My Red Hat

It all began with a poem called "Warning," by Jenny Joseph, that goes like this: "When I am an old woman I shall wear purple/With a red hat which doesn't go, and doesn't suit me."

Hundreds of thousands of women of a certain age have taken up that poem as their anthem and that red hat as their badgethey (we) will do anything we pleasesociety's constraints beware!

There is the Red Hat Society and there are conventions and tshirts and now there's... My Red Hat, by Jill Larson Sundberg, who knows the value of being old enough to not have to follow the rules. She knows the even greater value of having something as sassy as a red hat as a comforting talisman in times of stress and loneliness. Or as a constant companion, cheering us up and never talking back. Or as a good luck symbol.

This little book couldn't be simpler47 inspirational thoughts, all beginning with My Red Hat:

* puts a bounce in my step.
• * doesn't gossip.
• * never judges me.
• * makes me want to celebrate.

Each is accompanied by a quirky line drawing of a Red Hat woman doing her thing!My Red Hat is the perfect party favor, hostess gift, stocking stuffer, cheererupper, anyday present for any teacher, mentor, sister, mother, friend, or woman of a certain age.

Jill Larson Sundberg is a baby boomer and business woman who runs Access Marketing Systems and sells gift items and books to retailers all over the Upper Midwest.