~Jan Brett~

Jan Brett was born om December 1, 1949
She is an author/illustrator of children's books.
Her books are known for colorful depictions of a
wide variety of animals.

 
With over thirty four 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." 

Some Books Written and Illustrated by Jan Brett:
-The Easter Egg (2010)
-Hedgie blasts off (2006)
-The Umbrella (2004)
-Hedgie’s Surprise (2000)
-Christmas Trolls (1992)
-The wild Christmas Reindeer (1990)
-Annie and the Wild Animals (1985)
-Fritz and the Beautiful Horses (1981)

Jan has one of the most popular author
websites in existence www.janbrett.com.
Millions of visitors come each year to access thousands
of pages of free activities for kids.
There are also videos which include "how to draw"
segments and footage from her book research trips.
Jan's work is beloved by teachers and librarians who
access her site for use in the classroom.



She was awarded the Boston Public
Library's Lifetime Achievement Award in 2005.
Her books have been chosen as "Best Children's Books
of the Year" by Newsweek, The New Yorker,
Parents magazine, and Redbook.

http://janbrettsblog.com/