January’s Author of the Month
We are so excited to share we have a new featured story walk for you to explore in The Literacy Tree House, The Mitten by Jan Brett! The Mitten, a classic Ukrainian Folktale, follows the adventure of Nicki, a lost white mitten, and many new animal friends he encounters along the way.
Jan Brett is a best-selling author and illustrator of children’s books. Her books are known for “colorful, detailed depictions of a wide variety of animals and human cultures ranging from Scandinavia to Africa”. With over forty million books in print, Jan Brett is one of the nation’s foremost authors.
When Jan creates a book, she often begins with writing the story first. She says this is the most difficult part for her. When she completes the story, she creates a book “dummy”, or a simple version of the book. She often uses cartoon-style drawings to create this version. Jan then plans the space needed for the words and begins a pencil sketch of her illustrations. She uses watercolors and paints with small brushes.
Jan Brett is famous for not only her illustrations, but also for the detailed borders on her pages. Within these borders are illustrations that often decorate and enrich the story. When Jan has “too many ideas”, she uses the borders to provide more meaning to the story. In Jan Brett’s story, The Mitten, the borders show the adventures of the young boy Nicki as he treks through the woods scaring different animals out of their hiding places. Readers may soon notice that the animal Nicki has scared is actually the animal to be featured on the next page of the main story and illustration.
You can explore all of the detailed borders in Jan Brett’s, The Mitten, during the Museum’s open hours!