"THIS IS NOT MY HAT"

KLASSEN, J. (2012). THIS IS NOT MY HAT (1ST ed.). Somerville, MA 02144: CANDLEWICK PRESS.

Readability Lexile: AD340L

Target Audience: Ages 5-7

Setting: The Ocean

Theme: The ramifications of Taking something that does not belong to you

Characters: A big fish, A little fish, and A crab

This is not my Hat is from the creator of the #1 New York Times best-selling and award-winning I Want My Hat Back, Jon Klassen. This is not my Hat misses the mark in a couple areas. While the illustrations are wonderful and the characters are cute, the story line is a bit crude. A small fish decides that it acceptable behavior to steal the hat belonging to a much larger and sleeping fish. He soon finds out the ramifications of such behavior.  The reader is left to believe that the big fish not only gets his hat back, but it comes with a meal. I hope the little fish was tasty! 

This is not my Hat portrays stealing as acceptable. Which may fit well with the I want it now and I will get it by whatever means necessary entitlement generation, but this reader gives it a thumbs down. Perhaps, teaching the little fish a lesson about his poor choice and some kind of gentlemen's agreement about asking before you take something that does not belong to you would have been beneficial for a young reader. Maybe next time Mr. Klassen!

I am not inclined to think that this book meets the standards of high quality literature set forth by Norton (2011).