Madeline and the Bad Hat

Madeline #3

by Ludwig Bemelmans

One day the Spanish ambassador moves into the Parisian house next door to Miss Clavel, Madeline, and her 11 classmates. And, His Excellency has a boy! Pepito, as he is named, is not just any boy: according to Madeline, he is a "bad hat"--for starters, he's equipped with an irksome slingshot, he "ghosts," and he boasts. And when Miss Clavel gives him a box of tools to function as an "outlet for his energy," he makes a guillotine for the cook's chickens. ("He ate them ROASTED, GRILLED, AND FRITO! Oh what a horror was PEPITO.") Children will love Ludwig Bemelmans's jaunty rhymes and simple, evocative drawings, and the ferocity with which the feisty Madeline suspects, condemns, and rebuffs the boisterous new boy neighbor. In the end, however, everything comes out right, and we, along with Miss Clavel, can relax. (Ages 4 to 8) --Karin Snelson

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Fiction, Classics, France, Poetry, Kids

54 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1956

About the author

Ludwig Bemelmans, Austrian-American illustrator, wrote books, such as Madeline in 1939, for children, and his experiences in the restaurant business based Hotel Splendide , adult fiction in 1940.

People internationally knew Ludwig Bemelmans, an author and a gourmand. People today most note his six publications to 1961. After his death, people discovered and posthumously published a seventh in 1999.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_...

Reviews

[Katherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

More like he's wearing bad hat.

There are so many awesomely disturbing things about this book. Home-made guillotines, old-fashioned usage of the word "molest", torturing animals, dog-fighting, shooting little girls in the butt with slingshots. Children's books are awesome.

[Hilary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pepito the son of the Spanish ambassador moves in next door to Madeline's house. He catches animals, catapults bending girls and eventually catches a cat with the purpose of letting it loose with some dogs. Because of his cruelty he is injured and has time to reflect in hospital. Wise Miss Clavel realises Pepito was unkind because he was lonely and bored. A repentant Pepito vows to release his trapped wild animals and becomes a vegetarian.

As always lovely illustrations, funny rhyming and kind messages.

[Hamed Manoochehri · Rating 5 out of 5]

این یکی یه پله بامزه تر و تاریک تر از قبلیا بود.

[Spencer Orey · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little dated. There's some casual violence against animals, and like a lot of old books, language that simply isn't acceptable today.

But there's a good heart to the story, and it's a good lesson overall that some "bad" kids might just be looking for acceptance.

[Ronyell · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Madeline and the Bad Hat” is another book created by Ludwig Bemelmans’ famous “Madeline” collection (and was also transformed into an episode for the “Madeline” cartoon series) that details Madeline’s adventures in France. This time, Madeline meets up with Pepito, the Bad Hat, who causes trouble for Madeline and the other girls. This book might be the darkest of all the “Madeline” books, but its exciting storyline and cute illustrations make up for that.

Ludwig Bemelmans does an excellent job on both illustrations and writing Madeline’s newest adventure. Ludwig Bemelmans writes the story in a rhyming text, the most memorable lines being:

“And lo and behold, the former Barbarian,
turned into a vegetarian.”

Ludwig Bemelmans chooses his words carefully to make sure that the story moves along smoothly without making the rhyming text sound like nonsense. Ludwig Bemelmans’ illustrations are also highlighted in this book as he draws the characters in simplistic yet colorful images. I especially like the way that he makes some of the images be shown in yellow and white coloring and some images where he uses all types of colors such as the image where he shows the landscape of Paris.



Parents should know that there are some violent and sad scenes in this book. Children might see the scenes where Pepito cuts off the chickens’ heads and eats them (even though we do not see the chickens’ heads being cut off but we do see a guillotine and chickens being dragged by their necks towards the guillotine) and the scene where he is attacked by dogs (this is more graphic as we see dogs jumping on top of Pepito) as both sad and violent. Parents who do not want their children to be exposed to this type of violence might want to skip these pages to avoid any discomfort from the children.

“Madeline and the Bad Hat” is one of the most deep and darkest of all the “Madeline” books, but is also a cute story about the consequences of being bad and how one can redeem his or herself if they have done horrible things to other people such as Pepito trying to make things right after his bad behavior. I would strongly recommend this book to children ages five and up due to the smaller children being a bit worried about the violent and sad scenes displayed in this book.

Review is also on: Rabbit Ears Book Blog

[Shiloah · Rating 4 out of 5]

A story illustrating that “horrid brats” learn lessons from natural consequences. Je t’aime, Madeline!

[Daina Chakma · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Abigail · Rating 2 out of 5]

Feisty French schoolgirl meets high-spirited Spanish schoolboy in this third picture-book adventure from Austrian-American children's author Ludwig Bemelmans, and sparks fly. When the Spanish Ambassador and his family move in next door to her boarding school in Paris, Miss Clavel is thrilled, but Madeline has her doubts, especially when it comes to his son Pepito, whom she nicknames "The Bad Hat." Her dislike appears at first to be well founded, as Pepito engages in all sorts of bad behavior - throwing rocks at the girls, during their morning exercise; using a toolbox given to him by Miss Clavel to create a guillotine for chickens; releasing a hapless cat in the midst of a pack of hungry dogs, in order to see what happens - but when his stunts take him too far, and Miss Clavel and Madeline must come to his rescue, his reformation is soon put into motion...

Originally published in 1956, Madeline and the Bad Hat contains some very interesting themes - Pepito's initial mistreatment of animals, his subsequent reformation and conversion to vegetarianism, and his exuberant freeing of all the animals in the zoo - and introduces a character, in the form of Pepito, who plays an important role in the two subsequent books, Madeline in London and Madeline and the Gypsies . Unfortunately, any interest elicited in this reader by the themes, or enjoyment created through the humor - I did love Madeline's "Bad Hat" nickname for Pepito, as I found it very funny - was not enough to compensate for artwork that left me cold, and a rhyming text that I found clunky and unappealing. I'm having difficulty accounting for all the glowing reviews that mention the poetic narrative with this one, as I thought the rhyming was forced - "On hot summer nights he ghosted; / In the autumn wind he boasted" - and the lines often read awkwardly. Definitely the weakest, of the three Madeline books I've read thus far.

[Judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved the first Madeline book when I was a kid. Then I grew up and never read the rest. This one is the third in the series of six books. The Spanish ambassador moves in next door with his wife and son. The boy is intriguing to the six girls living with Miss Clavel but Madeline deems him a “bad hat.”

That he is. The kind of boy everyone knows who stirs up trouble. I had one living next door when I was five. A boy who pulled the wings off flies and tried to spy on my little sister who was using the bathroom in our house. My mother could not stand him.

When my sons were in grade school, they took up with such a boy. He was a juvenile delinquent in development. I did not usually censor my kids’ friends but I did mention that perhaps he was not a good companion for them. My older son announced that they knew that but were trying to help him!

As does Madeline in this story. Funny how books bring back memories.

[Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

To check out all my reviews: http://dancinginth3dark.blogspot.com

I completely forgot that I actually read this book weeks ago and haven't bother to write a review which I apologize because now looking back I have no recollection about my true feelings when it comes to this book. I adore Madeline and I will definitely continue reading the series and I hope there will be interesting storylines along the way. The illustrations are marvelous and I love the references Ludwig Bemelmans make with illustrating famous buildings and locations of Paris.

Everything is going wonderful for Madeline and the rest of the girls until they meet their new neighbor who is the Spanish Ambassador of Spain and his son named Pepito. The girls are excited for their new companion until they see he likes to terrorize every one in his sights. The adults do not see the havoc he causes especially when it comes to animal cruelty and his awful pranks but karma comes back to bite him in the butt.

Peptic tries to pull a prank involving dogs and a cat but it backfires and he gets injured and full of scratches everywhere. He is luckily saved and head to the hospital to be fixed up by the local doctors. Madeline and the girls head to the hospital to see Pepito and Madeline is of course the chosen one and gets to speak to Pepito. You may think that Madeline is humble and is worried about Pepito but clearly you have never met a child who holds a grudge to someone who performs awful violence and cruelty to others. Madeline essentially gives him a dose of his medicine and he learns she has no sympathy for him. He feels bad about the whole experience and decides to change his ways and becomes the good boy that everyone loves.

I just realized now that my review portrays Pepito like a demented child but I realize children sometimes do not know any better and cause harm to others. There is not much mention about his parents but I guarantee you between having his father in a high-level position, and his parents living the bourgeois lifestyle, they may not be paying attention to Pepito and providing the love and attention that a child needs on a daily bases. Plus I believe when someone feels genuine pain and suffering they are less likely to harm other living beings especially animals.

Was this better than the original Madeline book? HELL TO THE NO but it wasn't awful either. This series honestly could have gone on for over 10 books and this would have been one that necessarily wasn't important but nonetheless introduced a vital character in the Madeline series. I still cannot wrap my head around that Madeline is not an orphan and Miss Clavel is not a nun!

[Chrissie · Rating 5 out of 5]

My hardcover book was published in 1956!

[Dianna · Rating 5 out of 5]

2009: This might be my favorite of the Madeline books now. It is so cute; I love reading about all the trouble that Pepito gets into.

[Kaethe · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked the thoroughly bad hat, Pepito. The wonderful thing about children's books is that bad characters can be redeemed, plausibly.

[Frank McGirk · Rating 5 out of 5]

Man...I shoulda been reading Madeline books as a kid. Bad Ass, more like it.

[Belinda Vlasbaard · Rating 5 out of 5]

4,5 stars - English paperback classic

[S46354595 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Why are these books so insane?

[Ophelia · Rating 5 out of 5]

so stressful when he was being mean!

[Aneesa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Msg me if you want to see Andrea's video diatribe against this book.

[Eva-Marie Nevarez · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm loving these Madeline books as much as Julia, if not more! I feel like such a bad Mommy for waiting so long to read them. :( I really wish I would have found these when Julia was a baby so she could have already had them around for the past 6 years. But, we're making up for lost time.
And I'm very pleased the first Madeline book we took out from the library was an audio book - the narrator reads so well - so much better than I ever could and it only adds to the entire experience.
I think I need to purchase them all but I think I also need to make sure we get the audio editions as well. Just in case.
This is just like the others we've read. I love Miss Clavel and I love the illustrations as much as the story. (I'm going on about my feelings and not Julia's.) :-D
Julia really likes them all as well and this is one of the few characters she wants to keep coming back to. We read so many books together and most of them always introduce new characters. But Julia keeps asking me to find more Madeline books so I know these are sticking with her long after we close the latest book.

[Dolly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I do not remember this story from my childhood, but I read many of the books in the Madeline series, so it's likely that it's a reread. We got this book as part of a kit from our local library, with an audio CD narrated by Linda Terheyden and we enjoyed following along with the book. It's a fun story, but with some of the odd language and disturbing events, I'm not so sure that it stands the test of time quite as well as the original story.

[Katt Hansen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd only read the first book in this series before today and was left a bit...flummoxed by this one. I'm giving it 4 stars because some of this is delightful - read in context of the time it's written, I find it hilarious that he shoots his slingshot at the girls as they exercise (does that make me a bad person) and the guillotine...good grief! But really the story does pull me in and was fun to read just to see where it went next.

[Sheila · Rating 4 out of 5]

In my opinion this is one of the better Madeline stories, along with the original Madeline. This book introduces us to Pepito, the son of the Spanish Amabassador, who is the "bad hat" of the story. I like that this story has a nice moral message to it, and of course I like the classic rhyming nature of all these Madeline stories.

[Amy · Rating 2 out of 5]

A little boy who plays with guillotines for fun gets reformed into a nice kid.

[Amar Pai · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really love all the Madeline books. Just consistently brilliant.

[Judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one is somewhat stereotypical with the little boy acting out and the girls being tame and timid. Kindness to animals is admired. Introduces the idea of an ambassador.

[Michelle A · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not a review, rather I would like to note that this is the exact same book as The Gardener's Manifesto -- truly. I own both -- which has an avg. 4.2 rating.

[Katie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hey, what the Christ is wrong with that kid, Jesus. I get it’s a story but this is a sadly realistic story of a little boy who’s growing in progressively more psychopathic behavior, but gets excused with being misunderstood and needing an outlet. Good on Madeline and the other girls for recognizing his insane and abusive behavior. (Like seriously, how am I supposed to feel bad for a kid who tosses a cat into the middle of a horde of violent dogs??).

Personal grievances aside, the story is told well and is (mostly) simple to read. Something to note is that there is a line where they use the term ‘molest’ as the dated meaning of ‘pester or harass’. This will likely need discussion or potentially a word replacement (though I’m not fond of censorship, that’s a very serious term with important modern meaning that should be taught before introducing alternative definitions).

Overall, the story makes good conversation on early warning signs in kids and demonstrates the abuse young girls have to endure while boys continue to be ‘boys’.

[Rose Rosetree · Rating 5 out of 5]

Now that I know -- from the Goodreads blurber -- that these books are designed for children from 4 to 8? I'm reassured.

The degree of plausibility for this title will work out just fine.

What? What plausibility? Plausibility about the naughty deeds of new next-door neighbor Pepito, that's what plausibility?

Really, he built himself a guillotine... All the better to slaughter the local chickens?

YET LUDWIG'S BOOKS ARE SO GOSH-DARNED LOVEABLE

The pictures strike me as superbly entertaining.

Also I like how he handled the rhyming couplets.

Even better, the oddball elements of the plot alternate nicely with the familiar ritualistic repetitions, such as:

They went home and broke their bread
And brushed their teeth and went to bed".

FIVE STARS to Herr Bemelmans, artist and author.

[Noël · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, I'm calling it for 2021. I had set my reading goal to 40 books (because I was turning 40 this year) but now that I'm down to novellas and children's books, I think it's time to politely bow out.

I picked this book as my final one for nostalgia sake (obviously a re-read). It was given to me in elementary school as a reward for doing the "Book It" reading program; I thought it would be appropriate to end the year with this sweet gem.

I loved all the Madeline books growing up! The charming illustrations of Paris and the rhyming phrases make it breeze by, however, I forgot how dark this one is and how the "bad hat" is really just a poor little rich boy seeking attention. Took one star off for that, but still wonderful.

[Debra Daniels-Zeller · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked Madeline's Rescue so much I decided to get a few more and this book was also well-done. In this book Madeline meets Pepito, the Spanish Ambassador's son, and he's a wild child who bags up a cat and lets it out in front of a pack of dogs for fun. The cat climbs on Pepito's head injuring him. And when Madeline and the girls go visit, Madeline calls Pepito a horrid brat and says they will all keep their eyes on him. Pepito turns over a new leaf he becomes a vegetarian and loves animals and all the girls loved him in the end. I had no idea the Madeline stories were ahead of their time. I want to read them all now.