''Madeline and the Bad Hat'' is a children's picture book by

Ludwig Bemelmans Ludwig Bemelmans (April 27, 1898 – October 1, 1962) was an Austrian-American writer and illustrator of children's books and adult novels. He is known best for the ''Madeline'' picture books. Six were published, the first in 1939. Early life B ...

featuring the popular children's character

Madeline ''Madeline'' is a media franchise that originated as a series of children's books written and illustrated by Ludwig Bemelmans, an Austrian-American author. The books have been adapted into numerous formats, spawning telefilms, television series a ...

. It was first published by

Viking Press Viking Press (formally Viking Penguin, also listed as Viking Books) is an American publishing company owned by Penguin Random House. It was founded in New York City on March 1, 1925, by Harold K. Guinzburg and George S. Oppenheim and then acquire ...

in 1956.

Plot

The story opens as the

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

Ambassador An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or sov ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

moves into the house neighboring the

boarding school A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. As they have existed for many centuries, and now exten ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. The girls attending the school, including Madeline, watch the ambassador and his

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

move in with interest. Ms. Clavel, a

nun A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery or convent.''The Oxford English Dictionary'', vol. X, page 599. The term is o ...

tasked with caring for the girls, points out that the Ambassador has a young son about their age. Immediately, Madeline judges the boy (known as Pepito) as a "Bad Hat", or trouble-maker. Pepito performs many antics that vex the schoolgirls, including shooting them with a

slingshot A slingshot is a small hand-powered projectile weapon. The classic form consists of a Y-shaped frame, with two natural rubber strips or tubes attached to the upper two ends. The other ends of the strips lead back to a pocket that holds the pro ...

. However, whenever Ms. Clavel is present, he acts like a polite

gentleman A gentleman (Old French: ''gentilz hom'', gentle + man) is any man of good and courteous conduct. Originally, ''gentleman'' was the lowest rank of the landed gentry of England, ranking below an esquire and above a yeoman; by definition, the ra ...

, earning her admiration much to the girls' chagrin. One day, after about a year of living next to each other, Pepito invites the girls to visit his home and view his

menagerie A menagerie is a collection of captive animals, frequently exotic, kept for display; or the place where such a collection is kept, a precursor to the modern Zoo, zoological garden. The term was first used in 17th-century France, in reference to ...

. He has captured many

animals Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms in the biological kingdom Animalia. With few exceptions, animals consume organic material, breathe oxygen, are able to move, can reproduce sexually, and go through an ontogenetic stage in ...

in the neighborhood and keeps them interned in his room. Madeline rebuffs him and tells him no one is interested in his menagerie. The girls concur and decline his invitation. Feeling dejected, Pepito changes his clothes into that of a Spanish Torero, assuming the girls will find that interesting. Madeline again shuts him down more forcefully, saying the girls don't view bull fighting as noble. Pepito leaves feeling lonely and shuts himself in his room. Ms. Clavel decides that Pepito simply has pent up energy and needs a hobby to vent his feelings rather than pull pranks. On a daily walk, she takes the girls to a toy store and buys a tool chest for Pepito to learn a trade. Later over dinner she hears Pepito using the tools to work on a project and assumes the matter has been settled. The girls soon see that Pepito has used the tool chest the construct a guillotine to slaughter the cook's chickens, which disturbs them greatly. The girls later encounter Pepito at a forested area, carrying a large sack which attracts a growing pack of

dogs The dog (''Canis familiaris'' or ''Canis lupus familiaris'') is a domesticated descendant of the wolf. Also called the domestic dog, it is derived from the extinct Pleistocene wolf, and the modern wolf is the dog's nearest living relative. Do ...

. The girls follow with curiosity. Ms. Clavel asserts that Pepito is simply misunderstood and is bringing the dogs food. Pepito then releases a

cat The cat (''Felis catus'') is a domestic species of small carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species in the family Felidae and is commonly referred to as the domestic cat or house cat to distinguish it from the wild members of ...

from the sack, announcing a game of tag to the dogs. The cat then jumps on Pepito's head, causing the dogs to tackle and maul him. Pepito screams for help as Ms. Clavel and Madeline rush to the scene. Ms. Clavel is able to get the dogs away from Pepito as Madeline assures that the cat is not injured. At the Spanish

Embassy A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from a state or organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving or host state. In practice, the phrase usually deno ...

, Pepito's parents and the embassy staff all cry in fear for Pepito's well-being. The Ambassador invites the girls to visit Pepito in his room, to cheer him up. Madeline is the first one in to visit Pepito. Pepito is in bed, wearing a sling and many

bandages A bandage is a piece of material used either to support a medical device such as a dressing or splint, or on its own to provide support to or to restrict the movement of a part of the body. When used with a dressing, the dressing is applie ...

. Madeline asserts her belief that Pepito deserved to be mauled for his abusive behavior towards the cat. Pepito apologizes and promises to change his ways. Madeline accepts his apology and says the girls will monitor him. Pepito begins to change, becoming a

vegetarian Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slaughter. Vegetarianism m ...

and, with the girls' help, releasing the animals from his menagerie. Pepito's empathy gets to be too much when they visit the

zoo A zoo (short for zoological garden; also called an animal park or menagerie) is a facility in which animals are kept within enclosures for public exhibition and often bred for Conservation biology, conservation purposes. The term ''zoological g ...

, however. Pepito begins to release the

from their captivity causing chaos. As Pepito goes to release the

lions The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large cat of the genus ''Panthera'' native to Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body; short, rounded head; round ears; and a hairy tuft at the end of its tail. It is sexually dimorphic; adult ...

the girls panic, but Madeline stops him by telling him that he had nothing left to prove and that he is no longer a Bad Hat. She tells him that he means well and the girls are proud of him now. Pepito accepts her laudation and ends his spree of releasing the animals. Later at night after the mess at the zoo has been cleaned up, the girls return home, have dinner, and brush their teeth. They wave to Pepito through the window before going to bed. As Ms. Clavel turns out the light, she remarks that she knew that things would end well.

Adaptations

Pepito is also a main character in the stories ''

Madeline and the Gypsies ''Madeline and the Gypsies'' is a children's picture book by Ludwig Bemelmans featuring Bemelman's popular character Madeline. It was first published in 1959 by Viking Press under the Viking Juvenile imprint. Plot Pepito, the son of the Spanish A ...

'' and ''

Madeline in London ''Madeline in London'' is a children's picture book by Ludwig Bemelmans. It features popular children's character Madeline. It was published in the August 1961 issue of '' Holiday Magazine'', complete with Bemelmans's drawings.Bemelmans, Ludwig, ...

'', but in the TV series, he has three cousins named Paquito, Pablito and Panchito who are much worse than he himself was.

References

{{Madeline 1956 children's books American picture books Children's fiction books Fiction about animal cruelty Viking Press books