The Three Little Mittens

by Linda Bailey, Natalia Shaloshvili (Illustrator)

Overview

Notes From Your Bookseller

With wonderfully woolly characters, this cozy classic is all about individuality, inclusivity and friendship. It's the encouragement young minds need to be one-of-a-kind.

A single mitten is excluded by a matching pair in this endearing picture book about friendship, belonging and the pressure to "match." For fans of The Day the Crayons Quit.

Dotty and Other Dotty are a matching set of mittens. When another mitten, Stripes, loses her partner and becomes a single mitten, they don't feel the need to include her. She doesn't "match" them, so she is banished to the dark, lonely pocket of the Little Girl who owns them. Before long, however, Dotty loses her partner, and now she doesn't match the reunited pair of Stripes and Other Stripes, who in turn banish her to the pocket. "YOU don't match!" they tell her.

When the Little Girl, who has been listening to their conversations, weighs in with a huge question ("Why do you have to match?"), the mittens are shocked. Then comes their realization that "matching" often means leaving someone out. This prompts the Little Girl to break a fundamental rule of fashion so that individual mittens (and maybe even socks! or shoes!) can be themselves — and everyone can belong.

A warm and fuzzy story with lots of laughs, this latest picture book from Linda Bailey explores what it feels like to be excluded and included and celebrates one-of-a-kindness!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781774880111
Publisher:	Tundra
Publication date:	10/24/2023
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	68,148
Product dimensions:	9.10(w) x 10.70(h) x 0.40(d)
Age Range:	3 - 7 Years

About the Author

LINDA BAILEY has written nearly forty books for children. Mary Who Wrote Frankenstein was recently cited as a Best Book of the Year by Publishers Weekly, the Globe and Mail, Booklist, the New York Public Library and the CBC, among others. Linda has also been honored with awards that include the Vicky Metcalf Award for her exceptional body of work in children’s literature, the Ontario Blue Spruce and Silver Birch Awards, the California Young Reader Medal, the Georgia Children's Book Award and the U.K. School Library Association Information Book Award. She lives in Vancouver, British Columbia.

NATALIA SHALOSHVILI began her creative career as a fashion and editorial illustrator, working with a number of international magazines and creative agencies, including Grazia, Women's Health and Gala. Later, she found her true passion in children's books and paintings. Her original work can be found in private galleries and homes around the globe. Natalia lives in London, England, with her family.

Editorial Reviews

"A funny, yet thought-provoking picture book that is highly recommended for reading aloud.” —STARRED REVIEW, Booklist

"The over-arching themes of this witty, thought-provoking story are, of course, accepting differences and recognizing individual worthiness." —Kirkus Reviews

"Bailey’s story of inclusion and acceptance balances any didacticism with a playful tone." —The Horn Book

"Preschoolers will love being in on the joke, but elementary-aged readers will love this, too. It’s fast, funny, and true." —School Library Journal

"[H]eartwarming and illustrates the differences amongst us that contribute to everyone’s joyful experiences." —CM: Canadian Review of Materials

"Linda Bailey has taken a familiar circumstance . . . and given us a heartfelt story of acceptance and inclusiveness. In The Three Little Mittens, what starts as animosity and discrimination, becomes friendship and support, with all the mittens belonging, and, even better, being welcomed as part of  a new configuration" —CanLit for LittleCanadians

"The Three Little Mittens is a beautifully illustrated picture book that addresses important things such as inclusion, uniqueness, friendship, belonging and kindness." —Metroland

"Humorous childlike thoughts and joyful pictures align the book with other classics . . . Just sticking with mittens would have made the story seem more of a parable. When a Little Girl appears, the mittens, and the reader, begin to experience other possibilities." —Imaginary Elevators

From the Publisher

11/01/2023

PreS-K—A fabulous story built on the premise that all hell will not break loose if things do not match. Two pink-spotted mittens, Dotty and Other Dotty, cling together like the smug pair they are, excluding Stripes, another mitten who has lost her partner. Being the third mitten buried in a pocket is not much of a life, but then Other Dotty disappears, as mittens do, and the little girl owner decides that wearing mismatched mittens Dotty and Stripes suits her just fine. In fact, Dotty and Stripes get along beautifully—until Other Stripes returns after missing for two months under the couch. At first, the two striped mittens reunite. But the little girl leans into mismatching and pulls out all the other single mittens she's been hoarding. Can the sock drawer revolution be far behind? It's hard to believe how many lessons Bailey and Shaloshvili knit into this bountiful book on friendship, inclusion, rebellion, and questioning the status quo, in fairly spare text and in illustrations that have the texture, colors, and fuzzy look of a mohair sweater. The mittens (and socks and shoes) have googly eyes and sweet faces, and when humans start to show up, they are as diverse as the mittens and in almost as many colors, plus one uses a wheelchair. What a glorious metaphor. VERDICT Preschoolers will love being in on the joke, but elementary-aged readers will love this, too. It's fast, funny, and true.—Kimberly Olson Fakih

School Library Journal

2023-10-07
Who says things must match?

Dotty and Other Dotty are a pair of pink mittens with yellow polka dots. Stripes is a gray-striped mitten, sans mate. The pair tease her for being a purposeless singleton and point out that the Little Girl who owns them will never wear her. Then Other Dotty gets lost, and the Little Girl pairs Dotty with Stripes. They almost become friends; that they’re mismatched is unimportant. But then who should materialize but Other Stripes, leaving Dotty solo. This trio is confronted by the “very BIG voice” of the Little Girl, who asks why they must match. After much consideration, Dotty and the striped pair confess they don’t know, and, they concede, “someone always gets left out”; the Little Girl heartily concurs. Out comes her box of mittens that lost their partners long ago. Subsequently, she decides deliberately to wear mismatched mittens daily and even starts a trend at school. The mittens love it, making new friends along the way. The overarching themes of this witty, thought-provoking story are, of course, accepting differences and recognizing individual worthiness. Mittens are a sensible thematic metaphor, suggesting cozy warmth. The illustrations, created with acrylic and watercolor pencil, depict a diverse group of background children; the Little Girl is light-skinned.

A sound, creatively told lesson in inclusion. (Picture book. 4-7)

Kirkus Reviews