Customer Reviews

Don't Touch My Hat

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Writer/illustrator James Rumford wears his hat on his sleeve in this colorful Valentine to the fictional West of silent movies, pulp fiction, and fin de siecle advertising posters. Sheriff John is our hat-wearing protagonist; he protects a small prairie town from a potpourri of bad guys including cheating gamblers, cattle rustlers, and bank robbers.

While John has a winning smile and courage a-plenty, he places the credit for his physical and moral strength squarely on his head; more precisely, on the 10-gallon hat that he wears every time he's called to duty. As author Rumford explains it: "Without that sweat-stiff, trail-dusted, bullet-riddled hat, Sheriff John could do nothing--or so he thought."

In a series of tableaux, John zealously guards his head-piece, even warning his wife,"NOW DARLIN,' "DON'T TOUCH MY HAT!" Rumford sometimes overdoes the "Western" accent, as in this description of the town: "[It was] smaller'm nost, bigger'n some, but cleaner and more civ'lized than `em all." However, kids will probably like the dialect, especially if you ham it up whilst a-readin' it to `em.

One particularly troublesome night, trouble breaks out all over town. Without knowing it, John accidentally puts on his wife's chapeau instead of his own, but manages the crises as if he were wearing his own hat. John's discovery is a riff on the familiar theme that it's what's inside that counts, here formulated as "It's your heart, not your hat:" The endpapers (formatted as old newspaper clippings) describe his post-law enforcement adventures. For example, he's a consultant for the Ponymount Pictures' Westerns, The pseudo-newspaper stories are cute, but they're too detailed. The iconic figure that Rumford built is dragged down by platitudes and the commercialization of his "It's Your Heart" credo. There's a yearly "It's Your Heart" charity drive, a "Heart Day:" Rumsford begins to trivialize Sheriff John's insight.

Fortunately, most of the book captures the spirit and look of the pulps, old Westerns, and French poster artist Leonetta Cappiello, the man whose poster ads for Compari, Moet, and other products presented bold figures against dark backgrounds, and thus seem (in a precursor to pop/op art) to jump out at the viewer. The feeling and style of the book are more creative than the story itself--a little endpaper restraint would have reduced the overly sugared endpaper "sidebars," but, overall, Rumford succeeds in conveying the West and how it was re-told.

Don't Touch My Hat is very entertaining and it is a cute story. I absolutely loved the illustrations. And, to top everything I liked the message, that the hat doesn't make the man. If you want your funny bone tickled be sure to take a look at this book.

We received this book from a used book vendor. It was undamaged but had the previous library's information still inside. That was fine with us. No pages torn. Hard cover in perfect condition. And the kids love this book!

James Rumford's DON'T TOUCH MY HAT! tells of a prairie town called Sunshine where a sheriff and his ten-gallon hat keeps the law in the wild west. Why is Sheriff John so successful? He's convinced his hat has a lot to do with his abilities - or does it? Any kid who loves zany cowboy tales will find this a whimsical pick.

This is a fun book about having a special item but learning that it's really you, not the thing, that makes the difference. It has a Wild West theme and does feature all adults in the illustrations, but the story is fun about a sheriff and his special hat making a difference together. But there is a sweet moral to me learned. The illustrations are colorful, fun, and quite entertaining. This is a great book for youngsters.