KATHY'S HATS

Kathy describes the hats she's worn since she was a baby- -winter cap, sunbonnet, Easter finery—until the year she gets cancer and chemotherapy leaves her with a new need for hats that makes her dislike them for the first time. This attitude problem is solved rather easily when Kathy takes Mama's advice to put on a ``thinking cap...to help...when you are faced with a challenge.'' Still, it's useful to have a realistic, straightforward, and upbeat picture of a child coping with cancer and surviving it, as many do; the hats also give the story an effective unifying motif. An author's note sets the book in this context and explains that it is based on her own daughter's experience; Westcott's perceptive, freely drawn illustrations are painted in cheerfully attractive colors. (Picture book. 6-10)