The Mitten, adapted and illustrated by Jan Brett, is a simple and charming story about Nicki, who persuades his grandmother to knit him snow-white mittens. Out exploring in the snowy woods, he drops a mitten. Along comes a mole, burrowing through the snow, and the mole decides that the mitten looks like a snug cozy place for a rest. He's joined one at a time by several forest friends, including a hedgehog, an owl, a hare, and a bear. Finally a little mouse wriggles his way in, right on top of bear's nose. ACHOO!
The story is sweet and simple. I've read it over and over since the lovely lady was small and I'm not tired of reading it yet. Even better than the story are Brett's lovely and charming illustrations. The mitten-shaped windows to the side of each page develop the story beyond the words on the page and help young children predict what's to come on the next page. It's absolutely charming, one of our favorite picture book read-alouds.
Brett's site has some lovely crafts and activities to go along with reading The Mitten, including animal masks, a lovely letter about the creation of the book, a coloring page, instructions on how to draw a bear, and much much more!
The Mitten made a perfect jumping off point for the Bridgeway House Theater troupe, though Brett's tale has no fairies, trains, or tornadoes. Read about the play based on The Mitten and put on by a cast of children with autism here (or click on The Mitten tag at the bottom of this post).
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