When a deer arrives, eyes meet for the first time and we sense the shift in tone. The bear barely (couldn’t stop myself) moves until he collapses, mourning the missing hat. And, when rabbit enters the story, the reader notices two things: a red pointy hat and a lot of nervous red chatter. When the animals talk to each other, their eyes face out at the reader, giving everything a shifty, don’t-take-us-too-seriously look.
They know when to stop putting words on the page.Īccording to the copyright page, these illustrations were “created digitally and in Chinese ink.” Using a brown palette with splashes of muted greens and browns and red, Klassen matched the typeface color with whichever animal is talking to the bear. These animators (I am talking to you, Mo Willems and John Rocco) who write picture books have a special gift of pacing. I would never deprive a reader that exquisite pleasure of reading a book and guffawing at the twists and turns it takes. I sure as heck wasn’t giving away the ending to this book. I promise you that kids are going to want to read it over and over, ” I laughed. After I commented on the book, she said, “I’ve read a lot about this book, but I have not had time to read it yet.” The bookseller at my local store was frantically restocking after the grand opening weekend and was making room to face out Jon Klassen’s wickedly funny I Want My Hat Back.
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