| | |
| Author | Jon Klassen |
|---|---|
| Illustrator | Jon Klassen |
| Cover artist | Jon Klassen |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Children's book |
| Publisher | Candlewick Press |
Publication date | 2016 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) |
| Pages | 56 (unpaginated) |
| ISBN | 9780763656003 |
| OCLC | 934743481 |
We Found a Hat is a 2016 children's picture book by the Canadian author and illustrator Jon Klassen. In October 2019, Candlewick Press, the book's publisher, released a boxed set featuring We Found a Hat along with its two companion books ( This Is Not My Hat and I Want My Hat Back ), calling it Jon Klassen's Hat Box. [1] In 2018, Weston Woods Studios, Inc. made an animated version of this book, narrated by Johnny Heller and Christopher Curry.
We Found a Hat was received favorably, with a number of starred reviews including from Publishers Weekly , [2] Quill & Quire , [3] the School Library Journal , [4] and Booklist . [5]
The New York Journal of Books wrote "The ending feels almost wrong, a bit too easy, too happily ever after but only in my dreams." and concluded "We Found a Hat and the trilogy as a whole provides an entertaining, easy to read story on one level but also grants plenty of space for more complex and lively discussion." [6]
It has also been reviewed by The Globe and Mail . [7] Common Sense Media, [8] Kirkus Reviews , [9] and The Horn Book . [10]
Two turtles come across a hat and they find that they both look good on them. Therefore they left the hat since it would be unfair for one of them to wear a hat and left the hat untouched. However, one turtle still wants it. When they were looking are the sunset, one of the turtle asks what is they thinking about, and the other turtle replied with the sunset. Then, they ask what that turtle was thinking about, in which they reply with “Nothing.” while looking at the hat. The 2 turtles go to sleep after, and one turtle asks what they are dreaming about, while being by the hat, where that turtle says “I am dreaming that I have a hat. It looks very good on me.” then they say “You are also there too. You have a hat. It looks very good on you too.” The turtle by the hat, says, “We both have hats?” and goes back to where the other turtle was sleeping, and rests by them.
Klassen's artwork, spare and sly, tells a different story. .. Klassen considers the instant at which a decision to act can break either way, depending on who's tempted and whether anyone else is watching.
Klassen's art is deceptively simple, and has become progressively economical with each title. Perfecting the subtle expressiveness he exhibited in his previous books, the author-illustrator is able to convey the protagonists' excitement, temptation, longing, treachery, epiphany, and ultimate contentment simply by changing the direction of the turtles' glances or position of their heads.
The lightest touch of the surreal adds to the dreamy melancholy of this tale. .. A different but wholly delightful and thought-provoking capper to Klassen's ingenious series.
Klassen employs all his trademark dry wit and deadpan humor to tell the story of a hat-related caper.
Those who have read and loved the previous two books in the hat series might assume they know how this one will end, but Klassen proves once again he can still surprise with a finale – even if this one is coming a turtle's pace away.
There are no belly laughs here, but patient children and Klassen's fans will be fully engaged.
The tenderness in this book (with its uplifting ending) is just as surprising as the black humor in the earlier ones. While the book is richer in the context of the two previous volumes, Klassen leaves enough space for uninitiated readers to make their own meaning out of this story about a hat -- but, here, also about an enduring and precious friendship.