A Hat Full of Sea

Cora’s Grandpa is in hospital and each time she visits him, she makes sure she wears the hat he’d given her. She really wants to cheer him up but how does one have adventures when Grandpa’s in bed with only a tiny window in his room. She’d love to visit the sea with him but instead decides to bring the sea to him. Using her hat, Cora captures ‘the white foaming waves … the softness of sand and the seagull cries all wrapped up in the wind.’ Carefully she returns and the two share the experience of the salty sea.

On future visits Cora brings Grandpa different experiences in her hat: in this way they visit the countryside delighting in its wonderful flora and fauna, a funfair, the town with its market, she even captures the velvety night sky all a-sparkle with stars.

However, her best idea, to bring Grandpa a train journey goes disastrously wrong. As she waits to capture the train as it zooms along, off flies her hat and although she looks everywhere, Cora cannot find it.

A distressed Cora goes to see Grandpa without her precious hat but finds his bed empty. What has happened? Where is he? Suddenly she hears a familiar voice: it’s Grandpa up on his feet. When she explains that without her hat, she won’t be able to make him happy any longer. his response reassures Cora and together they make their way to the seashore, Grandpa wearing a hat of his own under which is a special surprise…

With Maudie Smith’s warm, playful words and Jen Khatun’s spirited, digitally created illustrations, this wonderful portrayal of the strong loving bond between a grandparent and grandchild offers an uplifting example of imagination reaching across the generations and enriching the world, and a reminder of the importance of spending time with loved ones.