Jan Brett : Teacher Resource File

By Susanna Elmore and Inez Ramsey

Welcome to the Internet School Library Media Center Jan Brett page. For others authors or illustators, see Index to Children's Authors & Illustrators. The ISLMC is a meta-site for librarians, teachers, parents and students. You can search this site, use an index or sitemap. Revised 8/1/00.

[Biography] [Other Biography Sites] [Books by Jan Brett] [Unit/Lesson Plans] [ERIC Resources] [References]

Biography

You can meet Jan Brett on her own personal home page. Visit Jan Brett's Activities Page. Teachers can get a packet from her.

Jan Brett, one of our most popular authors and illustrators, was born on December 1, 1949 in Hingham, Massachusetts. She achieved that status through very hard work. She went to school at Colby Junior College from 1968-1969 and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts School in 1970. Today, she lives in the seacoast town of Norwell, Massachusetts, an historic area on the South Shore, and spends her summers in the mountains where she does a lot of work on her books. She writes her own books and also adapts and illustrates folktales. As an illustrator, she does the illustrations of books by other authors as well. For those of us who love her books, we can appreciate the many hours she spends in putting many details in her books. That's important to her, too. It takes her about a year to finish one book.

Jan Brett loved to draw when she was a child. By the time she was six years old, she knew she wanted to be a children's book illustrator. She was shy as a child and liked to use her drawings as a way to express herself. Her very first "all her own" book to be published was Fritz and the Beautiful Horses in 1981. She wrote the book and drew the pictures. She loves animals and had many pets when she was a child. Now she puts them in her books. Most of her books have something to share about animal or nature. She also uses very old folktales from other countries in her books. Although you will find many emotions, such as sadness, in her books, she always gives a hopeful message. In illustrating her books, her trademark is using detailed borders and side panels in her pictures. She includes lots of details which add to the story in her borders. She has said that these borders and side panels hold her "overflow of thoughts."

Jan Brett likes to travel with her family. She uses some of her experiences in her writing. She also uses libraries to do research on the things about which she is writing. Her husband, who works at the Boston Symphony Orchestra, also likes to travel with her. He was her inspiration for the book, Berlioz, the Bear.

One of my (Susanna Elmore) favorite books is The Mitten. This is a folktale which comes from the Ukraine. It is the wonderful story of a young boy who loses his white mitten in the snow. Eight different animals find his white mitten and climb inside it. The mitten gets very crowded to say the least! When a field mouse's whiskers tickle the bear's nose, the bear sneezes and all the animals fall out into the snow. Jan Brett spent many hours working and corresponding with people from the Ukraine. She even visited the Ukrainian Museum to find out how to make everything in the book as accurate as possible. Details are important! Carol Hurst has written some literary criticism about The Mitten and has some activities that teachers and students might like to do with this book.

Other Biography Sites

Scholastic'sJan Brett page

Her article "All About Me," a bibliography, a classroom bulletin board

activity, and an interview. You can even write a book review online.

Scholastic's Jan Brett Biography

Jan Brett

Biography, bibliography from Bound to Stay Bound

Chat Interview with Jan Brett

Transcript of 1997 interview from Barnes & Noble

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Some Books Written and/or Illustrated by Jan Brett

Visit these sites. You'll find more information about Jan Brett, her stories and some audio interviews.

Jan Brett Book List

Bibliography from her home page

Comet's Nine Lives G. P. Putnam. 1996.
Armadillo Rodeo G. P. Putnam, 1995.
Christmas Trolls G. P. Putnam, 1993.
Trouble with Trolls G. P. Putnam, 1992.
The Owl and the PussycatG. P. Putnam, 1991.
Berlioz the Bear G. P. Putnam, 1991.
The Wild Christmas Reindeer G. P. Putnam, 1990.
The Mitten G. P. Putnam, 1989.
Beauty and the Beast Clarion, 1989.
Happy Birthday Duck Dear Clarion, 1988.
The First Dog Harcourt, Brace Jovanovich, 1988.
The Enchanted Book Harcourt, Brace Jovanovich, 1987.
Goldilocks and the Three Bears G. P. Putnam, 1987.
The Twelve Days of Christmas G. P. Putnam, 1986.
Town Mouse, Country Mouse G. P. Putnam.
Gingerbread Baby G. P. Putnam
And many more!