Book Review of This is not my hat by Jon Klassen

1.      Bibliography

Klassen, Jon. 2012. This is not my hat. Candlewick. ISBN: 9780763655990.

2.      Plot Summary

In this intriguing children’s book, you follow a little fish who has just stolen a hat from a bigger fish.  The fish is telling you his plan of escape and has all the possibilities planned out.  When he reached his destination, he didn’t plan for what the big fish had in mind.  The reader will make inferences from the pictures to find out what happened to the little fish. 

3.      Critical Analysis

Klassen writes this story with easy-to-read words and a good flow of repetitive sentences.  It is very much a cause-and-effect story with an event happening that causes a reaction.  “And he probably won’t wake up for a long time.  And if he does wake up, he probably won’t notice that it’s gone.” The book repeats the phrases and unfolds the little fish’s plan, as a reader you are wanting to find out what happens next.  You also follow the big fish and his emotions throughout the story, surprised the hat is gone and upset because he knows who took his hat.  The little fish reaches his destination, and the reader must use context clues and pictures to figure out the end of the story.  Small children will find out that maybe you shouldn’t take things that are not yours.

Klassen keeps the illustrations very simple and in a muted color scheme, sticking with grey, black, white, and hints of red and purple.  The color scheme seems to fit the story because it is dark and mysterious, you are waiting to figure out what happens to this little fish.  When the little fish is hiding in the seaweed, Klassen makes the illustrations so that you cannot see any fish in the water to keep the suspense of the story and this makes for a good inference point for children. 

This is a fun story, and children will love having to figure out and guess the different situations in the book.  This also teaches a life lesson that you shouldn’t take things that don’t belong to you. 

4.      Review Excerpt(s)

Caldecott Medal.

"This not-to-be-missed title will delight children again and again." — School Library Journal (starred review)

"This is, quite simply, an outstanding book—and that ain’t no fish tale." — Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books (starred review)

5.      Connections

*I would use this book with an inferring lesson, this is a great prediction book, and the students must infer what happened to the fish at the end of the story by looking at the pictures only.  The author doesn’t give them the final say on what happened. 

*You could compare this book to the other books in the series.  Klaussen has two other books in this series that you could compare to each other and look for similarities and differences.