlexWyatt

I liked this book because it talks about historical things that happen in Baltimore. Aunt Flossie’s nieces love to pick out Aunt Flossie’s hats, try them on and then hear the story that goes with the hat. For example, “the wooly, winter hat that was sort of green and still a little smoky from

the night of the Great Baltimore Fire.” Aunt Flossie goes on to explain what happen that night. How the fire engines were racing down St. Paul Street with horses’ hooves clattering, bells and whistles screaming, and smoke everywhere. The story continues and the last hat has a story that the girls are actually a part of. Aunt Flossie’s Hat is a great story that shows the importance of family histories, traditions, and relationships.
The writing in this story keep you interested and wanting to know what the story was going to be for each hat the girls picked. Aunt Flossie’s telling of the stories was descriptive and clear. It allowed for easy understanding of the historical event for the reader without boring them with details. “The Great War is over! The Great was over! “ “I made that hat,” Aunt Flossie said, “to wear to the big parade.” This is how she begins to tell the story of the end of World War 11. But because this book is written from the point of view of the niece the writing is simple.
Throughout the story by listening to the girls’ conversation and looking at the illustrations the reader develops a sense of Aunt Flossie. She is their favorite aunt and they love her house because of all the things and especially her hats. She is the family matriarch. This comes through not only through the stories but because they visit her every Sunday and they go to dinner for crab cakes together each week. The last story includes the girls on the way to Sunday dinner and Aunt Flossie’s hat blows off and is rescued by a young boy and his dog. Aunt Flossie is a person everyone would like to have in his or her family.
The illustrations give the reader a taste of Baltimore. You can see the infamous row houses that Baltimore is famous for in the very first illustration. Then you can see the Bromoseltzer Tower during the scene of the great fire. OF course, the drawing of the steamed crab make the readers feel right at home in Baltimore. The drawings of Aunt Flossie show her as a warm and loving person that anyone would love.
This book was interesting. It was entertaining with a twist of history thrown in. This book could be used for family traditions, Baltimore history, or storytelling.

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LibraryThing member lhanso1

I liked this book because of the engaging and historical events that take place in the plot. The book travels through the stories behind Aunt Flossie's hats. Each story behind the hat depict historical events that took place in Baltimore such as the fire on St. Paul's street that is described in

the story of “the wooly, winter hat that was sort of green and still a little smoky from the night of the Great Baltimore Fire.” The illustrations enhance the story by connecting the hats Aunt Flossie's nieces are trying on to the historical event that took place when Aunt Flossie wore the hats. Having an exciting story behind each hat that is historical to Baltimore, allows young readers to be exposed to history in an engaging way. The big message I got from the book is to not judge a book by it's cover in that even though the hats still looked beautiful and put together, they have been through trying times and have unbelievable stories behind them, similar to how you never know what people have been through solely based off of their appearance.

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LibraryThing member Cheryl_in_CC_NV

I wish I had an Aunt Flossie who could tell stories. She remembers The Great War," which you might have to explain to your kids was WWI, before the second was known."

LibraryThing member ksmole1

This story is great and can be used for so many purposes. It tells the story of two children, Sarah,and a who visit their Great-Great Aunt Flossie every Sunday afternoon. Aunt Flossie has a very crowded house, which is mostly filled with boxes of hats that she has collected over the years. The

girls enjoy trying on the hats. Each hat comes with a story that Aunt Flossie tells as each one is significant. For example, one smells like smoke and this is significant because she wore it when she witnessed the Great Baltimore Fire. Another one is significant as she wore it when American soldiers came home from World War 1. The story is narrated by the little girl Susan and captures the importance of learning about family heirlooms, traditions, stories, and history. This would be cool to read as well since it takes place in Baltimore and discusses some of the events that have happened in Baltimore throughout history. When reading a think aloud strategy can be used by the teacher to get students to make connections, predictions, visualizations, and assist with questioning in stories.This book would be good to use with students in first through fifth grade.

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LibraryThing member NMiller22

Sara and Susan share tea, cookies, crab cakes, and stories about hats when they visit their favorite relative, Aunt Flossie.

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