Customer Reviews

The Mitten

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

What a treasure: the illustrations and the story go hand in hand so wonderfully, quiet and witty and authentic. If you have Slavic roots, the Ukrainian illustrator's work may have extra resonance for you. Yaroslava drew the animals wearing Ukrainian costume, but with subtle touches of real life; this one's boots have creases, see the wrinkles in that one's heavy coat. I always wondered if there was an anti-Soviet subtext to the characters all insisting on sharing one living-space until it bursts at the seams (literally)...

Even though I buy them for my daughter, I try not to review items that I owned or remember from my childhood as I feel I am biased towards them simply because of the nostalgic factor. However, I do think I would still love this book even if I had just recently come upon it. For starters it has such vibrant colors with the alternating turquoise background and the bright red and gold Ukrainian clothing. And what child wouldn't love the thought of woodland creatures taking refuge from the snow in his or her lost mitten, although the story is just folklore and the product of a child's imagination...or is it?

This used to be one of my top 5 books as a little girl. This version is great, it's the one I had. As an adult, I love to read it to my own kids and have them notice the wonderful Ukranian artist's influence in the illustrations as well. I highly recommend this story to all parents as a read-aloud book!

Now, let me say from the start that, having read Jan Brett's version first, I prefer it. And unless your home library is enormous, you probably don't need both books. However, as the comments here show, many people prefer this version, which predates Brett's version by quite a while. If you can get your hands on both, do so - keep one for yourself and donate the other to a local school!

This story is a great classic. A boy loses his mitten in the woods, a series of progressively larger animals climb in, culminating in a bear. When one teeny animal tries to be the last to just squeeeeeze in (in this version, a cricket), that proves too much for the old mitten and it bursts all over the place.

In contrast to Jan Brett's signature style of very intricate pictures, the artwork in this book is very simple... and like many books of that time period, it alternates between full-color spreads and one-color spreads. (In this case, that one color is turquoise, as you can see on the cover.) I like the detail more, but there's a real charm in the simpler pictures of this edition.

Jan Brett has the animals looking and acting like animals. They don't wear clothes, and they don't explicitly talk to each other... and the prey animals move over for the predators only because they're intimidated by the talons, claws, and teeth (this detail is skipped in the board book version of Brett's book). In this edition, the animals speak politely to each other and act generally like humans. Some people prefer the lack of outright intimidation in this book.

I'm going to donate this book to my niece's school. They probably do have a copy of Brett's edition, but this would be a good thing for them to compare and contrast - and really, it stands on its own as a lovely book. It's just SO similar to the other, more well-known version (or, I should say, Brett's version is so similar to this one!) that I don't see the point in keeping both editions.

Recommended by the School Library Journal, and described by The Horn Book as "a lovely picture book," The Mitten continues to delight the young and the young at heart worldwide with its story, which is based on an ancient, popular Ukrainian classic folktale, and continues to be handed down generation to generation not only in Ukraine, but also worldwide. Retold by award-winning children's author Alvin Tresselt and co-authored and illustrated by renown Ukrainian art designer/illustrator Yaroslava, aka Yaroslava Surmach-Mills, this edition of The Mitten remains high on everyone's favorite list despite the decades since publication.

This much-sought-after 1964 edition with charming illustrations by Ukrainian art designer/illustrator Yaroslava is an artistic adaptation which depicts not only the distinctive Ukrainian colorful costumes and artistic motifs, but tells the story adhering to the style of the Ukrainian version. This edition of The Mitten places the reader in a uniquely Ukrainian environ while retelling the enchanting, enthralling, enjoyable tale to today's toddlers, who are sure to enjoy it as much as toddlers did in days of yore. The large pages are colorful, the artwork in its simplicity of line appeals to both the reader and the youngster listening to the story, and the text is comprised of short words sure to capture the interest and imagination of the young.

Recommended for ages 4-8, The Mitten is a picture book which teaches about friendship and sharing. This Ukrainian folktale is so popular, in fact, that not only various versions of the book are sold, but finger puppets, and interactive CD-ROMs are also available.

Author Alvin Tresselt was born in New Jersey and was a pioneering children's book author and graphic designer. Creator of the "mood" picture book, which relied on setting and description rather than on plot and character, many of his books were popular with teachers wishing to teach about the environment. He began writing children's books while he worked in advertising and display graphics from 1946 to 1952. He was awarded the Newbery Medal in 1948 for his book White Snow, Bright Snow, which was illustrated by Roger Duvoisin. Editor of Humpty Dumpty magazine in 1952, he later was Executive Editor at Parent's Magazine Press and Chief Editor of their book imprint. In 1974, he became an instructor and later Dean of Faculty at the Institute of Children's Literature in Redding, Connecticut. His most popular book was The Mitten, this book. He passed away in Vermont in 2000.

The illustrator of The Mitten, Yaroslava, aka Yaroslava Surmach-Mills, is very well known in the Ukrainian community for her artistic greeting cards, especially Christmas cards. Her varied work included glass paintings, book illustrations, and stained glass window designs. She was the Art Director/Editor for the children's magazine, "Humpty Dumpty." Born in Queens, New York, she died in September, 2008.

Award-winning author Alvin Tresselt uses the adaptation by E. (Evgenii) Rachev (an illustrator and published author of The Mitten: An Old Ukrainian Folktale [A Blue Ribbon Book] and over 200 other books) to retell the story of The Mitten. The events scripted in The Mitten open with the narrator of the story retelling the story as told to him by his grandfather. This time, the mitten's owner is a nameless young Ukrainian boy who, at the request of his grandmother who is knitting mittens, goes into the forest on the coldest day of winter to gather firewood. He works diligently all morning loading the sticks of wood into his sled, and as he picks up the last stick, he doesn't notice that he's dropped in a snowdrift one of his mittens with its feathery fur cuff and red wool lining.

As soon as the small Ukrainian lad is out of sight, the first animal to discover the warmth of the mitten is a little mouse, followed by a green frog in a colorful Ukrainian outfit, who is told to come in quickly from the cold. An owl is the next occupant, followed by a rabbit in a colorful Ukrainian coat, carrying something wrapped in a colorful scarf. Not long after, a uniquely Ukrainian fox joins them, followed shortly thereafter by a big gray wolf.

By then, needless to say, it's very crowded, but at least it's warm. As if it weren't crowded enough, along comes a wild boar, who, albeit dressed in his Ukrainian coat with its hood, is, nonetheless, also cold on this coldest day of winter. And, the big boar squinches himself into the mitten--how do we know that all this is true? Why, because the narrator's grandfather told him so! Thinking that the mitten might surely not have any more room, the occupants are, indeed, dismayed to see a very big and very cold bear appear and attempt to enter their warm mitten. "No room! No room!" cry the animals in unison. "Nonsense!; there's always room for one more," says the bear as he paws his way in. As all of this is going on, along comes a very old little black cricket who, too, decides to squeeze into the mitten. Well, as soon as the cricket puts her first scratchy foot inside, with a rip and a snap, the stitches come apart, the leather cracks, and the soft red lining splits in half, popping all the animals into the snow.

At that moment, the young Ukrainian boy notices that one of his warm mittens is missing, and he retraces his steps in search of it. But, alas, all he can find are the ripped-apart pieces and what he thought was a small mouse hurrying away with a bit of red wool on her head. Not worried, he thinks that his grandmother will surely have his new mittens finished by the time he arrives home. And, the narrator's grandfather tells him that he never did learn what really happened to his mitten.

Sundry variations of this story prevail with myriad illustrations standing the test of time on the hallowed shelves saturated with literature enjoyed by toddlers worldwide as authors retell the tale of the mitten with harmonious animals and satisfying storylines that vary with each retelling.

Not only is this 1964 excellent edition, published by Lothrop, Lee & Shepard as a First Mulberry Edition in 1989, very nicely retold and interestingly illustrated by Yaroslava, but the words, short and to the point, are sure to appeal to the young reader.

The front and back jacket art by Yaroslava depicts the characters from the folktale. A special touch throughout is the embroidery on the costumes worn by the animals, which embellish the story with the enchantment inherent in Ukrainian folklore.

A very hearty five stars plus for a delightful picture book, which is illustrated artistically and delivers excellently the ethnicity of Ukrainians. The Mitten is sure to be a continued favorite of not only toddlers, but also adults who are young at heart, as well.

Addendum: Children may enjoy other books on Ukrainian topics, which I've reviewed--many of them have images taken by me in Ukraine. There are currently over twenty books listed on my Listmania list entitled, "Children's Corner--for the Young and the Young at Heart..." Sometimes, there are several editions of one book, so be sure to find the ones with a review by Mandrivnyk.

To learn more about things Ukrainian, visit the Encyclopedia of Ukraine. Readers, you're also invited to visit each of my reviews--most of them have photos (with notes) that I took in Ukraine (over 600)--you'll learn lots about Ukraine and Ukrainians. The image gallery shows smaller photos, which are out of sequence. The preferable way is to see each review through my profile page since photos that are germane to that particular book/VHS/DVD are posted there with notes and are in sequential order.

To visit my reviews: click on my pseudonym, Mandrivnyk, to get to my profile page; click on the tab called review; scroll to the bottom of the section, and click on see all reviews; click on each title, and on the left-hand side, click on see all images. The thumbnail images at the top of the page show whether photos have notes; roll your mouse over the image to find notes posted. Also, you're invited to visit my Listmania lists, which have materials sorted by subject.

Additionally, both kids and adults will find it to be enjoyable and educational to learn the names and locations of the regions/oblasts of Ukraine and test their knowledge by solving the Interactive Puzzle map. Please see my comment below this review for further information.

Moreover, to view excellent slideshows of the 25 regions (24 oblasts and one autonomous republic) of Ukraine (you may even set the length of the slideshow), please see my comment below this review.

Nice book, I planned on doing the project from living crafts were you make a little wool mitten and wooden animals to stuff in while you are reading the book.

The original classic version of the story, probably derived from a Aesop-like fable tale of hospitality, with simple but very beautiful illustrations of authentic Ukrainian costume. The story itself is told in the classic fairy tale manner of animals that behave as humans with the careful observance of the social manners that characterized the customs of the old Slavic culture. This was the version I knew and loved as a child and I was thrilled to find another copy of it decades later.

This is a beautiful story that my 2 1/2 year old loves. I believe this is a story that we will be reading for years to come. It has quickly become a favorite.

Over the years I continue to love this book. Part of the reason is that it is a well told story involving animals. I also love the drawings.
I recently purchased this book for my niece and for the older children of two families who will be having a new addition. When I was asked to present a child's book to my class in middle school this was the book I chose.

MY DAUGHTER LOVED THIS BOOK SO MUCH, THAT WHEN SHE WAS SELECTED TO READ TO OTHERS DURING LIBRARY WEEK, SHE CHOSE THE MITTEN. THIS HAS ALWAYS BEEN A FAVORITE OF OUR FAMILY'S AND NOW I AM ORDERING THIS ONE FOR MY FIRST GRANDCHILD. A READER FROM CA.