Story time is the best time of the day. Whether we're snuggled up on the couch or cozy in our pjs before bed, reading stories with my little ones is one of my favorite things to do. Everyone has a favorite book they remember from their childhood, and every day, parents and kids are discovering new classics of their own. There are many fabulous children's books out there, some of which everyone knows about and others we would have never discovered had my son not simply pulled a random book off a library shelf. I created this blog to share some of these wonderful stories with you. Think of it as a year's worth of the best children's books around, since no day should be without a great story. In the end, I hope we'll all have discovered at least a few new titles that will have made their way onto our list of family favorites. Enjoy!







Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Day 9: The Mitten


I was so excited when I bought this book as a gift for my son's first Christmas.  Jan Brett's illustrations are, as usual, amazingly detailed and beautiful, and I have always loved and admired her work.  I was naturally disappointed, then, when my son showed no interest in it for the first year or two.  He went through a rather long phase of only wanting to read books that rhymed and had a nice sing-songy meter to them, which I suppose made perfect sense given his young age.  Still, I couldn't wait to be able to read this wonderful story to him.   Finally, the winter he turned two, The Mitten became an absolute favorite!  He would even ask that I tell him the story in the car on the way to daycare in the morning while he held the book in the backseat, marvelling at all of the gorgeous pictures.  We just love following along with the woodland animals as they squeeze their way into the lost mitten, and my son particularly enjoys the little preview illustration on the side of each page that shows which animal will be crawling into the mitten next.   His favorite page, of course, is the one where the bear sneezes. "aaaa...aaaahhh... aaahhCHOOOOOO!!"  He'll laugh, and laugh, and laugh, and loves to yell, "All the animals flew out of the mitten!" as we throw his stuffed animals up in the air.  Needless to say, I got my wish of having him love this book as much as I do.  We even have a beautiful 200-piece Ravensburger "The Mitten" puzzle, which he asks to do at least once a week.  This is another classic book that we just love to read all year long!

1 comments:

Kathryn Holeman said...

This is one of my absolute favorite children's books. Jan Brett's illustrations are so beautiful. It's amazing how seeing the book now brings back distant memories of sitting on laps and being read to.

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