Kid Konnection: Two picture books by Jon Klassen

Canadian born Jon Klassen is a talented author and illustrator.  He’s illustrated books for others and written and illustrated two books of his own.  His talent goes beyond books – he’s worked on movies like Coraline and Kung Fu Panda and music videos as well.

I Want My Hat Back, by Jon Klassen opens with Bear looking for his beloved hat –  it’s missing and he wants it back.  He goes around and asks the other animals if they’ve seen it.  Fox, Frog, Rabbit, Turtle, Snake, and Armadillo haven’t seen it.  Beer really misses his hat though, so he’s sad.  Deer comes up and asks what the missing hat looks like, and as Bear describes it to him, he realizes he’s seen it and goes back to reclaim it.

This beautifully illustrated picture book was named one of the “10 Best Illustrated Children’s Books for 2011” by The New York Times.  I think children will enjoy it, especially on rereads when they can  point the missing hat out to the Bear.  The Bear does take matters into his own hands at the end of the book, but I don’t think young children will be bothered by it because they probably won’t understand it completely.  They will enjoy the illustrations and the repetition of the story.

In This Is Not My Hat, a small fish steals a hat from a large fish even though he knows it’s wrong.  He rationalizes it in his mind because he thinks the hat is too small for the big fish and he figures he’ll get away with it since the big fish is asleep and probably won’t wake up for a while.  The small fish knows the perfect hiding place and quickly swims to “where the plants grow big and tall and close together.”  What the little fish doesn’t know is that someone is watching him and that someone tips the big fish off.

This is another beautifully illustrated picture book by Jon Klassen.  I’m amazed at the emotions he’s able to convey with his simple illustrations.  The ending of this book is a little ambiguous so kids (and their parents) can interpret it the way they want.  This is sure to be another award winner for Klassen.

For more children’s books reviews, go to Booking Mama’s feature, Kid Konnection. If you’d like to participate in Kid Konnection and share a post about anything related to children’s books (picture, middle grade, or young adult) from the past week, leave a comment as well as a link on her site.

Review copy provided by Candlewick Press.  I am an Indiebound Affiliate.