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I Want My Hat BackJon Klassen
I Want My Hat Back
by Jon Klassen
A bear asks every animal in the wood whether they have seen his hat. One of them is lying, and the bear works out which.
A story about animals, funny and wry in tone. We would put it with children of 3–6, and at a reading age of about 5 for reading alone.
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Our take on this book
A bear has lost his hat and asks each animal in the forest, one by one, politely and mournfully, whether they have seen it — until a chance remark makes him realise, with a jolt, exactly who has it and where it has gone. Jon Klassen's breakthrough picture book is a masterpiece of deadpan comic timing: the whole thing is a repeating conversation, and the joke, and the delicious dark twist at the end, live in what is left unsaid and in the animals' perfectly flat expressions. Children love being one step ahead of the bear, and love even more the discreetly sinister ending, which is implied rather than shown. There is a whiff of the macabre that older children find thrilling and younger ones simply find funny. For a three- to six-year-old it is dry, clever and endlessly re-readable — a book that rewards a second telling once you know the secret, and a modern classic of understated humour.
If they like this, try these
Chosen by matching age, reading age, tone and subject — not by what is selling.
This Is Not My HatJon Klassen
Rosie's WalkPat Hutchins
The Great Paper CaperOliver Jeffers
This Moose Belongs to MeOliver Jeffers
ElmerDavid McKee
Or let them write their own.
Nothing gets a child reading like a story they invented themselves. Your child plans the characters and the plot, and we write, illustrate and print it as a real book with their name on the cover as the author.
Find another book
Tell us the age, the reading age and what they like, and we will suggest a handful.