Hats off to critical thinking: An excursion into Jon Klassenʼs hat trilogy

Abstract

In this article, we explore power and perspectives as lenses for critical thinking embedded in Jon Klassenʼs fictional picturebook trilogy I want my hat back (2011), This is not my hat (2012), and We found a hat (2016). Drawing on ideas from critical literacy and democratic citizenship, we conduct a close reading of the picture-text interaction and selected visual features through a critical content analysis (Johnson et al., 2019). The scarcity of hats drives the narrative in the three books and may stimulate reflections on ownership. We argue that the different affordances of these picturebooks may prompt critical thinking regarding power relations and perspectives, and may be a step towards fostering critical thinking and encouraging democratic citizenship in young readers.

Keywords

• Critical thinking
• critical literacy
• power
• perspectives
• democracy
• citizenship