Meet Our Author of the Month:

Jan Brett

Click on the banner above to go to Jan Brett's very cool website!

Jan Brett lives in a seacoast town in Massachusetts, called Norwell, near the town where she grew up.  When she was little, she loved to read and draw.  She loved the way her imagination allowed her to "enter" the stories that she was reading and writing.  Even though she's no longer a child, she still uses some of her childhood imaginations to inspire the stories that she writes today.  Jan 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."

Jan had a rich storytelling experience growing up, which she feels made  a big impact upon her life. She remembers being captivated by her grandfather and father's wonderful storytelling, and how every night her mother would read a story to her and her sister.  She has lots of happy memories related to books and storytelling!  Perhaps all of these wonderful experiences with books and storytelling played a part in her becoming an author. 

Currently, Jan has written and illustrated about 30  children's books!  She loves animals and puts lots of them in her books. Most of her books have something to share about animals or nature. She also uses very old folktales from other countries in her books. Although you will find many emotions in her books, she always gives a hopeful message.  Her illustrations are very colorful and detailed and the borders around the pictures contain clues as to what will happen next in the story.  When she was asked why she does this, she responded, "There are really two explanations. I have drawn intricate, decorative borders on all of my pictures, since I was very young. So, artistically, that's  important to me. Also, when I was young I hated surprise endings in books. I liked to see the story unfold, and have hints of what was going to happen next."

Jan really loves children and has created a cool website with lots of fun  activities for kids to do!  If you like to draw, her website has lots of videos that show you how to draw some of the animals from her stories.  It also contains printable games, postcards, and coloring pages.  You can even send her an email!  If you'd like to visit her website, click HERE or on the hedgehogs' banner at the top of the page.

Cool Facts About Jan Brett:

*Jan has a pet hedgehog named Buffy! 

*She and her husband love to travel! Jan likes to visit different countries to research architecture and costumes, which she uses in her children's books.  

*Jan's husband is a member of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.  (I'm not sure what instrument he plays.  Any guesses?)  He was her inspiration for the book Berlioz, the Bear.