Recently, we read this book in our home: The Mitten by Jan Brett.
Jan Brett is a wonderful illustrator. Her animals are realistic with a touch of whimsy thrown in.
My children loved the story of how the animals crawled inside the missing mitten. This made them think about the animals outside in the cold weather.... and even though God created them to adapt to cold weather, it was still cute to think of the animals "cozying" up together.
Then my children (especially my son) loved that when the bear sneezed, ALL the animals went flying! :)
See the beautiful details in Jan Brett's illustrations:
The bear's big sneeze even sent the mitten flying ... right back into the hands of its owner.
I taught our Little Literature class this past month in our monthly co-op. This book was the book we did for this class, too.
I printed the masks from Jan Brett's website. I cut them out and laminated them and placed them on large craft sticks (tongue dispenser size.) I store them at home with the book in a large bag so my children can act out the story when it's read to them! It's so much fun to bring the book to life with a young child!
I also had saved this activity from a reproducible book from the library. I apologize that I didn't write down the name of the book. It is a cute activity. The mitten was cut out and I punched small holes along the mittens and the children laced the two together. This gave them an actual paper mitten. They then got each animal from the story to color. All the animals can go into the mitten and when the bear sneezes, they can be shaken out! :) This was a take-home activity!
If you have done a post where you took a look inside a book, please share and add the link (for your blog post) in the comments below. I'd love to stop by for a visit and sit a bit, looking through your book! ...or you can just post a comment on a children's book you really like and why. Thanks! and ... If you enjoy a children's book with a child, it mightjust create an special moment... which will lead to a precious memory! 
