This Is Not My Hat — An Illustrated Read-Aloud Story

At the end of the day, Noura went to the hat shelf at nursery. Instead of one blue hat, she found two that looked almost the same. She stopped and did not grab either one in a hurry.

The first hat was blue with a pretty yellow ribbon. The second was plain blue. Noura lifted the ribboned hat. “This one is prettier. Maybe it is mine.” But liking the ribbon did not make the hat hers.

Noura remembered that Mum had sewn a tiny red thread inside her hat. She checked the ribboned hat. There was no red thread, only a name label whose letters she could not yet read.

She turned the plain hat gently and searched along the inside edge. There was the tiny red thread. “This is not my hat,” Noura said, looking at the ribboned one. Now she knew what to do.

Noura carried both hats to the teacher. The teacher read the label in the ribboned hat: Huda. Just then Huda arrived. “I am looking for my hat with the ribbon,” she said.

Noura returned Huda’s hat and put on her own. The yellow ribbon stayed with Huda, and the red thread went home with Noura. One small marker had helped each hat reach its owner.