"I love my hat".Īn ellipsis gives us the full story, though, and when a squirrel comes and asks the happy, hat-wearing bear whether he has seen a rabbit wearing a hat, the bear answers in a familiar fashion: "No. He jumps up and runs back past all the animals, now standing in a neat line next to each other, until he reaches the thief and recovers his hat. As soon as the bear starts describing the hat he remembers where he's seen it, or rather, who he has seen it on. Then the deer appears and asks him what his hat looks like. The armadillo doesn't even know what a hat is.ĭepressed, he lies down and looks up at the sky. The snake once saw a blue and round hat, but that's not the hat our friend is looking for.
The tortoise hasn't seen it but can do with some help climbing a rock. The bear thanks them each anyway and walks on. The rabbit (we readers notice he's wearing a lovely pointed red hat himself) is more lengthy in his explanation: "No. The fox and the frog are concise and to the point: they haven't seen it. He wanders about asking all the other animals he encounters whether they've seen it. It has lots of thank yous, some rather pathetic lying, one painfully slow brain or two, a double-paged anticipation of a true Western showdown, and a refreshingly pitiless, rather amusing, ending.Ī big, cuddly forlorn bear has lost his hat and wants it back. It is a delightfully naughty and subtle story told in deceptively simple dialogue and illustrations that captivates small and big readers on many different levels. I Want my Hat Back has a cumulative structure, with repetition and mirrored dialogue for read-aloud enjoyment, using tension and timing masterfully for narrative -and comic- effect.
The first book both written and illustrated by Jon Klassen, I Want my Hat Back is a debut that makes you roar for more.
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