The first time I read I Want My Hat Back by Jon Klassen, I had to re-read the ending to make sure I understood what had just happened. Yup, I had read it correctly. It’s not often that the ending of a picture book surprises me—and in his debut as both author and illustrator, Klassen manages to do exactly that. If you haven’t yet seen his best-selling children’s book, I Want My Hat Back, here’s the lowdown: A dim-witted but polite bear is missing his hat: “My hat is gone. I want it back.” He goes around asking various animals if they’ve seen it. A fox, frog, rabbit, turtle, snake, and armadillo reply in the negative. Some are more clueless than others. Case in point: the armadillo replies, “What is a hat?” On the other hand, the rabbit, who is shown wearing a red cone-shaped hat, denies having seen the hat in a most suspicious way: “I haven’t seen any hats anywhere. I would not steal a hat. Don’t ask me any more questions.” Later, when a deer asks the bear to describe what his hat looks like, the bear realizes he has seen his hat…on the rabbit! He races back and confronts the thief: “YOU STOLE MY HAT.” The next thing we know, the hat is back on the bear’s head. On the last page, a squirrel asks the bear if he’s seen a rabbit wearing a hat. Now it’s the bear’s turn to be defensive: “I haven’t seen any rabbits anywhere. I would not eat a rabbit.” The bear-eat-rabbit ending is implied, but there’s no depiction of violence in the illustrations.
The twist at the end is—well, twisted. It’s also wickedly funny. However, I know some adults are bothered by the lying that goes on and the implied violent ending. So be forewarned: If you like your children’s stories purely adorable and sweet or prefer that they contain a message or lesson, this is not the book for you. But my bet is that most readers ages 5 and older will love being in on the joke, once they get over their disbelief at the unexpected ending. I should also mention that the illustrations in this book are beautifully rendered. Deceptively simple drawings of animals in shades of brown (except for the red hat) enhance the sly humor of the tale. Cleverly written and stylishly depicted, I Want My Hat Back is, in this blogger’s opinion, a whole lot of fun—for both kids and grown-ups.
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Are you familiar with I Want My Hat Back? What do you think about the story, especially the ending?
