This Is Not My Hat
When a tiny fish shoots into view wearing a round blue topper (which happens to fit him perfectly), trouble could be following close behind. So it’s a good thing that enormous fish won’t wake up. And even if he does, it’s not like he’ll ever know what happened.... A picture-book morality play about rationalizing dishonesty.
Stats for nerds
4recommend
7mentions
4people
2015–2023years
100% recommend
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- As a father of young kids, I cannot recommend John Klassen's "Hat" picture books enough:
I Want My Hat Back
This Is Not My Hat
We Found A Hat
The Rock From The Sky
They're beautiful exercises in minimal, precision watercolor. They're written with delightful economy, and have a rather Dahlian sense of justice and consequences.
He wrote them all within the last twelve years, IIRC.
For older kids, Pax (illustrated by Mr. Klassen in the edition we picked up) is a lovely piece of writing, vaguely like a cross between My Side Of The Mountain and Old Yeller, but less tragic than Old Yeller, with a deftly-handled thread about emotional awareness and responsibility for one's own choices woven throughout.
Oh, and the How To Train Your Dragon books, by Cressida Cowell, are wonderful, hilarious pieces of work about self-discovery, loyalty, friendship, and the hard, slow struggle to achieve mastery and skill in a world where people expect you to be something rather different than you are. Vastly, vastly better than the popular movies loosely inspired by them, and quite different - closer to a child-friendly Hitchhiker's Guide than the Hero's Journey of the films.
Great new classics are still being written - it's just that the winnowing function of passing decades hasn't yet run its course, so they're harder to find.
- I echo all of this, including in appreciation of Carle's work. Despite the simple language, there's a sophistication and depth to the best children's books that mediocre ones lack.
My favorite to read to my little guys is _This is Not My Hat_ by Jon Klassen, which is one of the funniest, most subtle ones we've come across.
- Jon Klassen is great! Simple yet beautiful art and stories that are fun for both the parents and the kids. I love the final line of This Is Not My Hat, which works on two levels: "Nobody will ever find me."
- "This is not my hat": https://www.amazon.co.uk/This-Not-Hat-Jon-Klassen/dp/1406353...
The humour is subversive, the illustration is lovely, and these ("This is not my hat" is another) are great books for younger children. My child loved it, and the people I've given this to have gone on to buy other books by the writer or illustrator.
"Mr Birdsnest and the House Next Door": https://www.amazon.co.uk/Birdsnest-House-Next-Door-Little/dp...
Little Gems are a set of books printed on reduced contrast paper, with a large clear font. They're short, simple, but fun. They're good for younger readers or for slightly older reluctant readers. My child enjoyed reading this book, and loved the illustration. The other child I gave this to took out other books in the Little Gems series from the library, and bought other Julia Donaldson books with her pocket money.
"Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software" https://www.amazon.co.uk/Code-Language-Computer-Hardware-Sof... I had a friend who knew a lot about the software, and knew a lot about hardware but their hardware knowledge was a bit patchy. Code helped solidify their knowledge. If I could have afforded it I would have given them The Art of Electronics and the companion Student Manual. (This was in the 1990s. I haven't read the new version and I don't know how well it works today.)
"Bomber Command" https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bomber-Command-Pan-Military-Classic... I liked this book because it describes how we (the UK) went into world war 2 with ethical notions around not bombing civilian populations and ended up fire-bombing several heavily populated German cities. It's also eye-opening about the scale of this part of the war, and the cost in lives of aircrew.
- Here are a few of my suggestions.
Picture books for young children- We really enjoyed I Want My Hat Back, This Is Not My Hat, and "Sam and Dave Dig a Hole" written by Jon Klassen and illustrated by Mac Bennet.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/White-Read-Aloud-Award-Picture-Book...
https://www.amazon.co.uk/This-Not-Hat-Jon-Klassen/dp/1406353...
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sam-Dave-Dig-Hole-Barnett/dp/140636...
Books (with some illustration) for older readers- We're enjoying The Saga of Erik the Viking by Terry Jones and illustrated by Michael Foreman.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Saga-Erik-Viking-Puffin-Books/dp/01...
- Still mostly reading childrens books.
This is not my hat: https://www.amazon.co.uk/This-Not-Hat-Jon-Klassen/dp/1406353...
Black dog: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Black-Dog-Levi-Pinfold/dp/184877052...
FArTHER: https://www.amazon.co.uk/FArTHER-Grahame-Baker-Smith/dp/1848... (Sadly this book uses a stupid font. Other than that it's lovely.)
Pirate Diary: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Pirate-Diary-Journal-Jake-Carpenter...
I get these from the CILIP Kate Greenaway award. Once you know the name of the writer, or illustrator, or even publisher, you can usually find more good books. http://www.carnegiegreenaway.org.uk/greenaway.php
CILIP is a UK librarian organisation. The US equivalent award is probably something like the Caldecott Medal: http://www.ala.org/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/caldecottmeda...
