Jan Brett really likes the one formula, as demonstrated by this retread of The Mitten, this time set in a cloud forest with tropical animals crowding into a child's misplaced possession. Been there, done that. ( )

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. ( )

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The story's fine, but the author has no connection to the rain forest except that she visited it once, and all the characters are "he". ( )