To allow the brain to focus on the information in the illustrations this reading will look only at the illustrations and the information they provide the young reader. There are no right or wrong answers in this reading. If the pages are not numbered, page 1 is the first page of text.
Each full-page spread is full of information about the story and the culture of Ukraine. Inside each of the sidebar mitten cutouts is additional information about the plot. The animals appear in the cutout before they appear in the full illustration.
Notice the furniture, housing, and clothing. There is a wealth of information about Ukraine. Make note of the questions that arise as you study the illustrations. You’ll look for the answers to the questions during the Second Reading.
Pages 1 – 5:
~Who do you think the woman is in the sidebar mitten cutout? What is she doing? (She is making yarn on a spinning wheel. She is rolling the yarn that she made.)
~What is the setting of the story? (Setting is when and where the story takes place. It is in the winter. However, the clothing seems to be from another country.)
~What do you think the woman might be knitting?
~On page 5, do you notice anything in the illustration that you might want to tell the boy? (He has dropped his mitten.)
~What is the animal that has appeared? (If you don’t know, you’ll find out during the Second Reading.)
Pages 6 – 9:
~Discuss what is happening in the illustrations. What are the animals doing?
~On page 7, where do you think the rabbit is going?
~On page 9, discuss who the new animal might be.
~On pages 8 and 9, what might the animals be saying to each other?
Pages 10 – 19:
~As you move from page to page and each new animal appears repeat the same discussion:
~Try to identify each new animal. Look at the faces of the animals. Discuss how they might be feeling and what they might be saying to each other.
~Do you think the bear will fit into the mitten with the other animals?
~Review how many animals are in the mitten and what the animals are.
~Predict what will happen with the mouse.
Pages 20 – 23:
~On pages 20 and 21, look at the boy in the cutouts. What is happening? What might he be thinking?
~How are the animals feeling inside the mitten?
~On pages 22 and 23, what might the boy be doing?
~What do you think has happened with the animals? Where is the mitten?
Pages 24 – End:
~What has happened to the animals?
~What is happening with the mitten?
~On page 26, what might the boy be thinking?
~What might the woman be thinking on the last page?