The Mitten

The Mitten, an Old Ukranian Tale. A beloved tale. We read two versions, one by Alvin
R. Tresselt and the second by Jan Brett. Tresselt’s begins with a boy going out on the
coldest day of winter gathering firewood for his grandmother. Brett’s protagonist, Nicki,
convinces his grandmother to knit him white mittens, even though she warns him, they
will be hard to find if he drops them in the snow.

The boys in both versions are out and drop a mitten. One by one, animals squeeze into
the mitten, until….

These books offer opportunities for sequencing, predicting and comparing and
contrasting with a Venn diagram tray activity. Brett, also illustrates her books, has drawn
clues on the side of the page for what will happen next.

We feel the grandmother’s love as she tells Nicki, “When you come home, first I will
look to see if you are safe and sound, but then I will look to see if you still have your
snow-white mittens.” Tresselt’s little boy does not worry about his lost mitten as he says,
“my grandmother will surely have my new mittens finished by now.”

The timeless love of grandmothers knitting mittens for their grandchildren spurred us
on. We had seen the yarn that Ms. Bonnie spun when she visited us. We took yarn and
knitting needles and we are knitting a mitten too…..

Morah Ruth