"There is a hat. The turtles fund it together. But there is two of them and there is only one hat"
A bear, a fish and turtles! Jon Klassen's hat trilogy is a lesson in minimalism. The conclusion to this trilogy, We Found a Hat, is both deliciously funny and heart-warming. And of course, it has an unexpected twist at the end.
We Found a Hat
In the second part, the two turtles are watching the sunset from a rock. One of the turtles is thinking of the beautiful sunset in the desert. And the other turtles is thinking of, well, nothing! But of course that is not true, the hat is on her mind. The hard-to resist temptation begs for an answer to the question what would you do.
The world created by Jon is minimal but it is filled with all the drama and moral decisions of a real world. In the third part, the moral dilemma is resolved in a clever an unexpected one.
Why not write an ending to the story before you read the final page?
This story is about existing relationship which makes it so touching and beautiful. The turtles are not strangers who are stealing from each other and this makes it on at least some levels more complicated. The friendship is at stake and Jon cleverly leaves it to the audience to find this out. He shows us in pictures that they are friends rather than tell the audience that the two turtles are friends.