St John's Preschool

Author of the Month: Jan Brett

For the month of January we will highlight the works of Jan Brett. 

 

About Jan Brett

With over thirty seven 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."

 

 

Our Reading List

 

The Mitten

 

When Nicki drops his white mitten in the snow, he goes on without realizing that it is missing.  One by one, woodland animals find the mitten and crawl in; first a curious mole, then a rabbit, a badger and others, each one larger than the last. Finally, a big brown bear is followed in by a tiny brown mouse, and what happens next makes a wonderfully funny climax.  As the story of the animals in the mitten unfolds, the reader can see Nicki in the borders of each page, walking through the woods unaware of what is going on.  Once again Jan Brett has created a dramatic and beautiful picture book in her distinctive style. She brings the animals to life with warmth and humor, and her illustrations are full of visual delights and details faithful to the Ukrainian tradition, from which the story comes.

 

The Hat

 

When Lisa's woolen stocking flies off the clothesline, Hedgie finds it and pokes his nose in. He tries to pull it out, the stocking gets stuck on his prickles -- and the fun begins.  A mother hen comes by, then a noisy goose, a talkative barn cat, a playful farm dog, a mama pig and her piglets, and a pony. They all laugh at Hedgie, especially when he pretends he's wearing a new hat. But in the end, it is clever Hedgie who has the last laugh.  And where is Lisa when all of this is going on? She's in the borders, getting ready for winter, until she realizes her stocking is missing and she enters the story to look for it.  Jan Brett's luminous paintings of a Scandinavian farm and the forest around it are bathed in northern light,  as the snow begins to fall and the story begins, in this delightfully original companion book to The Mitten.

 

Hedgie's Surprise

 

Every morning the Tomten steals an egg from Henny's nest, then runs away to cook it in his little kettle and gobble it down for breakfast.  Henny doesn't like the Tomten taking her egg, but she doesn't do anything -- until one day when a goose swims by with a new brood of little goslings.  Then Henny wants chicks of her own.  How will she ever get the Tomten to stop stealing her eggs?   With the help of her friend Hedgie, the little hen finally gets to keep her eggs through a sharp and clever plan that in the end surprises even Henny.  Beloved best-selling author Jan Brett captures the mischievous nature of a Danish Tomten, along with Henny and that favorite hedgehog, Hedgie.  Luminous watercolors, complete with intricately patterned needlepoint borders, capture the humor and playfulness of the tale as well as the beauty of a Scandinavian farm.

 

The Gingerbread Baby

 

So begins the rollicking chase around Matti's Kitchen and out into the countryside as Matti's mother, his father, the cat, and the dog run after the boisterous, bouncing Gingerbread Baby, only to be joined by a flock of goats, Martha and Madeline, a crowd of villagers and more.  The Gingerbread Baby stays just out of reach, daring them to catch him all along the way!  But Matti's not with them.  He's at home, and we see him in the borders patting and rolling and putting something into the oven.  What is he making?  Will he ever see the Gingerbread Baby again?   Yes!  In a delicious twist at the end that surprises even the mischievous Gingerbread Baby.  Jan Brett's lively and beautifully detailed paintings catch the spirit of a favorite old tale through her cheeky little Gingerbread Baby and the colorful cast of characters who pursue him through a tiny Swiss village surrounded by forest and mountain.

 

Town Mouse County Mouse

 

The classic tale of a town mouse and a country mouse takes on a new dimension in the imaginative and talented hands of Jan Brett. She introduces two engaging mice couples eager to get away from their everyday lives. But when they agree to swap homes, they are plunged into unexpected adventures around every corner.  In an unusual twist to a familiar fable, Jan Brett introduces a bumbling kitchen cat and an inept country owl who stalk the unsuspecting mice from the borders, causing one disaster after another. Finally a dramatic climax sends the mice racing for their own homes, and brings the cat and the owl face-to-face in a surprise ending.  In a story filled with suspense and humor, lush green country scenes alternate with the elegant details of a fine Victorian town house, making this a breathtakingly beautiful picture book.

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