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Please note that even though I do indeed both realise and understand that Jon Klassen's This is Not My Hat won the 2013 Caldecott Medal, I personally have really not enjoyed either the text or the accompanying illustrations (and I am actually not even managing to be able to appreciate them all that much on some academic, esoteric level).

Now while some (and perhaps even a great many) readers might well and even strongly disagree with this, with my very much and intensely negative reaction to and assessment of This is Not My Hat by claiming that it is supposed to be a darkly if not even somewhat creepily humorous story (with supposedly an important cautionary message against stealing), I for one and on an entirely emotional level do not really consider any part of the narrative, of Jon Klassen's featured text, as even remotely funny and laughter inducing, but rather pretty cringeworthy and even potentially worrisome (and really with no or at the very least only very minutely redeeming positive messages).

For honestly, what kind of internal or even external messages are supposedly being presented by and with the ambiguous ending of This is Not My Hat, where the bigger fish has clearly gotten his stolen hat back but we are certainly left to wonder what has transpired, we are left to strongly consider if not actually believe that the smaller fish, the culprit, the hat nabber might well have been gobbled up, might well have been destroyed by the larger fish for his behaviour, for his act of petty thievery? That ANY kind of criminal activity, even something as minor as stealing a small and insignificant hat warrants destruction? That thieves, that robbers somehow deserve death? And yes, I certainly did in fact and still do consider the latter as the most likely outcome of This is Not My Hat, that the small fish has most probably been killed and gobbled up by the larger fish.

And although a sizeable majority of the reviews of This is Not My Hat I have read so far also rather do seem to indicate that the ambiguous ending, that the possibility of the smaller fish having been caught and perhaps even killed by the larger fish for stealing the latter's hat implies a strong and important message of caution against stealing, I am sorry, but for me, the main point made in This is Not My Hat seems to be that while stealing the hat was indeed a silly, foolish and stupid, a dangerous thing for the small fish to do (mainly because the other fish is so much bigger and stronger than the smaller one), it does not every really also come across in any manner that stealing the hat in the first place was wrong from a philosophical and ethical point of departure, that stealing is morally wrong, period (for the author's, for Jon Klassen's presented narrative certainly does seem to rather sport a somewhat supportive attitude towards the little fish and his many excuses as to why he has decided to steal that hat, as these excuses are also never really in any way refuted or condemned, at least not to any length).

While I guess parents, teachers, etc. might indeed consider using This is Not My Hat for discussion and debating purposes (especially with and for slightly older children), the very large font size of the written, of the printed text and the generally simple sentence structure of This is Not My Hat indicates in my opinion pretty strongly that Jon Klassen has most definitely intended this book as mainly for younger children (from about the ages of three to six or so). And for the intended age group (for younger children), the presented narrative of This is Not My Hat and what it might imply, as well as the ambiguous, open, and yes potentially frightening ending, all this is in fact, or at least could be a bit too heavy-duty, a bit too difficult and problematic, with many possibly uncomfortable questions that could well and easily arise.

And finally, I guess if I had actually enjoyed Jon Klassen's accompanying illustrations a bit more than I did, I probably would also have liked or at least been able to appreciate the end product, the combination of text and image that is This is Not My Hat a trifle more (probably not in any way enough for three stars, but definitely sufficient for two to two and a half stars). For yes, and their Caldecott Medal award quite notwithstanding, I really have not at all liked Jon Klassen's illustrations, I have not enjoyed the artwork featured in This is Not My Hat (as aesthetically, I have found both the colour schemes used and the resulting pictorial images stagnant, emotionless, and flat, and not at all to my personal tastes). And while I have indeed to a certain point at least mildly appreciated the visual depictions of the masses of seaweeds at the end of This is Not My Hat, that is, I am sorry to say, simply not nearly enough for me.

Now perhaps I am in fact missing something, and perhaps I am also being rather too majorly curmudgeonly and hyper-critical here, but truly, the combination of text and image in This is Not My Hat really does not at all work for me, leaving me absolutely cold, unsatisfied and uncomfortable, and as a result thereof, also not really all that keen on trying more of Jon Klassen's picture book offerings in the future (as I somehow do doubt that we are a good fit, especially with regard to his artwork).