Description[]
When I was I child, I decided to be an illustrator. I spent many hours reading and drawing. I remember the special quiet of rainy days, when I felt that I could enter the pages of beautiful picture books. Now I try to re-create 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 Museum School in Boston, I spent hours in the Museum of Fine Arts. It was overwhelming to see room-size landscapes and towering stone sculptures, and then moments later to refocus on delicately embroidered kimonos and ancient porcelain. I'm delighted and surprised when fragments of these beautiful images come back to me in my painting.
Illustrating children's books always seems like a big adventure because as an artist I must explore and give thought to my subject — an artist needs to know everything about their subject. I try to get a feel for the country and times my characters live in, and I get many ideas from traveling to different countries, where I research the architecture and costumes that appear in my work. After a trip to Norway, I was inspired to write three books! I've found that the details and the odd little things one notices help make a story convincing. In my mind, the story comes alive. And for me, the best part about telling a story is drawing the pictures.
Jan Brett lives in a seacoast town in Massachusetts with her husband, who is a member of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and Buffy, her pet hedgehog. To find out more about Jan Brett, visit her Web site. Meet some of her charming characters, and enjoy all her wonderful online and offline activities.
Reader's Reviews[]
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List of books[]
- Fritz and the Beautiful Horses (1981)
- Annie and the Wild Animals (1985)
- The Twelve Days of Christmas (1986)
- Goldilocks and the Three Bears (1987)
- The First Dog (1988)
- The Mitten (1989)
- The Wild Christmas Reindeer (1990)
- The Owl and the Pussycat (1991)
- Berlioz the Bear (1991)
- Christmas Trolls (1993)
- Trouble with Trolls (1994)
- Town Mouse Country Mouse (1994)
- Armadillo Rodeo (1995)
- Comet's Nine Lives (1996)
- The Hat (1997)
- The Night Before Christmas (1998)
- Hedgie's Surprise (2000)
- Daisy Comes Home (2002)
- Who's That Knocking on Christmas Eve? (2002)
- On Noah's Ark (2003)
- The Umbrella (2002)
- The Gingerbread Baby (2003)
- Honey... Honey... LION! (2005)
- Hedgie Blasts Off! (2006)
- The Three Snow Bears (2007)
- The Easter Egg (2010)
- The 3 Little Dassies (2010)
- Home for Christmas (2011)
- Mossy (2012)
- Cinders, A Chicken's Cinderella (2013)
- The Animals' Santa (2014)