Children Book Recommendation: I Want My Hat Back by Jon Klassen

I Want My Hat Back is a 40-page picture book written by Jon Klassen. The picture book is Jon Klassen's first children's book as an author as well as an illustrator, and it was published in 2011 for young children between the ages of 2 - 6 years old; it is recognized as one of the best-illustrated picture books in 2011.

I Want My Hat Back by Jon Klassen | Photo by The Described and Captioned Media Program

The book is based on a bear who lost his hat. Throughout the story, the bear goes around and asks each animal he comes across — the rabbit, snake, fox, mole, and many more — and calmly asks if they have seen his hat. Feeling depressed and hopeless, the bear believes he will never find his hat and realizes that he has seen it when he interacts with the deer. The bear soon reinvestigates and reclaims his hat with a dark ending. 

After reading the picture book, I thought the story is filled with humor and it is simple. In Klassen's first picture book, he touches on important morals such as integrity and honesty, perseverance, decision-making, punishments, and many more. Overall, this book was also very fun to read as the dialogue is color-coded which makes it more engaging and amusing for children to decode the dialogue. 

Lastly as mentioned, the picture book is paired with captivating illustrations by the author himself, Jon Klassen. Klassen's illustration is very simple and intriguing with the use of basic shapes. What makes Klassen's illustrations stand out is his ability to create textures with the use of paint, ink, and watercolor.