Although these results are for the book in general, there is a large increase in search between October and November 2011. Search for 'I Want My Hat Back' began in September when the book was published. Each animal says no, some more elaborately than others. Patiently and politely, he asks the animals he comes across, one by one, whether they have seen it. It was also reviewed on Wired's GeekDad and has a TV Tropes page.ĭerivatives of the original were shared via the Tumblr tag 'I Want My Hat Back.' The Doctor Who and TF2 versions appeared on The Daily What, Geek, Reddit and Geekosystem. I Want My Hat Back author/illustrator: Jon Klassen The bear’s hat is gone, and he wants it back. The original book was reviewed by the New York Times on October 12th, 2011 and a month later, was listed as one of the 10 Best Illustrated Books of 2011. The next day, afuturegentleman posted a version in which Professor Layton from the Nintendo DS game series of the same name is looking for his top hat. It was Team Fortress 2 themed, illustrating the story of a Heavy looking for his party hat.

The first parody of the book was posted as a part of a reblog of original post by modestmango on November 13th, 2011. The post has since been deleted but the images were archived on Buzzfeed and FunnyJunk. I Want My Hat Back is storytelling meme based around retelling the children's book of the same name with other popular characters losing their hats or other items they are known for having. Tumblr user thesulfurandthesigh initially posted a series of images of the book's pages some time in early November, which accumulated over 37,000 notes in a few weeks. The original book was written and illustrated by Jon Klassen and published on September 27th, 2011.

I Want My Hat Back by Jon Klassen