Without Jonas Hanway, The Umbrella Academy might not exist and Britons would’ve possibly continued letting the rain soak them since 1750. Jonas Hanway’s Scurrilous, Scandalous, Shockingly Sensational Umbrella is the sort of stranger than life, non-fiction illustrated book that young readers will love if they give it a chance. The last part of that phrase is key because the book ticks off all of the blocks needed for it to be ridiculously engaging and entertaining for ages six through ten.
It’s the true story of Jonas Hanway who was a true, back-in-the-day rebel. He was also a well-to-do gentleman who wasn’t scared to make waves. Of course, back in London in the 1700s, it helped a tremendous amount if you were rich and making noise. Hanway had a reputation as a grumpy man, but he also loved to travel. London is a fabulous city, but it’s always been rainy there and one time when he was abroad he saw something that was utterly alien.
He was in Persia and saw an umbrella. Actually he saw many people, men, and women who were both using umbrellas. Of course, we know that umbrellas we around for millennia before that, but they weren’t socially accepted in one of the most rain-soaked cities in the world, London. Hanway was so taken aback by how brazen the Persians used their umbrellas that he brought one back to his hometown and people were aghast.
Children asked what that thing was. The coach drivers got incredibly angry. Realizing that their industry could really suffer if these umbrellas caught on they made fun of him, threw garbage at him, and even tried to run him down. However, Jonas was a very stubborn man who didn’t really care what people thought of him, so he kept on using umbrellas for 30 years. It was then that he saw other people using them and they were just as happy with their dry shoes and socks as he had been for the previous three decades.
What Jonas Hanway’s Umbrella gets oh-so-perfect is in the way that it presents the story. The text is by Josh Crute and is very brief, but manages to tell a wide-ranging story that young readers will not know. Third graders will be able to read most of the story easily. Those first and second graders will be able to follow along to the short sentences that are descriptive, but not too much so for their increasing vocabulary. It also helps that some of the text is only on one page, letting the illustrations take full stage on them.
The art is by Eileen Ryan Ewan and is realistic, but not too much so. If the illustrations were portrait-perfect, then those young readers wouldn’t have been engaged or interested in Jonas Hanway’s Umbrella. This art is real and able to invoke the complicated emotions of bringing a simple device to a city that thought it wasn’t proper or exclusively for women. There’s also a warmth and sense of humor that Ewen brings to the illustrations that make us smile with London finally accepts umbrellas, as well as, making us feel like we want to walk in Hanway’s shoes. When you combine that with the short, easy to read sentences you’ve got a book that will sneak up and be loved by its young readers.
To young modern readers, this story might seem too strange to believe that it really happened. For those readers, there’s a short history of umbrellas and a brief biography on Jonas Hanway on the final two pages. Jonas Hanway’s Umbrella is a great book that elementary school libraries will open up often. Its combination of true, but strange story will leave those ages re-telling the story in their heads and then telling their parents about it.
Jonas Hanway’s Umbrella is by Josh Crute with illustrations by Eileen Ryan Ewen.
There are affiliate links in this post.
Facebook
Twitter
Flickr
GooglePlus
Youtube