The Mitten by Alvin Tressalt & Illustrated by Yaroslava

This book is based on the same folktale that Jan Brett's The Mitten is based on. So the story line is pretty much identical. However, the cast of characters is different. I think I might like this version better. The characters are spicier. 

I wondered about that. Are Jan Brett's characters just too good? Is that why I am not as interested in them? Hmm.... Something to ponder. 

I adore Jan Brett's illustrations, but I love these colors. And I like tiny little illustrations. 

Since this is a vintage book, the colored pages alternate with a mostly monochromatic layout. 

This little boy was in the woods picking up sticks for firewood when he lost his mitten. 

Now how a boy could do this

on the coldest day of winter

I'll never know, but that's the way 

my grandfather tells the story. 

Inserting a little reality. 

A little mouse notices the cozy mitten.

Unfortunate for the mouse's solitude, everyone else notices the mitten too. 

A frog (who should be sound asleep under the ice if he was any kind of proper frog.)

An adorable owl.

A bunny in a fabulous red coat.

This bear has a super vest. 

And do you see the animals in the mitten? They include a wild boar and wolf. 

The bear was just about too much for the mitten's seam. 

And then, along comes granny cricket. 

The last straw!

Unlike Jan Brett's version, the boy retraced his steps to find his ripped apart mitten. 

And he thought he saw 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. 

Martin's Big Words by Doreen Rappaport and Bryan Collier

See how spangled that cover is with medals? This book is a big deal. It deserves all those medals and more. The illustrations are bigger than life (isn't that an incredible portrait of MLK on the cover?!), the words are spare enough really nail you with their simple truth, and the message is one that never grows old. 

All men are created equal. And to make things happen, you have to DO something. 

I also love the concept of Martin's words changing things. Words are big and important. Use good ones!

Martin grew up in a world that was not fair. And his mother never let him think it was right or fair. 

His father was a minister. So he was around beautiful, important words all his life. 

By the time he himself was a minister, he knew as many big words as he needed to change history. To make the world more fair. 

And he changed the world. He was bold and honest. He became the face of his people. 

I saw an article a few years ago about how school teachers and other water down MLK. He had a message of peace and love, but there was also a realist in him that knew there would be a lot of egg carts upset by what he was trying to accomplish. And he didn't shy away from that. He didn't worry about making people uncomfortable. He wanted people to be uncomfortable with the status quo. 

He wasn't going to wait for some distant, future promise. He was going to make today the promise.

And he knew he might be stopped. He knew he was facing some of the fiercest hatred because of the uncomfortable truths he preached. 

Remember,

 if I am stopped,

 this movement 

will not be stopped, 

because God is 

with this movement. 

This movement was not just Martin Luther King Jr. He never meant it to be. He just stepped up to be the leader for a movement much bigger than himself. 

This is my favorite picture in the entire book. I am not artistic, so I can't really tell you why I love this picture so much, but I just love it. The unflinching stare, the tattered flag, put back together--this is what the civil rights movement did. It demanded that the America that was broken for them be made whole again. 

Words are a big deal. Words can change the commonplace into history changing vehicles. 

Snowfall by Margaret Wise Brown and Frank Viva

Snowfall

In the soft mysterious fall of the snow

The bell buoys ring                             

The whistles blow                               

    While boats go slowly through the snow

Over the river, to and fro.                  

Slow, slow                                                              

In the soft mysterious fall of the snow

Walking in wonder                               

The children go                                    

Home from school, their laughter low

  Catching falling flakes of snow.           

Slow, Slow                                                      

In the soft mysterious fall of the snow

Light in the air                                    

And drop below                                   

Through the trees all white with snow

The lights of evening softly glow.       

                                                                   ---Margaret Wise Brown

Walking in a Winter Wonderland by Peggy Lee & Tim Hopgood

I am SO IN LOVE WITH THIS BOOK. 

Firstly, I adore singing books. I just do. I think it is a throwback to the days when a singing book could delight Gilbert, no matter how cranky he was. (I also feel people should sing more in general.)

Secondly, this is one of my favorite winter songs. I know some people think of this as a Christmas carol, but it really isn't. 

Thirdly, THE PICTURES. So vivid and bursting with joy. 

I had high hopes for how I would photograph this book. I envisioned gorgeous backdrops, etc. Then last weekend, I looked outside and saw the entire world was sparkling suddenly. So I trotted out and tried to capture a real time winter wonderland. 

Real time winter wonderlands are hard to capture. And I didn't surprise myself with sudden talent. But take it from me, it was incredible. I kept wishing I was a better photographer so you could see how awesome it was!!

I have never really seen frost crystals/snowflakes this big and vivid before. They coated everything. Aren't they cool?!

It was close to zero and the snow was falling so slowly, so straight down. I am not sure if that was a contributing factor, but whatever it was, it was super fab!

Creek edge 

Oh yes, we were talking about a book. 

 The words are just the song. Don't expect anything else. And who needs anything else?! 

Those aquas with the fox and deer against them! 

I love the music notes sprinkled throughout.

This version is less lovey-dovey, getting married and more family out together. Which is appropriate.

A tree full of music notes and snowflakes. And that blue! There are one or two days a winter when the world is that white with ice and snow and the sky is that blue. And they are days that soar. 

You can see individual snowflakes!! I was a little fascinated by that. 

These two pages are so full of bring loveliness that they are my favorite. 

It does refer to the snowman as a Santa clown, but I just sub in circus clown to make it applicable all winter long. 

Daddies and babies in a heap by the fire. 

SO GORGEOUS!!

I am so exceptionally pleased with my purchase. 

The Big Snow by Berta and Elmer Hader

Here is another oldie but goodie. We had this book when I was a kid. It was definitely one of those books that sit on the shelf and don't get read very often. 

It is long. It really is. I read it to Pre-K the other day and ended up paraphrasing most of it. Because the kids were getting antsy. 

So if you read it to older kids, you should be good. It is a lovely book. Over the summer, I came across a box of books a teacher was discarding from her classroom library and found an old and battered copy of this book.

I was completely enchanted. There is something in the pictures, so pure and perfect, that pulls me in every time. 

Since the copy was old and battered and I adored the pictures, I decided to make a bulletin board of it. 

(Is it legal to use a book this way? I always have argued that it is, but now that I am in the public realm, I start realizing I need to actually be sure of these things.)

I pinterested how to make snowflakes. It was fun--for the first couple. 

This is the picture that wowed me when I opened the book. I mean look at those dear. So gorgeous.

This book follows a woodland of animals as they prepare for winter. From the first signs of autumn to the Big Snow.

The animals talk back and forth about what each one does for winter.

It is somewhat hokey, but beneath that, there is a lot of information about how animals deal with winter.

These pictures are such period pieces of the 1940's/50's. Those colors!

The first snow. Not the Big Snow, but the first snow. The animals frolic in the moonlight. 

Hello! I love animals frolicking in the moonlight.

There is a ring around the moon, so the wise old owl knows snow is on the way. 

The beginning of the Big Snow. Isn't this cute? All those snowflakes.

A world changed!

How does the snow affect the animals? 

Food hunting becomes life and death.

Hungry animals.

But there are kind people. 

And the animals quickly spread the news of food set out. 

Feasting! 

And the animals survive until spring comes to take the snow away.