This Is Not My Hat (Caldecott Medal - Winner Title(s))

I love this story! It’s such an unusual departure from books for children in that it starts off with a character doing something wrong (stealing) and simply justifying it all the way through the book. The pictures are simple and fascinating and the end is open to interpretation. I would

Show More

definitely buy this book for some of my friends’ children and am already looking for his other book to read . . .

Show Less

A quick classic. The art is great, subtle yet engaging. The personalities of each character are easy to vocalize when reading and the conclusion is left open for the listeners to decide. Storytimers laugh it up, shriek it up, and DISCUSS it up! when talking about what might have happened.

Great for

Show More

preschoolers +, the ambiguous ending, done without words, makes it hard for younger audiences...

Show Less

Funny and a bit dark, I really enjoyed slowly devouring these illustrations and enjoying the detail of them in addition to the story. Although, in my opinion, much of this story is told through the illustrations making this a perfect book for asking questions while reading with kids. Maybe not

Show More

everyone's cup of tea, so to speak, but I recommend giving it a shot, anyway. :)

Show Less

This is one of my favorite children’s books that has been recently published. The story is about a small fish that steals a hat. He describes and justifies why he should have the hat, and is overly confident about no one finding him with the hat. This would be a fun story to use as a lesson to

Show More

get children making predictions or to have them retell the ending of the story.

Show Less

This simple and amusing story could be used to teach about good choices (and negative consequences), predictions, inferences, and more. However, I would use it in combination with Eric Carle and Leo Leonni to for a students-as-authors project with collaging. I can see some excellent student art

Show More

coming from this.

Show Less

I liked "I want my hat back" better than this story. The idea is the same, but it is not as captivating to me. The story line is simple and easy to read. The picture tells the story. This book would be good to teach students and children about stealing. Stealing doesn't pay. It is also a bit

Show More

humorous, so it teaches without scaring. This story could be linked with "I want my hat back" to show both sides of how someone feels when something is stolen. An entire weeks curriculum could come from these two books. Or they could just be shared at read aloud so that the students are given an opportunity to think.

Show Less

If you close your eyes and have someone read this story to you, the picture in your mind would probably be of someone stealing a hat from someone else. Who is that someone in your mind? Would you picture an adult, a robber, a child? When the story declares, “I stole it from a big fish”, would

Show More

you really visualize an actual fish wearing a hat? Can a fish wear a hat? When you open your eyes and look at the story the illustrations are showing you, Klassen indeed draws a very big fish that is asleep under water and a small fish who is wearing a hat. The words in this book tell a story, but the illustrations tell an even better one. Created digitally and with Chinese ink, these pictures show a little fish who decides to steal a hat off a much larger fish. As the pages continue we hear the fish telling himself that he got away with the theft, and no one will ever figure out that he was the one who stole the hat. He passes a crab but convinces himself that the crab will not, “tell anyone which way [he] went”. The illustrations however, tell a different story. Drawn on black paper with only a few colors; the reader’s eyes are drawn directly to the characters in this book. The reader looks on as the big fish wakes up and notices that his hat is missing. The big fish’s eye becomes a slant and the reader knows this fish is mad. The eye alone speaks volumes. The big fish sets off to find his hat. As the big fish approaches the crab, the fish doesn’t need to say a word; the crab knows he is looking for the thief. The reader sees the crab pointing the big fish in the direction of his hat. As the little fish swims along his eye is drawn in a way that the reader can see he is becoming more anxious to get to his hiding place. Just as the little fish thinks he is in the safety of the tall seaweed, the big fish is right behind him. The next page is very significant, the reader can’t see what is happening behind the seaweed but foreshadow of the big fish’s anger suggests that the little fish is now gone and the big fish is retrieving his hat. This page, although it is just a drawing of seaweed depicts the last part of the climax in this story. Klassen also uses this picture as the book’s end paper. The end of the story finds the big fish asleep again with his hat on. A wonderful story with a worthy moral, don’t take what is not yours. Through small details such as eye movement, a story unfolds without the need for words.

Show Less

This book is narrated by a small fish who has just stolen a hat and will probably get away with it. The illustrations are amazing and tell the story from the fish who's hat was stolen. The fish-eye expressions are amazing.

Amusing tale of a tiny fish who has stolen a hat and is telling the reader all about it. The humor comes in the difference between what the fish is telling us and what we see happening on the page. While it's very well executed and quite subtle, I don't think it's likely to become one of my

Show More

favorites. Although I'd be interested to see how pairing it with a reading of I Want My Hat Back might increase the resonance of the theme.

Show Less

This is a simple book that follows a small fish that took a hat that didn't belong to him. He thinks that he is getting away with it, but does not realize that the owner of the hat, a bigger fish, is on his trail. It keeps the reader's interest by allowing us to see what the small fish can not. The

Show More

medium is different than the average children's books as it is done with more texture.

Show Less

Jon Klassen created a hilarious masterpiece with his first book in the Hat series, "I Want My Hat Back." With his second book in the series, "This is Not My Hat," he has certainly proven his brilliance in children's literature. In "This is Not My Hat," a little fish has stolen a tiny blue hat from

Show More

another fish. The little fish is convinced that no one will ever know that he stole the hat, so he is not worried that he will get in trouble for stealing, even though he is aware that it is clearly not the right thing to do. Readers will laugh and gasp as they turn the pages in this book, as they watch little fish swim around in the ocean with his stolen hat.
I giggled a lot when I read this book. Like his first book, this is Not My Hat is a perfect book for emerging readers. The illustrations are beautiful and demand the reader's attention, while the text is minimal and simplistic. I would definitely keep this book in my classroom library. I can imagine the students laughing and begging for more as they read this story -Gina

Show Less

I really loved the images in this book, although the story line was a bit gruesome. The black background provides a beautiful contrast to the crisp images or underwater fish and plants. The pictures are very simple and change only a little bit from page to page, but still moved the story along.

Show More

Summary:A little fish takes a big fish's hat while he is sleeping and doesn't think he will get caught. The big fish wakes up, finds the little fish, and although it is not shown, it is implied the the big fish eats the little fish, and gets his hat back.

Moral of the story: Don't take what isn't yours.

Show Less

A story about a fish who steals a hat from a bigger fish and believes he will get away with it. Great way to show kids that although you did something and no one noticed does not mean that you will get away with it.

This book is a silly little story about a little fish stealing a hat from a big fish. At first he gets away with it but eventually his crime catches up to him and the rightful owner of the hat gets his justice. I like that this book addresses the ugly topic of stealing in a cute way that is easy

Show More

for small children to understand. The illustrations are also fun and pretty.

Show Less

It is the double impact of twist and extradordinary illustrations that I found most powerful in thisbook. Although simple in concept, the imagery is intense and the humor is fantastic

Overconfidence is his undoing. Another delightfully droll story.

Summary: This book is about a small fish that steals a bigger fish's hat thinking that the bigger fish will not find out. This is a wonderful example of stealing.

Personal Reaction: I love this book and personal read it to my children with the lesson of stealing. In the end everyone will get caught.

Show More

Classroom Extensions: I would have my kids wear their most crazy and then talk how they would feel if someone stole that hat and then explain that is how others feel when people take things that are not theirs.
I would also let kids chose from different types of hats that I would print off to color and style in any way they wanted.

Show Less

I Want My Hat Back was spectacular because I honestly didn't see the ending coming. I expected your typical kid's book. Main character has a problem, does a few random boring things to try to solve the problem, and then succeeds in solving the problem. But the way I Want My Hat Back ended was so

Show More

wondrously unexpected and absurdly amusing that I couldn't help but love it.

Show Less

This is Not My Hat uses oh-so-subtle shifts in illustrations from one page to the next to show emotion in a nearly faceless big fish as the narrating little fish describes his hat-napping escapade. It has won the 2013 Caldecott Illustrator Award, and tells the tale, from the thieving fish's point

Show More

of view, of a stolen hat.

Show Less

A small goldfish has stolen the hat of a bigger fish! The small fish is certain that the bigger fish is clueless but will the illustrations tell us who is the wiser?!

This book was about a small fish who stole a hat from a big fish. He thinks he cannot be found with the stolen hat, but the big fish does not give up easily. Can teach children not to steal.

A little fish decides to take a hat that does not belong to him. He justifies that he will keep the hat that isn't his because the big fish he took it from probably won't notice, or know who did it, or know where he went. Only the big fish does notice. A great little picture lesson about stealing

Show More

that has no violence but leaves a clear message that the little fish definitely did NOT keep the hat.

Show Less

This is a story about a small fish that steals a hat from a big fish. It is clearly targeting younger readers. It is funny because the narrator of the story is a small fish that uses many of the same excuses to rational his thievery that young children will use. And in the end, these excuses don't

Show More

save him from real consequences. I find it to be a humorous book too that adults can enjoy and the illustrations are very pleasing on the eyes.

Show Less

Summary:
This is a book about a little fish that takes a hat from a big fish. In the end, even though the little fish thinks he is off the hook (ha ha), he ends up getting found out by the big fish and caught. The book has okay illustrations, but I felt like every picture was the same as the last

Show More

and repeated very frequently.

Personal Reaction:
I was not a fan of the books artwork, but I did appreciate the books idea. It could be a great book to help teach about telling the truth and not taking things that are not yours. With it having no words, it would be a very easy read for all ages and could help in a classroom, especially if you are having things coming up missing.

Classroom Extension:
1) I could have my children write their own ending to how the big fish gets his hat back since it is an open-ended book.
2) We could make pretty fish to hang on the wall with sequins and art supplies and talk about how fish come from eggs and their life cycle.
3) We could wear crazy hats one day and have a talk about historical figures who have been known for wearing hats in pictures which would bring some social studies into a non-social studies book.

Show Less