ACCESS DIGITIZED EDITION
Guide/Reviews Database
PICTURE BOOKS
Hayashi , Kirin

Two Little Red Mittens

40 pp. | Amazon Crossing Kids | September, 2024 | Trade ISBN 9781662516764 $17.99
(2) K-3 Translated by Avery Fischer Udagawa. Illustrated by Chiaki Okada. Little One's red wool mittens promise each other "to keep those tiny fingers toasty warm tomorrow, and the next day, and the next." One day Little One loses the right-hand one, and this homey tale follows the mitten as it's found and lost again and again. A kind fox picks up the red mitten on a snowy path and hangs it on a bush, hoping its owner sees it. That night, a blizzard blows the mitten under a tree, where a mother rabbit finds it and brings it home to use as "the perfect tea cozy." (Back at home, Little One and her mother search, "but it was no use.") The rabbit twins decide it's a nightcap and sleep soundly with it "over both their heads at once." Later, some greedy mice take the mitten, now starting to show wear, to use as a sleep sack; the trio's bickering eventually leads to them losing the mitten as well. Hayashi's gentle story authentically taps into a young child's vivid imagination. The narrative's nicely balanced tension holds readers' interest without stoking up worries -- there's a sense that all will be well. Okada's soft illustrations, rendered in pencil and colored pencils, perfectly match the tale's old-fashioned sensibility and quiet winter setting. The left mitten, meanwhile, is working with a new partner but still wonders "if everything's all right" with the lost right. It is, and while the sweet, heartfelt ending doesn't reunite the mittens, it gives them and listeners satisfying closure.
Reviewer: Kitty Flynn | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2024

RELATED 

PICTURE BOOKS

Born Ready
by Patterson, Jodie
PICTURE BOOKS

The House of Grass and Sky
by Ray, Mary Lyn
PICTURE BOOKS

The Dog's Gardener
by Storms, Patricia
PICTURE BOOKS

And I Paint It
by Kephart, Beth
PICTURE BOOKS

Poem in My Pocket
by Tougas, Chris
More

Get connected. Join our global community of more than 200,000 librarians and educators.

This coverage is free for all visitors. Your support makes this possible.

We are currently offering this content for free. Sign up now to activate your personal profile, where you can save articles for future viewing.

ALREADY A SUBSCRIBER?