The Hatmakers (The Hatmakers)

by Tamzin Merchant

Paola Escobar (Illustrator)

The most important rule to follow when you hunt for hat ingredients is this: keep wildness in your wits and magic in your fingertips.

In Cordelia’s London, magic is real and is woven into objects created by the five Maker families: the Hatmakers, the Bootmakers, the Watchmakers, the Cloakmakers, and the Glovemakers. Growing up in her father Prospero’s footsteps, eleven-year-old Cordelia Hatmaker has learned the family’s ancient skills and secrets so she can one day make her own enchanted hats.

When Prospero and his ship are lost at sea during an important ingredient expedition, her grief-stricken aunt and uncle must turn their attention toward fulfilling a decree to create a Peace Hat for the king. But Cordelia refuses to accept that her father is gone for good and desperately begins making plans to find him. Then, the Peace Hat is stolen—along with the Peace Boots, Watch, Cloak, and Gloves—and Cordelia realizes that there is a more menacing plot against the Makers’ Guild, and that Prospero Hatmaker’s disappearance may be connected. Cordelia must uncover the truth about who is behind the thefts if she is to save the Makers and find out what really happened to her father.

Full of magic, surprise, and adventure, Tamzin Merchant’s sparkling debut introduces a captivating heroine and her extraordinary world.

• ISBN10: 1324016035
• ISBN13: 9781324016038
• Publish Date: 2 February 2021
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: WW Norton & Co
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 368
• Language: English

Reviews

[annieb123]

Originally posted on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

The Hatmakers is a rollicking adventure for young readers by Tamzin Merchant. Due out 2nd Feb 2021 from Norton on their Young Readers imprint, it's 368 pages and will be available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately. The art by Paola Escobar is whimsical and appealing and really sets off the story very well.

It's always a red-letter day when I come across a really good juvenile book. This one took me back to my own early book-loving days. A love of reading which lasts a lifetime is an incredibly precious gift and it wouldn't surprise me at all to hear someone in 20 years claim this book was the start of the bibliophile life for them. A dark and stormy night, an unexpected crash at the door, a shipwreck, and the start of a boundless adventure for young Cordelia Hatmaker who is brave, loyal, resourceful, and magical. There are so many cool details in the storytelling and the book itself that it's hard to narrow down to a few. The characters are wonky and wonderful. There is an abundance of whimsy, but it doesn't detract from the fact that it's really well written and put together. I loved loved loved the addition of a glossary at the end containing an abbreviated herbal ingredients (with funny made up (but appropriate) botanical names).

I enjoyed this one very much and would recommend it without reservation for public and school library acquisition, gift giving to a 9-12 year old friend/family, or as a bedtime read for precocious younger kids.

Five stars.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.