WE FOUND A HAT - #PPBF

 High-lighting lesser known authors and artists is fun for me. I feel like I'm uncovering hidden gems. But sometimes the big names blow me away and I have to shout their praises.

Title: We Found a Hat

Author/Illustrator: Jon Klassen
Publisher: Candlewick Press, 2016
Intended Ages: 4-8 
Themes: Animals, Temptation, Friendship
Opening Lines: "We found a hat
                             We found it together."
Synopsis: Two turtles find a hat. It looks good on both of them. But there are two turtles, and only one hat.

What I like about this book: Jon Klassen is the master of understatement and the power of single glances. His newest addition to his "hat cycle" of stories adds a layer of tenderness and friendship to his spot-on deadpan humor. This is another story that leaves the emotional inner story to the reader to fill in. Klassen is the master of what happens in the story, off the page. The limited, muted palette keeps the focus squarely on the text and those expressive eyes. Constructed in three chapters, the 56 pages fly by. I believe it's appropriate for even young toddlers, age 2 and up.

Resources/Activities:

• Read the author's hat trilogy (This Is Not My Hat, I Want My Hat Back and We Found a Hat). Discuss which you like best, and why
• Talk about things you have. Which would you share? Why or why not? Does it matter if it's something that can be returned, or something gets consumed (like cookies)?
• Brainstorm alternate endings for this book. Could they have taken turns wearing the hat? Made another hat? Could one turtle have taken the hat? How does the choice of an ending affect the characters' friendship?
• Share something with a friend.
• Buy a new hat for yourself or to donate to charity. Why do you pick the one you do?
  

Thanks for stopping by! Hope you enjoy my selection this week. 
This review is part of PPBF (Perfect Picture Book Friday) where bloggers share great picture books. Organized and curated by author Susanna Leonard Hill, she keeps an ever-growing list of Perfect Picture Books. #PPBF

A Kernel of Writing Advice

While it is a wonderful to get caught up in the heat of writing, the words flowing from a pen (or onto a computer screen) unbidden—the fact is that the words ultimately need to make sense to an audience. 

One of the best pieces of writing advice I’ve received was that a scene I wrote didn’t have to be true—readers had to believe that it was true. This advice works on two levels. 

First, if you’re writing something that is based on events or emotions that really transpired, unless you are writing nonfiction and are in essence telling the reader “this happened,” it doesn’t matter that it’s true if it isn’t believable. Conversely, if something is believable, it doesn’t matter if it’s the biggest whopper or scientific impossibility on the planet.

Writing for kids is especially fun because kids embrace the absurd. But within the parameters of a story, the absurdity still has to make some sense. In recent Caldecott winner  Jon Klassen’s “I Want My Hat Back,” because the rest of the plot makes sense, no reader stops to ask—why was a bear wearing a hat in the first place? Mo Willems makes us believe that a pigeon really could drive a bus if we only gave it the chance. In the subtle interplay between the believable and the absurd we can see these authors’ craft.

Last month I was fortunate to attend an SCBWI picture book workshop with Christopher Cheng. Next month I’m heading to the MD/DE/WV SCBWI conference. I’ve found that attending workshops is an investment in craft that repays itself many times over.

What’s one piece of writing advice that has helped you?