Another classic of simplicity in story-telling, by Ole Konnecke, and the usual wonderful production values from Gecko Press. This is another one of those books whose author appears to have a direct line to the way children think (or the way we think they might think!) Anton has a magic hat. He tries to make a tree disappear, but on finding it still there decides it must be too big. So, pulling his magic hat down over his eyes, he tries to make a bird vanish, and when he lifts his hat, the bird has gone. When Luke appears he tries the same trick, and Luke vanishes as well (from Anton’s perspective. The reader sees him walk away behind Anton, just as the reader has seen the bird fly away while Anton was blindfolded by his hat.)  But then the bird reappears, and Anton wonders if he’s turned Luke into a bird, so he puts his magic hat over the bird. When the girls appear, with Luke,  Greta’s bird has gone. Anton puts his hat back on his head and then makes the bird appear by taking it off again. Wow! Impressive! The last page shows Luke trying to imitate Anton’s hand movements. Very few words, and simple but evocative illustrations make this another classic of the Gecko style, taking a successful European (in this case) book and translating so that we monolingual kiwis have access to it. Beautifully simple; simply beautiful.