The Umbrella

This is basically The Mitten, but in the rain forest. And instead of just randomly exploring, the boy is looking for animals - the same animals that are all crowding into his umbrella! As in The Mitten, the animals gradually get bigger and bigger until they're packed as tight as they can, and then it's a little teeny animal that ruins the whole thing.

This is a pretty solid addition to your library if you liked The Mitten (Brett's version, that is), or if you want more books set in the rain forest.

However, I found the story a bit lacking (we know our main character can't find any animals because they're all hanging out in his umbrella - but really, there's only ONE quetzal, only ONE kinkajou in the whole forest?) and the dialog somewhat show more stilted. If you have to choose between this one and The Mitten - or any other Brett work - I'd go with the other one.

Also, some people dislike The Mitten because they perceive the bigger animals as bullying the smaller ones. There's absolutely more of that in this book, and not just implied. (However, that was cut from the board book version of The Mitten, and may not be in the board book version of The Umbrella.) If this sort of thing concerns you, you should absolutely read this book before you buy it. show less

I am personally a big fan of Jan Brett because I love her detailed, colorful illustrations and her storylines. In this book, Jan Brett highlights the Costa Rican rainforest. A little boy names Carlos goes out on an adventure to find different animals in the rainforest and brings along his umbrella. As he climbs up a tree and leaves the umbrella behind, a series of different animals gather into the umbrella for different reasons, but an incident cause the umbrella to spill over only leaving a tree frog left in it. After the animals scatter, Carlos climbs back down the tree and disappointed because he did not get to see any animals. I would recommend this book to students in first through fifth grade. The book can be used in multiple show more cross-circular ways that vary according to grade. Students could further research and write about an animal from the story. They could examine weather and rainforest terrain. Students could learn more about Costa Rican culture in a social studies class. In English language arts, teachers could use this book to highlight personification, sequencing, onomatopoeias, and descriptive language. Irony could also be studied because students will know that the animals were in his umbrella the whole time and just barely missed seeing them. show less

Carlos heads into the Costa Rican cloud forest near his home in this engaging animal story from author/artist Jan Brett, hoping to see some of the creatures who live there. Leaving his umbrella at the foot of a tree, he climbs up and up, unaware that a series of creatures, from a tree frog to a jaguar, jump into his abandoned possession, having an adventure of their own. Eventually deciding that he will not see any of the animals he hopes to encounter, Carlos heads home none the wiser...

With its story of a lost human object that provides a temporary home to a variety of wild creatures, The Umbrella is quite similar to Brett's better-known The Mitten (a retelling of a Ukrainian folktale) and its companion, The Hat. Although not terribly show more original, in terms of its creator's larger body of work, the tale is entertaining, particularly in the way it juxtaposes the animals' hi-jinks with Carlos' obliviousness to their presence. As is often the case in Brett's picture-books, the side-panels reveal a parallel narrative - in this case, Carlos climbing the tree - to the main one depicted in the central illustration. Recommended to Jan Brett fans, and to anyone looking for picture-books set in the rain forest. show less

Undoubtedly her most well known work, Jan Brett's the Mitten was ripe for retelling in different settings, so I'm a bit surprised that she waited until 2004. The jungle setting of the Umbrella is well chosen though, because it allows her to use the same storytelling method and use the classic punch-lines but changes the setting so drastically that the reader is distracted from the recycled storyline. The brightly coloured scenes are very engaging, and Brett does an excellent job of exploring the full range of jungle inhabitants. My only complaint is that she didn't fully fill in each page like she did for previous books, so the jungle setting isn't quite all encompassing as the snow-filled steppes.

A young boy, Carlos goes into the jungle to see animals. Carlos drops his banana leaf umbrella to climb a tree and all the animals climb into the umbrella and float along the water. There are too many animals in the umbrella which causes them all to fall out. Carlos goes home wondering why he didn’t get to see his animal friends.
I enjoyed reading this book and would read it to my students. This book incorporates Spanish into it which would be a great tool to catch my ELL student’s attention. The book also describes different animals that aren't widely known which could help them understand different species.

I enjoyed reading “The Umbrella” for three main reasons: the plot, the illustrations, and the writing style. The story is about a young Spanish boy named Carlos. He lives on a farm that is surrounded by an exotic forest. Carlos decides to go looking for the exotic animals (i.e. a jaguar and a kinkajou). He puts down his umbrella to climb a tree so that he can look for the animals. Interestingly, the animals go on an adventure inside the umbrella. The boy does not know why he cannot see the animals. The umbrella is returned before Carlos notices it ever went missing. Carlos plans on going searching for animals again the next day. The writing flows very well and evenly matches the main idea of the story. Jan Brett uses a unique show more writing style. On each page, Jan Brett displays what happened on the previous page, what is currently happening, and what will happen on the next page. This sequence is also illustrated with pictures. The illustrations display colorful images of the cloud forest and all of the exotic animals. I believe that children will enjoy seeing the comical illustration that shows all of the animals squeezed into an umbrella. Within the book, some Spanish phrases are incorporated. For example, before Carlos embarks on his adventure, his father tells him, “Buena suerte, Carlos, good luck.” The big idea of this story is to teach readers the idiom that states, “You never know what could be happening right under your nose.” show less

Nice story, beautiful pictures. This story’s main character felt more real than the characters in other Jan Brett stories. I think I could use this story as an example of being aware of what is right in front of you, don't make things harder on yourself.