Picture Book Month Day 9!

Today I want to celebrate a local Massachusetts author, whom I'm sure everyone knows and loves - Jan Brett.  She has over 37 million books in print  and in 2005 she was awarded a Lifetime Acheivement award by the Boston Public Library.  One of the things that I love about her illustrations is her use of the borders.  Often the borders will show what is going to happen next.  Her illustrations are so lush and detailed that you can just be drawn into the beauty.   I love all of her books, but have chosen a few to highlight.

The Mitten was published in 1989. and remains one of my all time favorite books.  Based on a Ukrainian folktale, it tells the story of a little boy's lost mitten that becames a cozy nest for many woodland animals.  The illustrations bring you right into a Ukrainian winter with the borders of birchbark.  I like to point out the action in the borders to the children so that they can anticipate the arrival of each new animal and keep an eye on the little boy's travels.  A well-deserved modern classic.

This book from 2002 is set in China, my daughters birthplace, so it holds a special place in my favorites.  One of the things I love about this author/illustrator is how she changes the details of her stories to fit in with the artistic style and motifs of each culture. Instead of  the Ukrainian birchbark borders, we now have bamboo and basket weave patterns.  Jan Brett was inspired to write Daisy Comes Home after a trip down the Li River in China. It tells  of a little hen who is bullied by the others in her coop and must find courage when she floats away in a basket. Again, the borders help forward the story and the riverside moutains form the 12 animals of the Chinese zodiac.  There are always so many details to pore over in these books that your child will want to read them over and over - and so will you!

This retelling of the classic Goldilocks story transports the characters to the Arctic.  The borders and illustrations are filled with Inuit carving, fur and beadwork.  As the owner of a Siberian husky, I love the dogs in the book - the grey one looks like my Meeko!  A little Inuit girl, Aloo-ki, is searching for her runaway dogsled team and enters the igloo of the 3 polar bears.  The bears have gone out for a walk and soon find the missing huskies.  The borders feature arctic animals decked out in parkas inspired by actual Inuit designs. This fresh retelling of a classic fairytale is sure to delight young readers.

Jan Brett has traveled extensively and is able to put so much authentic detail into her illustrations. Check out her webiste and sign up for the Jan Brett e-mail newsletter: http://www.janbrett.com/index.html