The Mitten
Written and illustrated by Jan Brett
Verdict:
Fine illustrations lift this classic story to humorous and delightful heights.
What is it about?
In this beautifully and lavishly illustrated story based on a Ukrainian folktale, a boy gets new mittens from his grandmother, along with strict instructions not to lose them. As is the way of stories, he does indeed lose one of them, and the titular mitten has an adventure with various creatures of the forest. All ends well, though Grandmother is puzzled at the end about the difference between the two mittens.
Our take:
This is a book to savor many times. You will want it in your library, and pull it out frequently, if only to admire the illustrations. The book sports the kind of lush, careful art that tells much in the details, through form, color, and texture. All the figures are beautifully and expressively depicted.
The book is bound in a good, large size, suitable for a group read aloud, and the illustrations also are large and easy to see. The story is an obvious tall tale, implausible to be sure, but written so that we believe it anyway, as all good folktales are. And the very last illustration, with no words, gives a gentle bit of humor, that children will love to explain. Jan Brett has created many more beautifully illustrated books, worthy of inclusion in libraries and collections.
Perfect fit for:
Lovers of folktales, and readers of all ages who admire fine illustrations. This, being about mittens, is a winter tale, good for cozy evenings after romps in the snow. The story can lead to discussion of far away places, of different ways of dressing, of what a folktale is, of different kinds of wildlife, of how to camouflage, of sharing, and of doing what one is told.
Conversation Starters
Did you think this story was funny? Why?
Would animals really do all those things?
What is a folktale? (Explain, in general, what a folktale is: a story that is not like real life, but that tells us some things about real life in a fun or interesting way.)
Was the grandmother right about mittens, or was the boy?
Why did the animals share? Why do you share?
Why was the grandmother wondering in the last picture? Why were the mittens different?
Let's find Ukraine on a map. Are the wild animals there like the wild animals around us?
What do animals do in the winter? (Talk about each kind.)
STORYVOR uses affiliate links. When you make a purchase through our buy links, you directly support our mission to spread literacy at no extra cost to you, and help keep free teaching and book resources available to parents and educators around the world.
