The Queen’s Hat

Antony (Please, Mr. Panda) returns with a diversion as tasty as tea and scones. The Queen of England sets off from the palace on her way “to visit someone very special” (the new royal infant, readers are meant to understand). She strides along in her trademark sensible shoes and coat, a prim corgi by her side, when the wind blows “the Queen’s favorite hat right off her head.” The Coldstream Guards, in their red jackets and huge fur hats, rush to her rescue, chasing pell-mell after the hat, but the wind carries it still higher. In a series of gloriously deadpan spreads, ever-growing numbers of guards (and the Queen) clamber across one of the Trafalgar lions, pack like clowns into the London Underground, tramp across the London Bridge, swarm up Big Ben, and rise right up into the air before everyone lands as safely as Mary Poppins, under their own umbrellas. The book’s charm comes from the Keystone Kops–like effect of seeing so many dignified, uniformed figures descend into distinctly undignified chaos. It’s a trim, stylish story tailor-made for Anglophiles. Ages 3–5. (Aug.)