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

This book is at first glance, is a book about a girl's relationship with her aunt who lives in Baltimore but later is seen to be a historical book about the Baltimore City fire in 1905. Each of Aunt Flossie's hats, tell a story so this acts a historical book as well with real life historical events. This book is not only relatable as an aunt and niece relationship but also explains the historical events of Baltimore for children that did not live in that time period. This book is developmentally appropriate for grades 4 and 5 since the details are more vivid and the events of the past are harder to grasp ( )

This is a great book that teaches children the importance of history, memories and family. Aunt Flossie’s two nieces come over every Sunday. Besides spending time with their aunt, they love trying on her beloved hats and hearing the stories behind them. Aunt Flossie has a memory connected to every hat. Whether is be a historical event, a holiday, or a funny memory each hat comes with a rich story. This is a great book to use for a think aloud. Students can make predictions, personal connections and visualizations. This is a great book to read allowed to 1-3 grade and can be read independently 4-6 grade. ( )

This is a phenomenal picture book to share with students when teaching about the importance of memories, loved ones, and historical events. This book is about an aunt and two children who are interested in their aunt's hats and the stories that she has associated with each one. For every hat that the children pick out, the aunt begins telling them about the event that she went through at the time she wore that specific hat. These events range from tragic fires in Baltimore to soldiers returning home from World War 1. The illustrations within the book are drawn in a way that look old and outdated, which adds to the theme of the book and aides children when they are predicting what the book is going to be about, during a picture walk. A think aloud would be appropriate when reading this book to children because they could very easily make predictions, connections, and visualize. ( )

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.