Jonas Hanway's Scurrilous, Scandalous, Shockingly Sensational Umbrella

Crute (Oliver: The Second-Largest Living Thing on Earth) lightheartedly relays the story of the man responsible for Britain's ubiquitous umbrella use. English gentleman Jonas Hanway "disliked change as a general rule," but even more than change, Jonas hated getting wet. After "searching for a place where it never rained" and spying "something strange"--umbrella use among Persian royalty during his mid-18th-century travels--he begins using one back in England, much to the consternation of carriage drivers. Cadenced prose engages, with dashes of alliteration and a few onomatopoeic rhymes, as it jauntily narrates Hanway's break with custom (umbrellas were thought to be for women, the poor, and the French, an author's note clarifies) in favor of common sense. Playful ink and watercolor cartoons by Ewen (Nature's Friend: The Gwen Frostic Story) offer bird's-eye views of Victorian London under rainy skies and wide-angle scenes of row houses, their yellow-lit windows framing a variety of indoor activities; an orange tabby makes repeated appearances. An author's note about Hanway's other work to effect change and a brief timeline of umbrella history wrap up this entertaining look at Britain's biggest "brolly" backer. Ages 5-8. (May)

K-Gr 4—Jonas Hanway, an English philanthropist, disliked getting wet. But in rainy 1750 London, there was scarcely a way to walk a short distance and remain dry without paying for a horse-drawn coach. For untold reasons, Hanway traveled to Persia (or present-day Iran) and saw people holding umbrellas in the sun. Though the text notes that people had been using umbrellas for centuries, even in France, Londonites had never adopted the tool until Hanway introduced it to his fellow countrymen. Despite the efforts to thwart Hanway and his umbrella, the gadget caught on and the English use them to this day. Back matter includes brief overviews of other topics Hanway disliked, some of which stuck around (English tea) and others that were thankfully disbanded (children chimney sweeps) either in spite of or with some thanks to Hanway speaking out against them. A brief history of umbrellas throughout the world and in popular culture, as well as a bibliography, round out this title. VERDICT A serviceable addition to collections looking for fact-based picture books or light information titles about specific places or topics.—Brittany Drehobl, Morton Grove Public Library, IL