This Is Not My Hat – Jon Klassen

A tiny fish. A very nice hat. One rather big problem.

Meet a small fish with a big secret in This Is Not My Hat, the brilliantly understated picture book from bestselling author and illustrator Jon Klassen and winner of the 2013 Caldecott Medal.

Our tiny narrator has just acquired a perfectly fitting little blue hat.

There's only one problem.

It isn't his.

The hat belongs to a much, much bigger fish. But surely everything will be fine. The big fish is asleep, after all. And even if he wakes up, he probably won't notice his hat is missing. And even if he does notice, he'll never know who took it. And even if he somehow figures that out, there's absolutely no way he'll know where the little fish is going...

Right?

With sparse text, wonderfully expressive illustrations, and a story in which the pictures often know considerably more than the narrator does, This Is Not My Hat is deliciously funny for children—and perhaps even funnier for the grown-ups reading along.

Winner of the 2013 Caldecott Medal

Awarded the prestigious Caldecott Medal for distinguished American picture-book illustration, This Is Not My Hatdemonstrates just how much a story can say without saying very much at all.

Tiny changes in eyes, expressions, and movement reveal what's really happening beneath the water, inviting children to study each page and discover the joke for themselves.

Look Closely...

One of the delights of This Is Not My Hat is that young readers quickly realize something the little fish doesn't:

The pictures aren't necessarily agreeing with him.

While our confident narrator explains exactly why his plan is going to work, the illustrations quietly tell another story.

That playful disconnect encourages children to notice expressions, predict what might happen next, and understand a story through visual clues—not simply through the words on the page.

And once they know what happens? They'll want to start all over again to spot everything they missed.

A Modern Picture-Book Classic

From the creator of the #1 New York Times bestseller I Want My Hat Back, this wonderfully wry underwater adventure has become a favorite among children, parents, teachers, and picture-book collectors.

It's a terrific addition to a child's growing library and an especially fun choice when you're looking for a children's book that's a little clever, unexpected, and delightfully mischievous.

Title: This Is Not My Hat
Author & Illustrator: Jon Klassen
Award: 2013 Caldecott Medal
Themes: Humor, Animals, Visual Storytelling & Consequences
Perfect For: Storytime, growing home libraries, birthdays & picture-book lovers

Dimensions: 5.4 x 7.5 x 0.6 in