Because I have adored the books I've read with Cooney illustrations, I grabbed this one on my last library run. While the artwork was stunning, it was really the only thing I liked about this book. The text was rather long for my own personal audience of three 6-year-olds, and I think the ONLY reason they were able to stay put during the read was their interest in the illustrations. The story of Hattie following her dream of becoming an artist gets watered down and lost in the descriptions of fa...

45 months - love Barbara Cooney's illustrations and her stories. I really enjoyed this one the only downfall... It's a long one which makes it really hard to pull out and read as a bedtime story. O always likes to read 4 or more books before bed which is just not possible with this one. Still a lovely story and the illustrations are beautiful American Folk.

5 stars for the illustrations, so beautiful and intricate with such warm colours. The story told of Babara Cooney's mother's childhood and how one day she hoped to become an artist. For me the illustrations really outweighed the text.Read on open library.

For the right audience, wonderful. I found it rather boring, and I couldn't help feeling the plight of the servants. I hope the big sister is happy, now that she's been a beautiful bride... that was apparently her only life goal, so now what? And the mother, who is reduced to shopping and playing cards with her nearly grown youngest daughter... phew, what a life.The biggest problem, for me, is that Hattie (Mae Bossert) was never sufficiently successful to have her work preserved enough to show u...

Nice enough pictures, but the story was really long and droning. There wasn't much point, and what point there was was not skillfully told. My kids just wanted it to end. More of a biography of the author's mother's life than a typical kids story. There were some interesting bits but too many other bits.

Set in New York City at the turn of the 19th century, Hattie is a child of privilege whose parents are successful immigrants. Based on the true life of the Barbara Cooney's mother Mae Bossert Cooney; this is a picture book (possibly biography/memoir) for older readers.

Hmm, wavering between three and four stars. The illustrations are beautiful but the story was a bit lacking. I'm not sure how much I can complain about the story because it's supposedly somewhat biographical about Cooney's own mother, and I did enjoy reading this to an extent, but some parts just didn't make sense. Why, if Hattie's mother's family were all artists and musicians, would Hattie's mother not encourage Hattie's artistic pursuits? The mother proudly displays one of her father's painti...

I have always gravitated towards Barbara Cooney’s books. I adore Miss Rumphius as well as Eleanor and didn’t realize until today that Cooney also illustrated another favorite—Roxaboxen. Hattie and the Wild Waves is also beautiful and richly illustrated with full-page paintings. Cooney includes so many little details in her paintings that readers will definitely want to linger a while. The text is detailed and somewhat lengthy for young readers. However, the rich descriptions of Hattie’s well-to

I did not enjoy this book nearly as much as Miss Rumphius. The illustrations were beautiful though. Worth a look.

I like this book because it was an experience of a different world in the past. This book was almost too detailed to be real, but I loved it because it gave excellent wording for imagining. "Hattie and the Wild Waves" starts off in Brooklyn with Hattie and her family. The time frame is when a lot of Germans were immigrating over to America. Hattie's father was very wealthy and was in the woodwork business. Hattie was the odd one out in the family because she did not always do things that a young...

Let me pick on this book for a minute and share some thoughts on feminism. First, as always, Cooney's pictures are lovely and imaginative! Each page is eye-candy. That's the pro. The con: as with many stories that try to show women coming out from "the dark ages of domesticity," a certain groundwork is laid. It always begins by pointing out that the little girl's sewing was just messy and grimy, that she didn't care about having new dresses, and that she preferred whistling which was so boyish.

I enjoyed the illustrations, but didn't really get the point of this one. Reading that it's based on the author's mother helps to explain why so many extraneous details and plot points that seem to go nowhere are included -- it seems like the setting takes up more attention than the actual story. I just didn't find much interesting in reading about the details of rich people's lives and the different big houses they lived in. Hattie was interesting, but I felt like her story got overshadowed by

Hattie and the Wild Waves, by Barbara Cooney, was an interesting read. While it doesn't give the year, this book takes you back in time to the late 1800's or early 1900's. It follows the life of Hattie, a young girl, and her family. They have come to America from Germany because her father was in the woodwork business, which made their family really rich. Her mother would stay home with the children. Her family had a maid, nursemaid, and a cook. They also had a yacht and other houses in New York...

This book presents a lifestyle that most readers will be astounded by - did people really live like this? The illustrations and descriptive language is lovely and the message of the story is vital for children to hear. There is a lot of text, which might turn some kids off.

I have mixed feelings about this book. I personally enjoyed reading it, but I don't think my students would relate to it. It's about a very wealthy family in the early 20th century, and how a little girl with dreams of becoming an artist didn't give up on her dream despite being told that girls are meant to become wives and mothers. I like the message, but don't think my kids will relate to it.

The artwork alone is truly excellent. At first I thought this was a completely odd choice for a children's book: a picture-book period piece. And it's about extremely wealthy people. Who is the target audience for this book? I don't know many people who could relate to it. But then, "as waves of music filled the opera house, a young woman, down on the stage, sang her heart out. Hattie … sat transfixed. The time had come, she realized, for her to paint her heart out." It's a story about overcomin...

One of my favorite things to do is write plays based on children's stories. I wrote one, years ago, based on Cooney's book Miss Rumphius, one of my childhood favorites. When I saw this story by her, one I had not read, I immediately grabbed it up. It was a heartwarming story based on the life of Cooney's mother. Hattie was the child of immigrants, and she had big dreams. The story took us on a journey with her, as she worked toward becoming an artist.

The illustrations in this book are really beautiful and the story is based upon the author's mom's childhood. Honestly, I would have liked to know more about Hattie. I only checked it out because I wanted to look at the pictures (I'm such a child when it comes to illustrations and colors)and then ended up being interested in Hattie herself. If I had a child I would buy this book for them.

Another wonderful book with story and illustrations by Barbara Cooney. I love the story of Hattie (based on Cooney's grandmother) and how she grows up to be exactly what she's always dreamed of. I am absolutely charmed by Cooney's illustrations. They are so beautifully quaint and simple.