Setting is an evaluation criteria that can sometimes be easily overlooked. In this tale of a cleaver little fish the setting is so subtle that it is almost taken for granted. Author and illustrator, Jon Klassen, shows that the setting is a body of water, not by drawing waves and water movements, but simply through bubbles. The reader can tell that the fish are in water by looking closely at their mouths or behind them as they move. Small, delicate, bubbles appear as the fish are breathing or swimming. The background is simply black. The reader also sees underwater plants where our main character hides and flits around. With the simplicity and intelligence of this evaluation criteria, the setting almost becomes a character in the story as well.
Shapes within illustrations can range from simplistic to very detailed. In This is Not My Hat, by author and illustrator Jon Klassen, the shapes are very simplistic. The oval type shape, used for our main character on the cover, is recreated throughout the book with the shape of the larger fish as well as the leaves on all of the plants. The plants also consist, along with our oval shape, of simple rectangles. As the main character flits around in the water he reveals to the reader that the hat he is wearing is not his and that he stole it from a larger sleeping fish. The smaller fish feels like he has to hide so that the larger fish does not catch him. The reader follows the small fish as he swims away and tries to reassure himself that he will not be caught. Read this tale of a cleaver fish to find out how he fares.
References
Klassen, J. (2012). This is not my hat. Somerville, Massachusetts: Candlewick Press.
-Naomi Emory, The Bookish Educator
