Mr. Zinger's Hat by Cary Fagan

"Well, Leo, I wonder why my hat took off like that. Maybe there is something inside it." Mr Zinger peered into the hat.
"What is it? What's inside the hat?" asked Leo.
He looked, too, but he didn't see anything.
"Ah, I see now," said Mr. Zinger. "It's a story.
A story trying to get out."

Little Leo likes to bounce his ball against the wall in the courtyard after school. He knows he's not suppose to disturb Mr. Zinger who walks around and around, because he's working on stories. But one day his ball bounces so high that it knocks Mr. Zinger's hat right off his head and right on to Leo's head. When Mr. Zinger gets his hat back he tells Leo that there is a story inside. Together the two of them discover just what that story is, with Mr. Zinger asking the leading questions and Leo using his imagination to create a story that is his very own.

Illustrated by Dusan Petricic, Cary Fagan's story is a play on the saying or idiom of "pulling something, (in this case, stories) out of a hat". Petricic's watercolours convey a range of wonderful emotions that help carry the story along. Cary Fagan is a noted Canadian author who writes books for children and adults. Great reading for children who are part of a writing club and where there will be a discussion of the storytelling or writing process.

Book Details:
Mr. Zinger's Hat by Cary Fall
Toronto: Tundra Books      2012