January 1, 2010 Treasure Trove

Posted by Jan Brett in Jan Brett Posts on January 1, 2010

Happy New Year!

     Here are several new projects for the new year,

~ Make a Coloring Mural for THE MITTEN
http://janbrett.com/murals.htm

~ Join the new School Visit Contest for a chance to win the Grand Prize visit to your school of library.  There are 99 other prizes too!
http://www.janbrett.com/contest_2010/free_school_visit_contest_2010.htm

~ Make a Hedgehog Coloring Calendar for 2010
http://janbrett.com/calendars.htm

It’s a pleasure to be in touch.

Sincerely,

Jan Brett

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January 2010 Hedge a gram

Posted by Jan Brett in Jan Brett Posts on December 31, 2009

Happy January,
      This is a milestone year and we have a full moon too. It’s also immediately after an important birthday for me, and my thoughts are turning toward all the things I’m thankful for, and all the things I aspire to.
     I like to make New Year’s resolutions and this year I would like to pledge to myself that I’ll try harder to make my new book HOME FOR CHRISTMAS the best one ever. Not only do I need to be mentally agile and motivated but I need to put the hours into it. The pages that I am most proud of are when my sense of “me working on a page” disappears and like Alice going down the rabbit hole, a world appears on paper as I add one bit, another bit, revamp a character or explore with some new design or texture.
         If you like to create like I do, you may find that for some unexplained reason, some landscapes, colors or animals make all your senses alert and interested. It’s kind of a phenomenon that doing art explores. I’ve always loved the intrigue of prehistory, of the possibility of humanlike creatures or perhaps cultures that will never be known because they’ve been lost in time. Trolls seem to be linked to some of the traditional knowledge, told orally from back in the olden days. My new book tells about a troll boy. When one is little, it’s easy to make silly mistakes because you don’t know what’s expected. It’s part of childhood that I remember well. Having a troll character run away from home reminds me of when I had similar notions when I was little and it makes a story that brings time back to me. I’ve traveled to Norway three times, to Baffin island and to Iceland. All three places are in the far north and I’m very drawn to the stunted birch forests, rich with lichen, mosses and boulders shaped by the elements. Even the northern animals are intriguing – the polar bear, arctic fox, ptarmigan, a kind of feather footed grouse like bird, snowy and gray owl and of course caribou or reindeer.
      The compiling of ideas for new book is an exciting time. And although I’m not a great organizer, I like to plan the different elements I’ll need to see in real life so they’ll make my book authentic. On our trip to Iceland in the December we traveled by super-jeep which is an SUV on giant wheels.  We went through glacial rivers, to a white craggy landscape called Thor’s forest. It was on Thursday too! The trees were  birch twisted by the deep snows, and moss and lichen covered the ground.  We saw ptarmigan in their winter plumage, which are snow white, and a crafty bird-host appeared, a raven who keeps an eye out for camp fires, because when there is a campfire there is food! Our raven got some nice salmon tidbits. When I come across this kind of northern habitat I just want to walk forever. I’m looking forward to returning to Iceland to run the Laugevegur, a long-distance race over spectacular but difficult terrain. I have to gear up for it, So I can’t go this July, but I have my sights set on 2011. Luckily I live just south of Boston, which has a wonderful long-distance road race, and in the summer I’m a stone’s throw from the Appalachian trail which also would be a good training ground. I get a lot of good ideas when I’m running. My daughter jokingly says that running juggles all one’s ideas around like dice and you can always come up with creative solutions to life’s problems during a good run. I have to say that I’ve gotten a lot of good book ideas that way.
      On the subject of new prospects for the 2000 teens I would also like to keep some Onagadori chickens. The breed in the US is called the Phoenix. The tails are extraordinarily long. I’ll keep them alongside but not with my Polish crested chickens.
   I don’t know if a children’s book will evolve from my new interests but I know that trolls are very abundant in Icelandic folklore, although they are not the cute fuzzy kind. I would someday like to illustrate the Firebird, a folk tale set to music by the great composer Stravinsky. I’ve seen a ballot of it in London and was transfixed. An Onagadori fowl may have stirred the imagination of the tellers of the original tale many centuries ago. The Onagadori fowl was created in feudal Japan.
     I hope the beauty of our world enchants you to create and re-create wonderful stories and art, and that link that makes us so human, creativity will be a big part of your life in 2010!

  Love,

  Jan Brett

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December 2009 Hedge a gram

Posted by Jan Brett in Jan Brett Posts on December 21, 2009

Happy December!
    
     This is my December hedge a gram – the time I take to reconnect with my website visitors. I relate what’s going on in my life as an artist so that aspiring illustrators and writers can gain a little insight on what it’s like to have children’s book author/illustrator as one’s job.
     In November, I spent eleven days traveling on my tour bus, going to bookstores for booksignings. Thank you so much if you came to one of my signings. It’s so gratifying and hopeful to see so many people that love books and read to their children. I love to see a child holding their book like its a treasured possession. I remember how much my books meant to me. When I was a kid, I had an un-quenchable thirst to learn about horses. Besides my best friend, Marla, the only people who understood my intensity were people in books. So I feel pure happiness that the little ones still make their books part of their serious interests. Sometimes when a child attaches themselves to a particular book, it is an insight into the person they will become, a scientist, animal lover, adventurer, or world traveler.
     Every year on the book tour, I am filled with admiration for the teachers and librarians who after spending a day on their feet teaching, will stand in line to have their book signed. I think they know what an impact they make on their students, who may or may not have been read to at home. I would like to say again thank you for our children.
     On our day off I got to visit my little grandchild who is two months old, and read to her from Tomie DePaola’s MOTHER GOOSE. It’s both soothing and stimulating to read babies those short curious rhymes with Tomie’s perfect illustrations. I am now on the look out for the annotated MOTHER GOOSE that gives the history of the rhymes. I’ll also be going to the Boston Symphony shop to buy her some CD’s. My daughter and her husband have a lot of CD’s in her room of crashing waves, woodland soundscapes and at their request, my grand daughter now will also have PETER AND THE WOLF by Prokofiev, EINE KLEINE NACHT MUSIK by Mozart, PEER GYNT by Grieg, and THE FIREBIRD by Stravinsky. And that’s just the beginning.
      Since it is holiday time, I can’t resist trumpeting some of the book treasures I found at bookstore during my trip. First there are the EXTRAORDINARY CHICKEN calendars with photographs of birds by Stephen Green Armytage I bought for me and friends. (Actually the first copy I received was a gift from our tour driver Rich Flood.) Then I bought multiple copies of the huge coffee table size book of exquisite photographs of birds by Andrew Zuckerman called BIRD. The jacket is a head shot of a favorite bird I’ve seen in Africa, the African Crowned Crane. We saw three or four in a highland meadow in a town called Wakkerstroom in South Africa. Another book I rejoiced in finding was PREHISTORIC LIFE published by DK Publishing. It has the most amazing illustrations of extinct reptiles, plants and mammals. Its one of those books I wish I could give to every child and adult too in America!
     Back to my working life…I just designed a carry bag for my 3 LITTLE DASSIES book. It will be used for promotions and we’ll give some away in our contest. I’m hard at work finishing THE 3 LITTLE DASSIES. Its definitely the most fun part, because I’ve done the planning and I paint from morning until midnight. There are deadlines to be met, so I’m curtailing all my other activities, except for a week that I’m taking off to go to Iceland for my sixtieth birthday, just Joe and me. There is a lot of folklore from that part of the world that I’m interested in, mainly trolls. I am eager to visit the folk museums and the troll forest. There will also be time to get to know the Icelandic horses.
     As Holiday time rolls around, I hope you’ll join me in finding books for the important people in your life. When I receive a book from someone, that has been thoughtfully chosen, I feel such a happy bond. There are places on earth I feel like I know although I’ve never been there, and people who have long since passed away I feel I know because I’ve read their memoirs. It’s fulfilling to add to one’s frame of reference.
     Happy reading! Happy drawing! Let’s be creative!

 

Your friend,

 

Jan Brett

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November 2009 Hedge a gram

Posted by Jan Brett in Jan Brett Posts on December 18, 2009


2009 Fall Tour Bus in Louisville, Kentucky
 with our drivers Rich Flood and Dwayne Mickle

Happy November!

      This is Jan Brett, and this is my November Hedge-a-gram, the time I take every
month to tell you what is going on in my life as an illustrator and children’s book storyteller.
     My husband Joe and I have finished our fall book tour. Every
weekday I talked to journalists in the cities and towns I’ll be visiting about the
20th Anniversary of THE MITTEN and THE SNOWY TREASURY. One question I’ve been
asked many times, is “Are children changing?” and are “children still interested
in books?” I have been thinking about this question because I an not a parent
of young children, and I have to rely on my little great nieces, Stella, Ann and
Mia and my grandchildren Patrick, Gavin, Katie, Zoltan and Torynn to answer
that. The two older boys love video games and videos, but they like their books
too, especially ones that cater to their interest which revolve around science
and adventure.
      The mothers and dads of Stella, Ana, Mia, and Katie have been
reading books to their children before they were even aware a book was a book.
There’s a special interaction when a parent reads a book and makes funny voices
or adds little asides about the story. I was amazed to check on Katie, who was
not even old enough to speak, one night a bed time. She had her cloth book
propped up, and was turning the pages solemnly, until something tickled her
fancy, when she would laugh and laugh. It mad me think that we must find it
natural to have that tactile book feeling, and see a story unfold, bits at a
time.
     Our little ones aren’t old enough to tote around a favorite possession, a
dog eared copy of a favorite book, but they are old enough to ask for the same
story over and over again. Often they surprise us when they play the scenes
over with their dolls and animals or they play the character themselves. Roll
playing is an important part of childhood, we get to explore how to be different
kids of people.
      My guess is that children still love their books, but their lives may be
busier that those of children a few years ago. I always have three
or four books going, and my biggest challenge is find the time to read.
     When I go out on the book tour, one of the most moving experiences that I
have is when a child shows me one of their drawings that is full of talent and
individualism. Anybody can be taught to draw, but occasionally a child will
come up with a whole new way of expressing themselves – through details, the
characters they make up, unusual color choices and techniques. I remember being
six of seven and being shy and tongue tied. When I drew a picture I felt I
could say what I wanted to say in a much better way. When I meet a child that
doesn’t say a word, but has that look of being more than usually interested, I
feel like I’ve met a kindred sole.
      I know many of the people who come to my booksignings come because their child
is a gifted writer and artist, maybe they are even a teacher. It is a thrill to meet the
future artists of our world, and what a privilege it is to be able to demonstrate with a
drawing for them, and tell them about the first spark of a book idea, about fanning
the flames until it’s a full blown story, and then shaping and finishing that story until
it has life of its own.
      At my booksignings, I’ll first tell a little about myself, and introduce my
husband Joe. He’s a musician with the Boston Symphony, but his six foot tall
double bass is too large and fragile to carry on the bus. I will do a painting
and talk about it so it is like an art lesson, and I will give three tips that
you can use for the rest of your life. I will tell you how I got the idea for
THE HAT, because that is a story I made up. Lastly, I will talk to the kids
about their creativity. I could talk for hours, but I need to leave time for
signing books. If you can’t come to my signing, there are art lessons on my
website, and videos that were taken on previous book tours. Happy reading,
writing and drawing,

               Your friend, Jan Brett

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