ALA Booklist

As everyone well knows, there's nothing so cheering as a good fashion accessory. Here Won takes the idea a step further: Elephant wakes up grumpy, but the mood doesn't survive the discovery of a gift box on the porch with a fabulous multilayered hat inside. Off Elephant rushes to show d cleverly share with ouchy Zebra. Soon there's an entire parade of formerly grumpy friends marching along beneath new hats and chanting the titular exclamation. Ultimately the original headpiece is reassembled as a gift for Giraffe, who isn't feeling well, and all gather for a final shout: HOORAY FOR FRIENDS! Won's expressively posed animal figures and the spare narrative are placed on white backgrounds that both brighten the colors and give each scene a clean, spacious look. Moreover, the repeated chorus endows the episode with storytime-friendly rhythm and predictability. A tip of the hat to this buoyant debut.

Horn Book

Elephant's grumpy mood dissolves after he finds a box of hats on his doorstep. Cheered, he shares them with each of his friends, lifting their sour moods as well. Clean, richly colored illustrations feature an accumulating procession of upbeat animals, and the contrasting refrains ("GO AWAY! I'M GRUMPY!"; "HOORAY FOR HAT!") emphasize the larger message of the power of sharing one's joy.

Kirkus Reviews

All the animals are grumpy until a surprise brightens their day in this tale about the joy of sharing. With eyebrows knit and feet clenched, Elephant stomps downstairs. A black-scribble cloud hovers over his head. But his anger melts into delight when he finds a gift on the doorstep—a tall and very silly hat comprising many other hats stacked one on top of the other. Happily, Elephant puts it on, exclaiming, "Hooray for hat!" Wanting to show others, he runs from one home to the next, distributing hats one by one and perking up his crabby crew of friends. When Elephant's hats are all gone, the pals each contribute their own to make a new gift for Giraffe. The artwork, done in a pastel palette, is appealing and playful, and the heritage of Mary Blair can be seen in the spreads. Everything—from the composition of the characters to the way the images are placed with relation to the type—is well-designed. Won especially plays with definition, form and color. As each surly animal is introduced, it becomes less defined: Turtle is a shell, Owl a silhouette and Lion a dark cave. But when the animals join the hat party, they emerge in expressive, full form. This lighthearted story revels in the small acts that make life better—cheers all around. (Picture book. 3-7)

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

In this debut, Won explores the way a simple gift and a little attention from friends can have nearly magical healing properties. -When Elephant woke up, he was very grumpy,- Won starts, drawing the elephant with dark frowning eyebrows and scribbly black lines above his head. The doorbell rings. -Go away! I-m grumpy!- he scowls. But the delivery is a box full of hats, and Elephant cheers right up after putting them on in a tall stack: -I-ll show Zebra!- His good deed has the knock-on effect of a line of dominoes. Zebra and the animals that follow are all grumpy, each gets a hat, and the cheer spreads. Won-s retro-style artwork uses muted hues and gives forms volume with watercolor-style shading. Owl-s hat is a sort of graduation cap meets awning affair, while Elephant-s has both a cuckoo and a handy cupholder. -I love this hat,- Lion says when they arrive at his cave. -But I can-t cheer while our friend Giraffe is not feeling well. What can we do?- Readers will know the answer to this one. Ages 4-8. Agency: East West Literary Agency. (June)

School Library Journal

PreS-K Everyone wakes up in a bad mood now and again, and Elephant is no exception. When the doorbell rings, he stomps down the stairs shouting, "GO AWAY! I'M GRUMPY"the first of two refrains in the book, this one printed in large black caps. Elephant finds a surprise present: a box of whimsical hats! Putting the whole stack on his head, the now happy pachyderm shouts, "HOORAY FOR HAT!" with the second refrain in extra large multicolored caps. He goes to visit his friend Zebra, who is also grumpy. Elephant gives Zebra one of the hats, which instantly lifts her spirits. They drop in on their grouchy friends Turtle, Owl, Lion, and Giraffe, giving out hats and cheer, and becoming a veritable parade as each animal joins in on the fun. Though created digitally, Won's bold minimalist illustrations truly look like saturated watercolors, wonderfully offset by the expansive white background. The accompanying text matches the illustrations in its simplicity and formulaic repetition, making this tale a good choice for both beginning readers and for storytimes, especially if accompanied by a silly hat craft. A lighthearted celebration of friendship and sharing that does not hit the readers over the head with its moral. Yelena Alekseyeva-Popova, formerly at Chappaqua Library, NY