We Found A Hat

What the Story is About

Two turtles.
One hat.
And a quiet tug-of-war between desire and doing the right thing.

Set against a vast desert landscape, the story gently unfolds in three parts. The turtles find a hat that looks good on both of them. But there’s only one. They walk away. They gaze at the sunset. One turtle starts to dream…

In this minimal yet emotionally rich tale, Klassen once again leaves space for the reader to sense what’s not said, making it a perfect entryway into conversations around fairness, friendship, and self-control.

Theme This Book Touches

• Self-regulation

• Temptation and restraint

• Honesty and empathy

• Shared belonging

• Quiet moral choices

Why This Book Matters

Not all conflicts are loud.
Sometimes, the real test happens in our heads - when no one is watching.

This story offers children a chance to reflect on the little voice inside them that debates right and wrong. It allows them to explore how we deal with wanting something that isn’t ours or isn’t fair to take. And how friendship can sometimes mean letting go.

About the Illustrations

The sparse desert, muted colours, and slow pacing are intentional. They invite us to slow down too. Every eye movement and pause in the frame is doing something: showing hesitation, imagination, and unspoken emotion.

Encourage children to watch the turtles’ eyes. They do the talking.

Reflection Questions for Children

Encourage gentle conversation. Children don’t need to be forced to speak - just offered a space where many voices are welcome.

Ages 5–7

• What do you think the turtles felt when they found the hat?

• Why did they walk away from the hat?

• Have you ever wanted something that someone else had? What did you do?

Ages 8–9

• Why do you think one turtle was dreaming about the hat?

• Was it easy or hard for the turtles to leave the hat behind? Why?

• What does it mean to be fair?

• Do you think they did the right thing?

Activities

These are guides, not fixed instructions. Use them as a base and add your own variations.

1. Draw Two Paths

Have children fold a paper in half. On one side, they draw what might happen if the turtle took the hat. On the other, what happens when they walk away.

Helps children imagine consequences and practice perspective-taking.

2. Hat of Many Meanings

Cut out paper hats. On each, children write or draw something that represents a choice or decision they’ve had to make recently.

Opens up conversations on choices, responsibility, and feelings.

3. Act It Out

With two children or small groups, act out the scene with the turtles. Freeze the moment one turtle looks at the hat again. Ask the rest of the class to guess what he might be thinking.

Encourages empathy and reading nonverbal cues.

Deeper Teacher Reflections

There’s something deeply moving in the way this story ends - not with punishment or reward, but with companionship and a dream shared.

This is a story where nothing happens - and yet, everything does.
It invites us to believe that even young children are capable of wrestling with ethics in small, quiet ways. And that those moments matter.

In fact, studies from Yale’s Infant Cognition Center suggest that even babies as young as six months can distinguish between helpful and unhelpful behaviour. This tells us something powerful: children don’t need to be taught every moral from scratch. They arrive with seeds of fairness already inside them.

Stories like this one help those seeds grow.

Using This in Your Classroom

• Let children sit with ambiguity. You don’t need to explain everything.

• Encourage peer conversations - children learn by listening to each other.

• Avoid judging their responses. There’s no ‘right’ takeaway.

• Use the book as a seed, not a script - build your own ways to explore it.

• Create space for every child to participate, even if they choose to just listen.