“In the depths of a lake, a tiny fish swims across the pages of this incredible picture book wearing a tiny blue hat. The hat happens to fit this tiny fish perfectly. But, it is not his hat. He stole it and he is perfectly upfront about stealing the hat. He stole it from a very BIG fish while he was sleeping. He stole it because it did not fit the big fish. He has a plan for getting away with the hat while the BIG fish is still sleeping, he won’t wake up and even if he does he will have no idea what happened, or who took his hat! The tiny fish plans to swim into the deep weeds where he will never be found. But the BIG fish isn’t asleep, he’s quickly gaining on the tiny fish and this is where the trouble begins.
In this witty picture book, students will clearly get the message that stealing is bad. The tiny fish acknowledges that he stole the hat and that he shouldn’t have taken it, but he did. Even with “good” reason, students will see there is a consequence to this action. Even though the consequence in this book is dramatic, it is a lesson, nonetheless.
Elementary school to high school students will enjoy this book and it can be used in a variety of ways at each grade level. In elementary school, this would be a great lesson for behavior – knowing when something is right and when something is wrong. They can write about a time when they made a bad decision and got in trouble to illustrate the consequences. They can then write about a time when they told the truth or made a good decision and what happens in that situation.
This book is a study in pictures. It is imperative to look closely at the pictures because there are no words on some pages. Students will see the eyes of the big fish open and squint in anger as responses to the excuses the tiny fish tells himself about getting away with his crime. Students can emulate this style by creating a story through pictures rather than words.
Students in high school can translate this into a silent film and create one of their own on Windows Movie Maker or other production website. They can model the humor in the story and the hyperbole.
WHAT AN AWESOME BOOK – a great follow up to Klassen’s I Want My Hat Back.
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Jamie McDevitt wrote this review Thursday, November 29, 2012.
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