Jan Brett
This component will discuss author/illustrator Jan Brett. Jan Brett is an American author/illustrator of children’s picture books and multiple time winner of the New York Times “Children’s Picture Book Bestseller List.” She was born in Massachusetts in 1949. As a child, she knew she wanted to be an illustrator. She loved drawing along to stories and reading a good book. As an adult she attend the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boson. Currently, Brett resides in Massachusetts with her husband Joseph who is a member of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. She is known for her colorful illustrations and stories that feature animals from around the world. By analyzing Brett’s literary work, you can see similarities and common themes spread across her books. Some of those similarities are the bright colors, diverse animals, and borders.
Jan lives in Massachusetts with her husband Joseph Hearne, a member of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. She describes her background, past work, and current work on her YouTube Channel. This outlet provides fans with the ability to engage in a similarly immersive experience when they read her novel. It also provides fans with information of why she wrote things a certain way, her educational background, inspirations, and drawing tips. She draws inspiration from running, listening to music, and right before falling asleep.
Some of the materials she has authored include:
Brett has had several examples of influences that extend into her past childhood Her mother was always very supportive her dream to create art. As a child, her mother always made sure she had enough supplies to get started. Next, Brett drew inspiration from her childhood that shaped one of her stories “The Easter Egg.” When Brett was little, she would find rabbit prints in the snow on easter morning making the experience much more authentic for her. This inspired her to write a story about what the Easter Bunny would actually do on Easter (janbrettchannel, 2012 April 8). Her last childhood inspiration were the books she immersed herself in. She found the illustrations to be beautiful and allowed her to imagine far away places.
“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 Brett Biography. Retrieved from http://janbrett.com/biography.htm
Brett’s stories are timeless and have been a part of library and personal collections for years. The Mitten, which fist featured the beloved Hedgie, was originally published in 1989. Hedgie has been a prominent character in her series and has inspired public devotion from her fans. Brett’s recent publication features the beloved Hedgie character titled The Snowy Nap in 2018. Brett has always had a love for hedgehogs. She first became obsessed with them as a child when she read Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll and The Tale of Mrs Tiggy-winkle by Beatrix Potter. As an adult, Brett was finally able to get her own hedgehog named Buffy. Buffy helps her write her stories and pose as a model for her illustrations.
She draws on inspiration from other cultures has adapted numerous traditional stories into her authored picture book collection. She travels all over the world to research different settings, folktales, and animals to incorporate into her stories. She always researches the architecture, dress, culture, and animals of the country she is visiting.
“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.”
This technique is an important part of her storytelling and reflective of her childhood. She shares these experiences with her readers and illustrates them so that readers can visually experience the story as she intends. She describes how she is always ready to find inspiration, “[i]nspiration for a story can arise from any source…and just like a shooting star, it can appear at any time” (Augustine, 2015, p. 16). As shown in her illustrations, architecture and textiles play an important role in her work. Many of these illustrations show how she drew inspiration from cultures that have unique beadwork and weaving. Her appreciation for these textiles are evident in her illustrations. Every opportunity to incorporate these elements is met with beautiful imagery. Brett finds inspiration in “the beautiful traditional folk work, embroidery, and fabric arts” of the many cultures that have influenced her writing. It is shown with the illustrated stitches and embroidery throughout the pages and borders.
Brett uses borders as a way to enhance the illustrations and story on the page. They are part of her unique style and technique. Through this technique, she uses a unique method of storytelling where she weaves a story within a story on the borders of each page.
Her intricate borders reflect her inspiration and literary style. They provide unique depth to the story by showing alternate storylines, background activities, or a preview of what is next.
Her illustrations are detailed throughout her books. Her illustration style is the same in both the side panels shown in “The Mitten” and her most recent book, “The Snowy Nap.” They both show an illustrative element of “stitching” that gives her books a warm and traditional look.
Jan Brett is an accomplished award winning author that has significantly contributed to children’s literature over the past 20 years. She has over a dozen books released and many of them have become instant classics. Her writing and illustrating style is truly unique. Her style is much more traditional than other picture book seen on the shelf. This is largely attributed to her constancy through her artwork, characters, and inspiration. She also incorporates several unique literary techniques into her novels such as side borders and tactile imagery. She pours in so much in depth research into every story in order to provide the best context, illustrations, and exposure to other things. She hopes to immerse readers in the story and give them the same feeling she had as a child reading. She provides reader with the opportunity to learn about other cultures and traditions.
Resources/references
Augustine, K. (2015). Stitching with paint: Inside the world of Jan Brett. Piecework, 23(5), 16-19. Retrieved from http://libaccess.sjlibrary.org/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ofm&AN=108673068&site=ehost-live&scope=site
Scholastic, Inc. (2017). Jan Brett. Retrieved from https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/authors/jan-brett/
janbrettchannel [Username].Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hv_f3nGY3Q\
http://www.janbrett.com/piggybacks/jan_brett_author_study.htm
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