Blog Tour: London Hat Hunting Mission by Winnie Mak Tselikas Plus Giveaway!

I am thrilled to share London Hat Hunting Mission with you. I would like to thank Rachel’s Random Resources and of course the wonderful Winnie Mak Tselikas for allowing me to be part of such a fabulous tour.

About The Book

Four little Londoners, Hope, Jun, Lea and Parth, come from a different cultural background, are good friends living in London. They are travelling to the iconic places around the city in search of magic hats to cure Mr Globe’s headache.

 The book is illustrated with a mix of real life photographs of iconic places in London and digital illustration so children can have a vivid visual experience of London and at the same time open up their world of imagination.

Review

London Hat Hunting Mission is the story of four friends, Hope, Lea, Jun and Parth and their happy, cheeky friend Mr Globe. Upon discovering Mr Globe is unwell with a bad headache the friends embark on a mission to help him feel better and their first stop is the British Museum Library to research a cure. Armed with the knowledge that a ‘large pile’ of magic hats will help, the four set off into the city of London to find as many hats as they can.

The book follows them as they visit well known landmarks and districts around London collecting an array of hats from different cultures, a French beret, A Manchu Princess hat and a rasta tam to name but a few. Along the way they also experience different languages, music, food and drink which are synonymous with each culture. Eventually after a whistle stop tour around London they take the hats back to Mr Globe who proceeds to try them on in turn in the hope that they will cure his bad head.

The characters in the book are based on the One Dear World multicultural dolls created by author Winnie Mak Tselikas to help children learn about cultural diversity and celebrate the differences between us. London Hat Hunting Mission certainly demonstrates this perfectly, showing that despite the friends coming from different backgrounds it doesn’t stand in the way of their friendship. The story shows just how culturally diverse London is, giving young children a fantastic insight by using a relatable object like a hat to symbolise the different cultures. This is a fabulously positive book providing children with knowledge and education about different cultures in a way that is understandable as well as opening the lines of communication for further conversation on the topic with parents. I really love the ending which sees Mr Globe feeling ‘complete and alive’, showing that the world needs diversity to feel complete and that it’s something to celebrate.

The pictures inside are a mash up of illustration and photographs which I loved as it gives kids their own mini tour around the city – Leo loved this too as he recognised a few places thanks to his Peppa Goes To London Book! The pages are bright, colourful and eye-catching with plenty to keep kids engaged with the story and the inside covers have a map of London showing all the places the friends visit in the story.

Leo absolutely adored this book when we first shared it and has continually asked for the Mr Globe story since! I think Mummy has actually learned quite a lot too although my language skills could still do with some more work! The maps are a real hit with Leo and he has enjoyed pointing out where they are at each stop along the way, reading and matching the place names.

The end of the book hints at a forthcoming adventure and I for one am hoping we see more of Hope, Jun, Lea and Parth as there aren’t enough books out there on the shelves that celebrate the diversity in our society.

London Hat Hunting Mission can be purchased from the One Dear World Website and Amazon.

About The Author

Winnie Mak Tselikas is a believer in diversity. Born and raised in Hong Kong, she studied engineering, worked in commercial sales and in 2011 switched to education upon moving to London. There, she met her half-French, half-Greek husband and they had a son, who now has family in China, France, Greece, HK, the UK and the US. Winnie considers her son to be a world citizen rather than of a particular nationality or culture. Inspired by her family and London’s diversity, she founded One Dear World and created the lovely adventures of Mr. Globe and the little Londoner dolls.

You can find out more about Winnie and One Dear World by visiting them on social media: Facebook, Twitter and Instagram

For your chance to WIN your very own hardback copy of London Hat Hunting Mission plus your choice of soft toy enter the blog tour giveaway by clicking HERE! Good Luck*

*Terms and Conditions – Please enter using the Rafflecopter box below.  The winner will be selected at random via Rafflecopter from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or email. If no response is received within 7 days then I reserve the right to select an alternative winner. Open to all entrants aged 18 or over.  Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. This will passed to the giveaway organiser and used only for fulfilment of the prize, after which time I will delete the data.  I am not responsible for despatch or delivery of the prize.