Overview and Outcomes:

This is a three-week Writing Root for I Want My Hat Back by Jon Klassen. After experiencing an engaging starting point of looking at and talking and making predictions about a range of hats, the children read the book. Through role-play, they explore a characters’ feelings. They create a short dialogue between the two main characters and then write and perform a rap that gives the main character advice. Rabbit then appears in class - he hasn’t been eaten by Bear! The children then have the opportunity to hot seat Rabbit to find out what actually happened at the end of the story after formulating questions. They write a letter to Rabbit making suggestions about what he could do. After receiving a reply from Rabbit the children are asked to help Rabbit pack for the journey by playing Kim’s Game with items in a suitcase, and then write a packing list. Finally, children plan a sequel called, ‘I Want My Friend Back’. The children create three new animals for Rabbit to ask if they have seen Bear. Colour used by the text’s author Jon Klassen to represent each animal speaking is explored and the children then apply this technique to their own writing. Through modelled and shared writing and peer and self-editing, the children write their sequel, ‘I Want My Friend Back’. This Writing Root can be linked to a topic on habitats and creatures inhabiting a forest. It can also be linked to PSHE to explore ideas around friendship, saying sorry and managing powerful emotions such a jealousy and anger.

Synopsis of Text:

The bear’s hat is gone, and he wants it back. Patiently and politely, he asks the animals he comes across, one by one, whether they have seen it. Each animal says no, some more elaborately than others. But just as it he begins to lose hope, lying flat on his back in despair, a deer comes by and asks a rather obvious question that suddenly sparks the bear’s memory and renews his search with a vengeance. Told completely in dialogue, this quirky take on the classic repetitive tale plays out in sly illustrations laced with visual humour and winks at the reader with a wry irreverence that will have kids of all ages thrilled to be in on the joke.

Text Rationale:

Written and illustrated by the distinctive and award-winning artist Jon Klassen, this charming story follows the fortunes of a bear who is looking for his hat. This tale has a structured plot and repetitive language which children can join in with while reading. It also is the first in a series of books. The sequel This is Not My Hat won both the UK Kate Greenaway Award and the US Caldecott Award in 2012.

Links and themes:

Hats, dressing-up, friendship, habitat, sorry, behaviour expectations, how to treat others and learning about animals

Date written: January 2017