The Hatmakers

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When Cordelia’s father Prospero and his ship, the Jolly Bonnet, are lost at sea during a mission to collect hat ingredients, Cordelia is determined to find him. But her Uncle Tiberius and Aunt Ariadne have no time to help the littlest Hatmaker, for an ancient rivalry between the Maker families is threatening to surface. Even worse, someone seems to be using Maker magic to start a war. It’s up to Cordelia to find out who, and why . . . The story wraps up nicely, though I would love it if Merchant returned to this world, as Cordelia is a fun character, and I liked this alternate take on English history. Set in a world where there are Makers, such as the Hatmakers, who weave enchantments into the hats they produce, allowing the wearer to be more bold, daring... or even violent! Cordelia is a Hatmaker who lives with her Aunt and Uncle, and one day her father becomes lost at sea. Not only that, but France is declaring War on England, and it's up to the various families of Makers to produce peace clothes for the princess. Can Cordelia find her father and stop a looming battle with France?

This book was fun! Cordelia is energetic, and super determined. Though I wish she had opened up to Sam earlier, Cordelia is seemingly tireless at trying to find her father, despite her family's disbelief. I loved how she, Sam and Goose finally got people to begin working together, though it did take things getting pretty bad for all Makers for that to happen.

When Cordelia Hatmaker helped stop Lord Whitloof from causing a war, she thought things would be a breeze. Instead, she’s left with the mystery of the hidden map she’s recently discovered in her father’s telescope. Then she finds herself the newest addition to the Mapmakers, a discovery she’s forced to keep secret, leaving her with yet another mystery on her hands. Just when things are at its hardest, it’s up to Cordelia to get the Maker families to work together or face letting Lord Whitloof destroy magic.

Loved this, start to finish. I was immediately drawn into the beauty of this world through the storytelling, and with magic fizzing in every word, I got carried away and finished before I knew it. The great thing about this is that there is huge potential with this world moving forward, and as this is the first in a series, I am beyond excited to see the adventure Cordelia goes on next. Forgotten magic is like a flower in winter. It disappears down into the depths of the person, and anyone looking could be forgiven for thinking it had gone away completely. But it hasn't gone - it just has to be woken up again." (P.67) That's surprising, because cliche characters usually bother me SOO much, but somehow this was NICE cliche. Which makes no sense, but I just found it kinda cute and endearing. And I did like Cordelia- she was a very strong female MC and I was rooting for her throughout the book. I also enjoyed the way all the characters complimented each other and how they all had such different personalities. So, yes, maybe a little 1-dimensional but since it's middle grade and I still thought they were cute, I'll let it slide. At the end of the Middle Ages, a group of hatmakers from the Low Countries migrated across the North Sea to London. These men brought with them new skills and technologies, unknown to English artisans, becoming the first to manufacture brimmed felts hats in England. However, though their wares were immediately popular with English consumers, from courtiers to ordinary people, they faced an economic environment in London that restricted and sometimes completely disallowed the production and retail of their goods. In the early years of the sixteenth century, the hatmakers' desire to remain independent from regulation and governance by London civic guilds led to their formation of a craft association of their own. The Hatmakers' fraternity of St James operated for about a decade, until in 1511 the royal council mandated their amalgamation with and subordination to the powerful London Haberdashers' Company. In their short period of independence, the Hatmakers' guild wrote bilingual ordinances, in English and Dutch, regulating the craft of hatmaking in London. The small parchment booklet in which they wrote the ordinances, now housed in the London Guildhall Library, contains more than a simple list of craft rules: it reveals how these Dutch craftsmen negotiated their immigrant lives in both the specifics of their artisanal practice and the broader social and linguistic realities of their daily interactions.

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Now, the magic in this book is really fun. One way in which is manifesting is in how the various families Make items. For instance, the Hatmakers imbue their hats with a variety of unique and oftentimes hard to get items--such as moonbeams, storms, and feathers from rare birds--that, when worn, can give the wearer feels of peacefulness, happiness, excitement, you name it. I assume this is also how it works for the Bootmakers, Glovemakers, Cloakmakers, and so on. I loved learning about all of the different trades and their methods of Making various magical items, as well as some tidbits here and there about past events that the Makers have been a part of. Ever since Cordelia discovered the hidden map in her father's precious telescope, she's been searching the streets of London by starlight and trying to uncover its secrets. She's sure that her missing father is out there somewhere, and that if she follows his map, she'll finally discover the truth about his disappearance.