Review by Booklist Review
Every wintry day, Little One pulls on her red mittens and goes outdoors to play in the snow. When she returns, she hangs her mittens near the woodstove to dry. While outside one day, her right mitten gets lost. Little One can't find it anywhere. When her right hand gets cold and her left mitten gets lonely, her mother knits her a new one. A series of forest animals finds the old mitten and adapts it to their needs. It becomes a rabbit's tea cozy, two bunnies' shared nightcap, a sleep sack for little mice, and a squirrel's treasured sweater. Both mittens are quite happy. The story unfolds with a minimum of drama, driven by a childlike imagination that envisions how animals might repurpose a mitten. Reflecting the narrative's gentle tone, the illustrations are softly shaded pencil drawings, warmed with colored pencils that enhance the woodland and interior scenes with shades of blue-gray, brown, tan, and red. First published in Japan, this picture book will speak to children whether or not their winters bring snow.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
After a child's mittens become separated during a snowy outing, one provides comfort to a series of animals in this meditative story, which imbues its woolen subjects with tender emotion. Initially, the mittens promise each other to keep the child's "tiny fingers toasty warm tomorrow, and the next day, and the next." When the right mitten goes missing, though, the lonesome left mitten wonders about the fate of its match. Meanwhile, the right mitten becomes tea cozy to a mother bunny, sleeping cap to her young, blanket to mouse siblings, and sweater to a squirrel, all the while wondering about its "dear friend," until the season's end provides bittersweet closure. Smudgy shading imbues Okada's artwork with a fuzziness that gestures toward the subjects' "fluffy warmth," and a muted palette centers cherry-colored mittens on every page. Ages up to 7. (Oct.)
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Review by Horn Book Review
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. Kitty FlynnNovember/December 2024 p.69 (c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Accidentally--and permanently--separated, a pair of mittens nevertheless preserve their bond. The mittens protect Little One's hands while she plays. At night, they dry by a glowing woodstove as a gray cat sleeps nearby. But one day the child drops her right mitten in the snowy woods. The lost mitten is found and pragmatically repurposed by a fox, a rabbit and her children, several young mice, and a pigeon. Meanwhile, Little One and her mother search for the mitten before the mother knits an identical, satisfactory replacement. The child is oblivious to the drama of the misplaced accessory, but eventually, while Little One is walking in the forest, the left mitten recognizes its now-tattered mate, which has become a sweater for a grateful squirrel. Hayashi brings the narrative to an unconventional ending: While the mittens remain apart, each is useful in a different way, and "they [are] both very happy." Translated from Japanese, the lengthy though gentle text is absorbing; this is a story that subtly resonates and reassures. Against the pale background, warmed by touches of umber, the saturated red of the mittens flares brightly. Their cable-knit pattern is mirrored in gray on the endpapers. Little One is often depicted facing away from readers; she is pale-faced and dark-haired. An unusual though soothing tale that's as comforting as a soft pair of mittens.(Picture book. 3-7) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
