I wish I could say, “I discovered this book first.” But I expect anyone who has already read it - the book was published late last month - would see right through me. This is a charmingly wicked little book and the debut of a promising writer-illustrator talent. It may take younger children a few readings to understand the story in full, but when they do, they will savor it all the more.Īdult readers, for their part, will surely anticipate Klassen’s next picture book in the same way they yearn for a new Mo Willems or relish a William Steig classic. None of the behavior is particularly commendable (except for the bear’s good manners), but the actions and attending emotions are all recognizably animal-like and human. Jon Klassen created illustrations for the popular series The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place and served as an illustrator on the animated feature film Coraline. Even Klassen’s illustrations revel in the art of the deadpan, giving us a menagerie of animal characters with stony, nearly unchanging faces. The muted brown palette shifts to an angry red when the bear realizes, “I have seen my hat.” Named as one of the New York Times best illustrated children’s books of 2011, I Want My Hat Back is a masterpiece of understated, slow-burn humor. Don’t ask me any more questions,” and is drawn with a red, cone-shaped hat on his head (though the bear at first fails to notice). He responds this way as well to a rabbit, even though the rabbit sputters, “I would not steal a hat.
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