First there wasn’t a hat.
Then….there was.
The Pink Hat written by Andrew Joyner is a simple story with an amazing message. The issues raised in this story are huge and it has done in the simplest of ways – which I love to see in a picture book.
Andrew Joyner came up with the idea of The Pink Hat after the Women’s March took place on the 21st January, 2017. This march was taken up all around the world and it gave the world a message – women’s rights are human rights too.
We loved reading this story, following the hat and seeing all the different people that cam e by the hat, wore the hat or played with it. Each illustration, done in black and white – with pink of course really added to the importance of the hat and the people it made touch with.
As soon as I finished this story I was flooded with questions about why the little girl was marching and why women and girls do not have the same rights – still – as men and boys. If my young children didn’t see this state of human affairs as fair – why does it still happen?
We need to raise the big issues with our young children so that they can tackle these problems and make changes for the better.
Women’s rights is a huge issue and still so many women around the world do not have the rights they should.
Thank you Andrew Joyner for creating this marvellous picture book. It will be one that I will share again and again – and I know all children will love it and understand the message being sent.
Some fun activities with your students and child
– View a youtube video of the march and look at the different signs that were made. What do they all mean? Create your own sign that you would use in this protest march.
– Learn to knit your own hat. Crafts like this are being lost because of our love affair with fast fashion. Aim to make something from locally sourced wool.
– List the verbs used to describe how the hat moved. What other action words can be attributed to a hat?
– Investigate where in the world women’s rights are being abused. Explore why this is happening and if anything is being done to improve this.
– Investigate if women’s rights are being abused in your country, City or local town. Explore why this is happening and if anything is being done to improve this.
– Explore other protest marches that have been held on a global scale. Could you create a book like the pink hat to teacher younger people about this issue?
