The Mitten

The Mitten

Alvin Tresselt

illustrated by Yaroslava

Another snowy story illustrated by Yarolava.  This time, a little boy has gone out into the woods to gather sticks when he drops one of his leather mittens.  A little mouse spies it and decides to move in.  Soon she is joined by a coterie of other animals who she generously invites in out of the cold.  Stretched to accommodate a frog, a rabbit, an owl, a fox, a wolf, a boar and a bear, it's finally a little cricket who stretches the mitten to it's breaking point.

When the little boy realizes he's lost his mitten (which at this point has been broken apart by all the animals) he sees a little mouse "scurrying away with a bit of red wool perched on her head.  It looked very much like the lining from the thumb of his missing mitten."  But no matter, for when he gets home his grandmother has knitted him a brand new pair.

Another version of this story is told and illustrated by Jan Brett.  In her version, a grandmother has just knitted a pair of snow white mittens for her grandson and warns him not to lose them.  Of course he drops one in the snow and various animals move in, stretching the mitten to comical proportions!  Her list of animals include a rabbit, mole, badger, hedgehog, fox, owl and bear.  And this time it's the little mouse who tickles the bear's nose causing him to sneeze them all out of the mitten.

The Mitten

adapted and illustrated by Jan Brett 1989

It's a cute Ukrainian folktale and both versions are terrific.  I think I'm partial to Yarolsava's bright graphic illustrations though. 

Snowflake Bentley

How could we go through a winter season without reading this book?!

Snowflake Bentley

Jacqueline Briggs Martin

illustrated by Mary Azarian 2009

Mary Azarian's illustrations have a woodblock feel, as Jacqueline Briggs Martin tells the true story of Wilson Bentley, a farmer's son who grew to love and study nature.  He was particularly interested in precipitation and snowflakes.  After getting a camera, Willie discovered a way to take photographs of snowflakes.  It was tricky and had to be done in absolute cold so that the crystals wouldn't melt, but in the end he was able to make strikingly beautiful pictures of magnified snowflakes.

 For fifty years Wilson A. Bentley, a simple farmer, developed his technique of microphotography to reveal to the world the grandeur and mystery of the snowflake- its universal hexagonal shape and its infinite number of lovely designs.

The Winter Child

The Winter Child

Lee Wyndham

illustrated by Yaroslava 1970

We have a couple versions of this Russian folk tale, sometimes called The Snow Child.  This one has particularly striking illustrations by Yaroslava.

An old man and woman have everything they need on their cozy farm, except for a child.  One Winter day after watching the village children build snowmen, they decide to make a little girl out of snow.  Magically she comes alive and becomes their very own child.   But because she is a snow child, she must sleep outside in the cool weather and can't have anything warm to eat or drink.  And of course as the season changes, she must go away but promises to come back every winter. 

(I love books that show pictures of samovars!)

For some reason the picture of the girl-shaped puddle is particularly sad to me!

The Big Snow

Winter isn't over until we've had our big snow.  This year it came in March.  School was off, snow and snowsuits were strew about just inside the front door, and the kids got in sledding and building snow forts.     This morning I filled our bird feeder out front, and sprinkled some seeds on the ground and I thought of this book Charlotte and I read the other night.

The Big Snow

Berta and Elmer Hader 1948

A classic, it starts off describing the various animals of the forest and meadow and their plans for the winter.  Mrs. Chipmunk and the wood mouse are busy storing nuts and seeds.  The groundhog and skunk family are ready to sleep the winter away, while various birds decide to fly south.

One night wise owl sees a rainbow around the moon.  "A rainbow around the moon meant more snow.  MUCH MORE."   Two days later when the animals awake to a heavy blanket of snow, they go searching for food.  Thanks to the thoughtful old man and woman in the little stone house, seeds and breadcrumbs and hay and corn are set out for the animals so they won't go hungry. 

Building a House

We bought this book at Charlotte's book fair this year and I love it!  The story is about a family that packs up and moves to the country where they build their house from scratch.  It takes a few years (they live in a little trailer in the meantime) and a lot of hard work, but what a beautiful sense of community, environmental responsibility, and self-sufficiency they have.  The best part is, the story was based on the author's true experience of his parents building their house when he was a child.

Building Our House

Jonathan Bean 2013