Jan Brett
Personal Information
Description
With over forty one million books in print, Jan Brett is one of the nation's foremost author illustrators of children's books. Jan lives in a seacoast town in Massachusetts, close to where she grew up. During the summer her family moves to a home in the Berkshire Hills of Massachusetts. As a child, Jan Brett decided to be an illustrator and spent many hours reading and drawing. She says, "I remember the special quiet of rainy days when I felt that I could enter the pages of my beautiful picture books. Now I try to recreate that feeling of believing that the imaginary place I'm drawing really exists. The detail in my work helps to convince me, and I hope others as well, that such places might be real." As a student at the Boston Museum School, she spent hours in the Museum of Fine Arts. "It was overwhelming to see the room-size landscapes and towering stone sculptures, and then moments later to refocus on delicately embroidered kimonos and ancient porcelain," she says. "I'm delighted and surprised when fragments of these beautiful images come back to me in my painting." Travel is also a constant inspiration. Together with her husband, Joe Hearne, who is a member of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Jan visits many different countries where she researches the architecture and costumes that appear in her work. "From cave paintings to Norwegian sleighs, to Japanese gardens, I study the traditions of the many countries I visit and use them as a starting point for my children's books." -- from janbrett.com
Books
The three snow bears
Retells the story of Goldilocks, set in an Inuit village and featuring a family of polar bears.
Honey...honey...lion!
After working together to obtain honey, the African honey badger always shares it with his partner, the honeyguide bird, until one day when the honey badger becomes greedy and his feathered friend decides to teach him a lesson.
Daisy Comes Home
Daisy, an unhappy hen in China, floats down the river in a basket and has an adventure.
Who's that knocking on Christmas Eve?
A boy from Finnmark and his ice bear help scare away some hungry trolls so that Kyri and her father can enjoy their Christmas Eve meal.
Hedgie's surprise
Hedgie, the hedgehog, helps Henny, the speckled hen, trick the Tomten who has been eating all of Henny's eggs for breakfast.
Gingerbread baby
A young boy and his mother bake a gingerbread baby that escapes from their oven and leads a crowd on a chase similar to the one in the familiar tale about a not-so-clever gingerbread man.
Goldilocks and the Three Bears
A retelling of the adventures of a nosy, naughty, and sassy little girl who finds the house of the three bears and helps herself to their belongings.
The Hat
The black top hat with magic powers blew into the one-legged soldier's life, made him a wealthy man, and then blew out again.
Comet's Nine Lives
Comet the cat uses up eight of his nine lives trying to find the right place to live on Nantucket Island.
Armadillo Rodeo
Bo, an adventurous, near-sighted armadillo, leaves his mother and brothers to follow a girl heading to a rodeo wearing new red boots which Bo mistakes for another armadillo.
Town Mouse, Country Mouse
After trading houses, the country mice and the town mice discover there's no place like home.
Christmas Trolls
When Treva investigates the disappearance of her family's Christmas things, she finds two mischievous trolls who have never had a Christmas of their own.
Berlioz the Bear
Berlioz the bear and his fellow musicians are due to play for the town ball when the mule pulling their bandwagon refuses to move. A strange buzzing in Berlioz's double bass turns into a surprise that saves the day.
The wild Christmas reindeer
After a few false starts, Teeka discovers the best way to get Santa's reindeer ready for Christmas Eve.
The mitten
Several animals sleep snugly in Nicki's lost mitten until the bear sneezes.
The First Dog
Kip the Cave Boy and Paleowolf each face hunger and danger on a journey in Paleolithic times; when they decide to join forces and help one another, Paleowolf becomes the first dog.
Annie and the Wild Animals
When Annie's cat disappears, she attempts friendship with a variety of unsuitable woodland animals, but with the emergence of Spring, everything comes right.
Beauty and the beast
Through her great capacity to love, a kind and beautiful maid releases a handsome prince from the spell which has made him an ugly beast.
Fritz and the beautiful horses
Fritz, a pony excluded from the group of beautiful horses within the walled city, becomes a hero when he rescues the children of the city.