Clara Button and the Magical Hat Day

It’s great to see a museum publisher venture into children’s picture books and the rich seam of objects and cultures at the Victoria & Albert Museum should provide a wealth of tales. This first title, involving Clara who gets lost in the costume department on her quest to repair her grandmother’s hat, is somewhat pedantic but it does serve to show a myriad of delightfully inventive millinery. The professorial voice rings clear in this writer’s love of educating about fashion and this makes for an uneven narrative (it’s not easy to write a children’s book!) but ultimately this is a gentle experience over which to ponder. Lovers of pretty things particularly will enjoy the illustrations so full of decorative pattern and detail, which make a perfect accompaniment to the text.