Customer Reviews

I Want My Hat Back

5 star:		(60)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(16)

 

 

I am a 2nd Grade teacher and you can only read Mo Willem's excellent 'Pigeon' books so many times before apathy sets in. When 'I Want My Hat Back' arrived, I took it immediately to school and implanted its delightful message into the brains of my young students.

After reading the tale -- 34 perplexed eyes, cocked in disbelief, greeted me.

"Did that bear...?"
Yes he did, kids...yes he did.

The pace, the art, the whole package is immediately accessible and enjoyable. Subsequent readings of the book have been met with cheers and choral readings of "WAIT! I HAVE SEEN MY HAT!!!"

Jon Klassen has rocketed to the top of my 'Must Buy' list. I can't wait to see what he has in store for us in the future. A classroom full of new fans waits patiently for his next book.

I knew it! I knew it, I knew it, I knew it, I knew it, I knew it! When Caroline Stutson's Cats' Night Out was released by Simon & Schuster in 2010 it contained art by an animator going by the moniker of Jon Klassen. And frankly I just thought it contained some of the slickest art I'd seen in a picture book in a long while. I hardly even noticed that he was the same guy behind the pictures found in The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place by Maryrose Wood. Still and all, until now he hadn't illustrated his own book. I was fairly certain he might at some point, and I wasn't sure I'd be looking forward to it. I mean, I thought the man was grand, but could he tell a story? Well, turns out I was right about the fact that his art is magnificent and now, with the release of his first author/illustrator picture book I Want My Hat Back, Klassen shows once and for all that his storytelling talents match his illustration technique pound for pound.

A bear has lost his hat. To find it he questions a variety of woodland creatures including a fox, a frog, a turtle, a possum, a dear, a snake and a rabbit. The rabbit, for the record, refuses to acknowledge having seen the hat in spite of the fact that he appears to be wearing it. And when the bear realizes the true culprit there will be a price to pay. A deeply amusing price. Painted with Chinese ink and digital art, Klassen's book falls into that growing category of subversive picture books out there. What makes it stand out, however, is how beautifully put together it all is.

A criticism leveled at the aforementioned Cats' Night Out involved the expressionless faces of Klassen's kitties. Here you had a book where felines engage in a variety of different dances, yet their faces retain the exact same universal look of deep concentration. I thought it was a hoot. Other folks felt it made the cats too cold and static. So it will be with great interest that I watch the critical reception of I Want My Hat Back. That is because here, being expressionless isn't just the name of the game, it's a comedic technique. Klassen can do more with the set of this bear's head than most artists do with entire bodies. And watch how the eyes work in this book. For most of the spreads the bear and other animals are looking right at you. All that changes the instant the bear lies on the ground, despairing of ever finding his hat again. Now his eyes, and the eyes of the other characters, are looking at one another. It isn't until you get to the final coup de grace that you realize that the bear is looking at you once more.

As I mentioned before, Mr. Klassen is one of those animators-turned-picture-book-artist. Usually when you encounter one of these (like, say, Tony Fucile or Carter Goodrich) their strength lies in the sheer number of expressions they can pack into a given character. Klassen seems to have taken a direct 180-degree turn in the opposite direction. Expressions here are all about the subtleties, but in spite of that you can still tell he has a cinematic background. For example, there is his use of the pregnant pause. At one moment two characters confront one another on a wordless two-page spread and with just the slightest tweak to their pupils, Klassen creates a world of tension. There's also his use of color (a sudden red infusion on a page where the bear realizes where he last saw his hat) and sudden movement. Essentially, this artist has figured out that picture books bear more similarities to short films than any other literary medium (I might make an exception for graphic novels when I say that). The result? He makes the maximum use of the form.

Then there's the language. Klassen utilizes very simple words here, and right from the start the reader is struck by how polite the characters are. Each time the bear finds himself disappointed he offers a quiet "Thank you anyway" and moves along. The turtle too says, "Yes, please" when the bear offers to place him on top of a rock he's been trying to find. Really, only the rabbit is a rude critter here, and we know where rudeness will get you (don't we children?). Aside from the stellar pacing which allows the story to flow seamlessly I also loved Klassen's use of the Rule of Three. We meet two characters that have not seen the bear's hat to establish the storyline, then run smack dab into the sneaky rabbit. It makes it all the funnier when the bear continues his quest, oblivious of the rabbit's incredibly obvious guilt. And so while I haven't tried this book as a readaloud quite yet, I have high hopes. If the adults don't freak out over the ending, of course.

Why would an ending cause parental concern? Well, I don't want to give anything away, but I will say that the book ends with a kind of Emily Gravett/Mini Grey finish. Which is to say, it has a twisted, almost British sense of humor to it. Consider this your official spoiler alert if you like. All set? Okay, so in the last sequence in the book a squirrel inquires after the rabbit and the bear replies with a long, shaken response that pretty much makes it clear as crystal that he ate the offending bunny. This is followed, interestingly enough, by a final silent two-page spread of the bear sitting alone. It's interesting that Klassen preceded that speech with the bear saying, "I love my hat" and doesn't end the book with that statement instead. Still and all, the American consumer is not used to finding devoured bunnies in picture books. The fact that the bear has done so off-screen (as it were) will do little to alleviate tender parental fears. Allow me to point out then that due to Klassen's sophisticated storytelling, small children will not understand the rabbit's fate, while the cannier older ones will not only get the joke but revel in it. When we recommend picture books to four through eight year olds, we rarely see titles that really do span the spectrum. This book is one of the few. Plus I was really amused by how torn up the plants that had been around the rabbit end up when the bear sits contentedly with his hat at the end.

If I were to sum up this picture book in one word I think I would go with this: Deadpan. And deadpan picture books are rare beasts indeed. They can be done (Edward Gorey's work comes to mind) but pulling them off so that they're as appealing to children as they are to adults is no small feat. I think Klassen got away with it here, though. It'll be the wry child that takes to I Want My Hat Back but the world is full of wry youth. So equally consider both the five-year-old in your life as well as the irony-filled college grad when looking for the right gift. Klassen is straddling the market and we end up the winners. A great little book.

For ages 4-8.

My sons, ages 5 and 7, received this as a Christmas gift. I had never heard of the book before this, so I had no preconceived notions of how good/bad it was and I'm grateful I didn't.

First of all, there is something to be said for the simplicity of the story, the illustrations and the tongue-in-cheek humor that is an undertone throughout this book. My sons both loved the illustrations and the story in general. I did have to reread the end of the book to see if I understood what happened correctly (I did) and explain the ending to my sons. My oldest replied "Well I guess that's what happens when you're a rabbit and a bear." And that, my friends, is the answer to any questions you may have about this book in a nutshell. Bears and rabbits don't always get along in the natural world, especially if you trick a bear. It also opened up a discussion on how wildlife really works, and that alone is a good thing.

Now some reviewers have called the bear a murderer, which is more than a little harsh in my opinion. I mean, don't bears hunt for food? Okay, the rabbit tricks the bear, but does that mean he has to end up with the fate given to him. In children's literature, no. In real life, yes. Take your pick as to how you want the story to go. My sons understood the bear had been tricked or lied to and that he ended up with an unfortunate fate. They weren't traumatized by this, it was just something that happened, something that really does happen.

My bigger concern for the book is regarding the lying. Rabbit lies and gets punished in the end. While harsh, if the story ended there, it would carry, to some degree, a good message about lying and that is has consequences. But the book ends with lies still being taught and so no one really comes away learning a positive lesson. This had me more dismayed than the fate of the rabbit. Why the story ends this way, I have no idea, but again, I'm not sure the author meant for this to be a "lesson" book. He probably sat down, wrote a story about animals he thought was cute and sent it to be published.

The truth is, the story is fine, the illustrations are simple and effective. If you want to pick it apart you can. If you want to read it for what it is - a nice story with some flaws - you can do that too. That's why I gave it three stars. It's really up to the reader and/or the parent to take this book for what it's worth - a teaching opportunity on at least two levels. If you're not up to that, the book will be a huge disappointment. If you are, then it's a fine book to have.

I think my son got it right away, but it took my husband and I a minute to figure out that really maybe one character ate the other, LOL! It's both funny and a little dark and it opens the door for discussions about lying and how people behave when they're trying to hide the truth. Maybe that makes it sound too serious...it is a light-hearted book. We've really enjoyed going over it again and again!

The story is beautifully illustrated and quick to read, but the plot is a little violent for young children. I bought this book for my son's preschool and will be returning it instead. I'm sure it would be a great read for the elementary set, but the decisions and consequences are too dark for little listeners. I wish someone had mentioned that before I purchased.

This story is short, filled with eye-catching illustrations, but definitely not simple as already mentioned in previous reviews. When a person commits a wrong deed, the first punishment that follows is guilty conscience, fear of being discovered and necessity to conceal and lie. In this story this is what happens to a rabbit and a bear. They both desire to wear a hat. So strong their desire is that it overcomes reason and pushes them to do wrong.

Having stolen the hat from the bear the rabbit does not want to be asked questions about it, feels nervous and tries to avoid the bear. Eventually the bear succeeds in getting his hat back from the rabbit. His joy expires as soon as he is reminded about him by a squirrel. The squirrel wonders where this rabbit with a hat is. As the bear replies, he exhibits the same behaviour as the rabbit once did-nervous about being questioned, not polite anymore. This clearly shows that the bear is not sincere and has something to hide.

So this story definitely does not support any kind of mischief and does not glorify the bear. Even though it's a picture book that looks like it's done for small kids, the context of the story is very subtle and will be understood by older children. In my opinion this story also requires that an adult questions a child's thinking and helps him/her to grasp the story's essence.
I'm very pleased to have this book and I`m definitely going to read it to my daughter when she is a little bit older and ready to have a discussion about reaction, action and consequence.

We read this at the library and I so wish I had previewed it before I read it to my child, he was really upset by it. While I can appreciate the humor for adults, actually reading this to a sensitive child was in no way funny. It also conveys so many bad messages--revenge, killing, lying, etc. Yuk.

I've heard about this book and decided to buy it to my not even born son. The book is really funny and the quality of the book is remarkable. Also, my wife is learning English reading it :)

OTOH, the last page may be too scary for some small children. Soon I will borrow this book to my little niece and see the result.

Stories teach worldviews and this one is survival of the fittest autonomous free agent at its finest. As Christian parents, we use this book to teach the antithesis of our worldview. A bear finds that a lying rabbit has stolen his hat, the bear does not appeal to a higher authority, but exercises his own justice by eating the rabbit. Any parent can see this story played out every day at home. The older brother finds that his younger brother has stolen a toy and lied about it, but instead of appealing to mom and dad when brother does not return the item, older brother clubs him. We use this story to say to our sons (ages 4 and 2), "Don't be like the bear," and they get it.

Confession. I am 45 years old and I love this book. The illustrations are great - especially the bear - and the story is succinct and racy. Highly recommended. I am sure kids will love it. My copy is currently a very popular coffee table book !