Jan Brett - Click to see all titles by this author.
One of the nation’s foremost authors and illustrators for children, Jan Brett has more than 42 million books in print, representing a career that has spanned more than 30 years. Born and raised in Massachusetts, she decided to become an illustrator very early in life, devoting much of her time to reading and drawing, and studying at Boston’s School of the Museum of Fine Arts.
Jan reflects on the process of creating art, and transmitting that joy to students: “The one thing I want to impress on them is … this magic that happens when you start concentrating on your drawing and the real world kind of fades away, and then all of a sudden the importance of what you’re drawing as you add what kind of weather it is, what the characters are saying, what they’re wearing, the fur--is the wind blowing in their fur?--and then it becomes a realer world than the world around you, which could be a corner of your bedroom or something dull and boring. … Ever since I was little, I’ve loved that transformation. I just want the kids to know that can happen.”
Jan lives in a seacoast town in Massachusetts, close to where she grew up. Together with her husband, Joe Hearne (a member of the Boston Symphony Orchestra), she visits many different countries, where she researches the architecture and costumes that appear in her work.