Jonas Hanway’s Scurrilous, Scandalous, Shockingly Sensational Umbrella

Crute (Oliver: The Second-Largest Living Thing on Earth) lightheartedly relays the story of the man responsible for Britain’s ubiquitous umbrella use. English gentleman Jonas Hanway “disliked change as a general rule,” but even more than change, Jonas hated getting wet. After “searching for a place where it never rained” and spying “something strange”—umbrella use among Persian royalty during his mid-18th-century travels—he begins using one back in England, much to the consternation of carriage drivers. Cadenced prose engages, with dashes of alliteration and a few onomatopoeic rhymes, as it jauntily narrates Hanway’s break with custom (umbrellas were thought to be for women, the poor, and the French, an author’s note clarifies) in favor of common sense. Playful ink and watercolor cartoons by Ewen (Nature’s Friend: The Gwen Frostic Story) offer bird’s-eye views of Victorian London under rainy skies and wide-angle scenes of row houses, their yellow-lit windows framing a variety of indoor activities; an orange tabby makes repeated appearances. An author’s note about Hanway’s other work to effect change and a brief timeline of umbrella history wrap up this entertaining look at Britain’s biggest “brolly” backer. Ages 5–8. [em](May) [/em]