Milo's Hat Trick

by Jon Agee (Author)

Reading Level: 2nd − 3rd Grade

Milo the Magnificent's magic act isn't so magnificent after all, until he meets a bear who teaches him the secret to the perfect hat trick in this classic and critically acclaimed picture book, perfect for fans of Oliver Jeffers and Jon Klassen.

Milo the Magnificent is the world's least magnificent magician. He can't even pull a rabbit out of his hat! When Mr. Popovich gives him one more chance, Milo knows he has no choice: he has to go out and catch a rabbit for his act. Instead, he catches a bear. And the bear promises to help! Into the hat he dives. Milo rides the train home, sure his act will go off perfectly tonight.

But when he arrives in his dressing room, he discovers that he left his hat--and the bear!--on the train. Meanwhile, across town, a man in a restaurant has a very familiar hat . . . Can Milo get his hat back in time for his act?

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Kirkus

Agee displays his masterful drollery to particularly good effect in this tale of a semiskilled magician in need of a good trick. Milo is about to get heaved from the show, if he doesn’t stop botching the card tricks, and tangling the rope trick, and most of all if he doesn’t get a good hat trick going. He’s been using a mouse, which hasn’t impressed the crowds, so he retreats to the woods, where he tries to lure a rabbit into his hat. Instead, he attracts a bear. But the bear is a good soul and agrees to help Milo by hiding in the hat and popping out on command: “You just pretend your bones are made of rubber. It’s a secret I learned from a rabbit,” says the bear. Unfortunately, Milo grabs the wrong hat when he gets off the train back in the city, causing a major stir when the bear jumps out of the hat at the wrong place. The bear, though, is a crafty creature that ends up saving Milo’s bacon and even teaches him a trick or two, like jumping into a hat. “It’s a secret I learned from a bear,” Milo tells his admirers. A beautifully shaped story, symmetrical and decidedly odd and bright with laughter. The pacing and delivery are stage-worthy, as is Agee’s vastly expressive artwork, which is chockful of visual humor. (Picture book. 3-8)

Copyright 2018  Kirkus Reviews, LLC Used with permission.

Review quotes

Awards and Praise for Milo's Hat Trick

ALA Notable Book
Horn Book Fanfare
PW Best Books for the Year
LA Times Best Children's Picture Books
Miami Herald Top Ten 

Jon Agee

JON AGEE has written and illustrated five previous books of wordplay, including Who Ordered the Jumbo Shrimp? and Other Oxymorons. He lives in San Francisco, California.

Classification
Fiction
ISBN-13
9780735229877
Lexile Measure
540
Guided Reading Level
N
Publisher
Rocky Pond Books
Publication date
September 12, 2017
Series
-
BISAC categories
JUV019000 - Juvenile Fiction | Humorous Stories
JUV002030 - Juvenile Fiction | Animals | Bears
JUV037000 - Juvenile Fiction | Fantasy & Magic
Library of Congress categories
Bears
Magicians
JUVENILE FICTION / Fantasy & Magic
JUVENILE FICTION / Humorous Stories
JUVENILE FICTION / Animals / Bears
Magic tricks

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