Every so often a picture book comes along that you just have to show everyone. No matter what they are doing. Even if they are in the middle of a very important task, they must drop everything to look at this book.

I Want My Hat Back is such a book. When it first arrived in store, there was much downing of tools to gather around and read this book.

This is a tale of losing things, and then finding them again. In particular, Bear has lost his hat, but despite asking everyone if they’ve seen it, nobody seems to know anything about it. Except Rabbit. Rabbit seems to be acting a bit strange. And there is that fancy new hat on his head…

You will laugh yourself stupid over this book, with its simple story and beautiful illustrations, it really is unlike anything else out there. And while I suspect this may be one of those titles which is more for grown-up kids than actual kids, I can also see a lot of younger readers enjoying this tale of a bear, a rabbit, and a missing hat.

Holly Harper is a children’s bookseller at Readings Carlton where she organises the kids and Young Adult e-newsletters. She also writes books for younger readers under the name H.J. Harper. Find out more about her Star League series and other books here and follow her on twitter - @hj_harper.