Slice of Life 6- The Bear
This blog seems a little overdue, but better late than never.
In this blog, I will be attempting an analysis of a book my English teacher read to me on National Read-Aloud Day. It’s called “I want my hat back.” Basically, this book is about a bear who gets his hat stolen by a rabbit. I would like to start off by saying that I am not sure this book was aimed toward the appropriate audience. I mean, this book is supposedly read by young children, but after my english teach read this to our HIGH SCHOOL freshman class, we were all in shock.
The book starts off with a bear looking around for his hat that he “lost.” He asks many different animals, including a fox, a snake, a turtle, a cat, and a very mysterious rabbit. From all the animals except the rabbit, when asked if they knew where his hat was, the response was a simple no, or something similar. The bear, just saying, is also being very polite with these questions, always saying, “OK,” or “Thank you,” after his sentences. But the rabbit, when questioned, released an unnecessary crazed string of nonsense. It was something like, “What? I haven’t seen your hat. Why are you asking me? I am not wearing your hat. Leave me alone.” I would also like to mention that the rabbit is VERY clearly wearing this bright red hat, but the bear somehow doesn’t notice at first. After finishing his questioning, the bear seems to give up, sits down, and long for his lost hat.
After sitting for a page or two, the bear suddenly remembers. This is what it looked like.
Notice the very regular, plain white background. Now, notice the satanic red background covering the bears demotic expression reading, “I have seen my hat.” Alright, hold up. First of all, what a use of color. I mean, maybe it was because all the other backgrounds were plain and white, but this one really hit me. That page alone could give me nightmares.
Notice, on the next page, the showdown between the bear and the rabbit. It’s like the tension is tangible.
At first glance, I couldn’t even comprehend what had happened. I mean, did that bear actually just SIT on that rabbit. After actually reading, I noticed what had actually happened.
OK now that this analysis is over, I want to give my thoughts about this bear.
WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS BEAR?!
The way the animals were drawn in general is freaky. Just look at the eyes and not get goosebumps.
Also, this bear is absolutely mental.
First of all, the bear must have major attention issues or something for him not to notice the hat on the rabbit. Second of all, this bear must also have some serious mood swings. He first seems all polite responding, “Thank you,” after almost every question he gives the second animals. But the moment he “realizes” the rabbit has his hat, he straight-up eats him.
Before ending this blog, I would just like to say that after this read-aloud was over, many people were disturbed. I myself, in fact, was a bit frightened. This book, in my opinion, should not be a children’s book at all.
This book was intense.
