Whose Hat is That?

A delightful concept book that engages from the start. After a brief introduction to hats (""Do you have a favorite hat?''), 18 different hats are introduced. Beach hats, rain hats, hard hats, helmets, jockey's and painter's caps, cowboy hats and even graduation caps are included. Each hat is first introduced by a black-and-white photo of a child wearing it with a short question below. Example: ``Who wears this tall, white hat?'' Turn the page, and under a photo of a female chef and three male assistants is: ``Only the chef, who is in charge . . . wears the tall, white hat. The cooks wear floppy hats.'' An equal-opportunity book, Hausherr has selected her models with care. There is a minimum of sex-role stereotyping here,stet: there is a little bit: boy as hardhat, girl as chef, but they also have girl as surgeon and firefighter and she includes a Down's syndromestet lowercase child. Well written, lively and well designed. Ages 4-9. (September)