Book Review: This Is Not My Hat by Jon Klassen

This Is Not My Hat by Jon Klassen
Published by Candlewick Press
Pages: 40
Ages: 4-8
Buy It: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Powell’s Books | Indiebound | Book Depository
Publishers Summary:

When a tiny fish shoots into view wearing a round blue topper (which happens to fit him perfectly), trouble could be following close behind. So it’s a good thing that enormous fish won’t wake up. And even if he does, it’s not like he’ll ever know what happened. . . . Visual humor swims to the fore as the best-selling Jon Klassen follows his breakout debut with another deadpan-funny tale.

Turkeybird May Have a Hat: It’s not a good thing to take other people’s things. My mom told me that the fish in the story wasn’t very good for taking the BIG fish’s hat, but I feel bad that the little fish got eaten all gone. I don’t want to be eaten so I think I probably won’t take any people’s stuff. Maybe that’s what happened to the rabbit from the other book, the BIG fish ate him! Maybe. Well, I did take my mom’s hat, but I don’t think my mom will eat me. I hope not. I don’t think she could. I think. At least it’s not the BIG fish’s hat, that would be bad!

Mom’s Two Cents: This Is Not My Hat is the follow-up to the very popular and hilarious I Want My Hat Back by Jon Klassen. In this new tale a very small fish steals a very small bowler hat from a quite large fish that couldn’t possibly want such a tiny hat, or so the small fish thinks. When suddenly the large fish comes to the realization that his prized hat has gone missing he doesn’t stop until it’s resting securely on his head, with no small fish to be found. Much like the darkly humorous I Want My Hat Back, This Is Not My Hat explores the dangers and consequences associated with taking what is not ours.

Jon Klassen has done it again! This was a book at the top of my “must-read” list this year for a reason and of course it didn’t let me down. It was also one I was determined to pick up while at BEA. Thankfully I was able to not only pick up a copy, but meet Jon in the process. It was a wonderful opportunity and in fact he mentioned that he shared our picture collage rendition of I Want My Hat Back from our review with his mom because he was so flattered! I have to say, that is pretty incredible!

Back to This Is Not My Hat…in this new take on a bit of thievery gone bad Klassen explores the opposite side of the coin from what was done in I Want My Hat Back, this time from the point of view of the thief. What was most thrilling about This Is Not My Hat was the chase. It was incredibly fun to watch both of my kiddos as we read through the story for the first time and they followed along waiting to see what would happen to the very small fish. Yes, much as they did with the previous book, they wondered what exactly happened to the small fish and though Littlebug seemed sad to see the small fish go, they both understood the message of what they’d read. In a way the story of a big fish eating a smaller fish was also a bit more palatable than the bear sitting on the rabbit, at least for younger readers who seem to naturally understand the cycle of life. That being said, the messages they learn from the story are very clear, don’t steal and know that there are always consequences to your actions.

Now, very quickly I need to talk about how much I adore these illustrations. Adore is probably too light of a word because I’m absolutely in love with the artwork in this picture book. Last year Klassen shared a video that he’d produced with a fellow artist for an art gallery showing and much of the illustrations on the video are similar to the look and feel of This Is Not My Hat:

Isn’t it beautiful? After having read This Is Not My Hat you can almost imagine the very small fish and the large fish traveling through those waters together.

This Is Not My Hat by Jon Klassen is the follow-up picture book to the brilliant and darkly humorous I Want My Hat Back. As readers follow the story of one very popular hat they discover the message that there are always consequences to our actions. Jon Klassen is an absolute favorite in our house, not only for his wonderfully unique storytelling, but also for his gorgeous artwork and illustrations. We’ve thoroughly enjoyed reading This Is Not My Hat and both of the kiddos, no matter how many times we’ve read it, always eagerly anticipate the fate of the very small fish hoping that maybe, just this once, he’ll get away with the hat.

The1stdaughter Recommends: Ages 3 to 10. Beautiful illustrations, strong stand-out characters and a message about not stealing that will hit home with young readers.

In case you’ve missed our enthusiasm for anything and everything related to Jon Klassen check out these posts:

20 Question Interview with the Turkeybird and Jon Klassen
Our review and remake of I Want My Hat Back
Our Favorite Picture Books of 2011
The Year of the Picture Book – This is Not My Hat by Jon Klassen
A Message from Littlebug to Author Jon Klassen

Find This Is Not My Hat by Jon Klassen (Expected pub. date: October 09, 2012) at the following spots:
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Powell’s Books | Indiebound | Book Depository | Goodreads

Thank you so much to the publisher, Candlewick Press, for providing a copy of this book for review during our trip to BEA! Connect with them on Twitter, Google+ and on Facebook!
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