What's That, Mittens? (My First I Can Read Series)

by Lola M. Schaefer, Susan Kathleen Hartung (Illustrator)

Overview

Something is making a noise by the fence. Could it be a new friend?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780060546649
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	05/26/2009
Series:	My First I Can Read Series
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	5.80(w) x 8.80(h) x 0.40(d)
Lexile:	360L (what's this?)
Age Range:	3 - 5 Years

About the Author

Lola M. Schaefer is the author of several books for children, including An Island Grows; Pick, Pull, Snap! Where Once a Flower Bloomed, an NCTE Notable Children's Book in the Language Arts; and What's Up, What's Down? She lives with her husband, Ted, in the mountains of north Georgia, where she occasionally observes the back end of a black bear, coyote, or gray fox.

In addition to illustrating the books about Mittens, Susan Kathleen Hartung has provided the art for numerous picture books, including One Leaf Rides the Wind by Celeste Davidson Mannis. She lives in Brooklyn, Michigan.

Editorial Reviews

Praise for Mittens: “Preschoolers will enjoy the kitten’s story, as they recognize how it feels to be a small creature in a giant world.

ALA Booklist

In the third entry in this series for the newest readers, an inquisitive, gray-striped kitten named Mittens meets his next-door neighbor, a dog named Max. Using a minimal text in a large font, the simple story introduces Mittens, who plays alone in his fenced-in backyard. Mysterious scratching and barking noises from the other side of the white picket fence ensue, with plenty of leading questions and broad hints that prompt the new reader to predict what will happen to Mittens next. Soon the kitten and the unseen critter are both digging away on their respective sides of the fence to mutually beneficial effect, leading to a budding friendship. The author skillfully integrates short exclamations and animal sounds into the text, moving the story along and adding sensory details within the early-reader format. Hartung's soft-focus watercolor illustrations imbue the appealing kitten and the big (but friendly) dog with a perky sweetness that will charm the youngest readers. (Early reader. 4-7)

Kirkus Reviews