I Wish I’d Written: Dave Shelton

Dave Shelton on the tale of a bear and a joke he wishes he had told.

There aren’t many books that I wish I had written. Mostly, if I had written any of the books that I really love, then they would be different, and not as good, and I wouldn’t love them so much. Because most of the books that I love are just not the kind of thing I would write, not the kind of thing I’m any good at. But Jon Klassen’s picture book, I Want My Hat Back, kind of is the sort of thing I like to think I’m quite good at. This tale of a bear’s search for his beloved missing hat is seemingly very simple, with very few words, and illustrations mostly depicting the cast of animal characters in sparse surroundings with no background. And it is beautifully deadpan, with barely a hint of expression on anyone’s face throughout. No one strains to make you laugh, no one shouts or stomps or makes a fuss. Instead, as in an unpolished children’s nativity play, everyone stands awkwardly, looking out at the audience rather than at each other, and recites their lines with no hint of emotion. And the result is hilarious. Because the entire story is just a brilliant joke really (albeit one that implies an unseen terrible fate for one of its characters). It’s a beautifully constructed, immaculately told joke. The kind I wish I had told.

I Want My Hat Back by Jon Klassen is published by Walker Books, ‎978-1406338539, £7.99 pbk.

Dave Shelton won the Branford Boase Award with A Boy and a Bear in a Boat. His latest book, Monster in the Woods, is publishing in August, David Fickling Books, 978-1788452212, £7.99 pbk.