SOURCE CITATION
"Jan (Churchill) Brett." Major Authors and Illustrators for Children and Young Adults, 2nd ed., 8 vols. Gale Group, 2002. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Thomson Gale. 2007.
Photo provided by Penguin Young Readers Group.

BIOGRAPHICAL ESSAY
When Massachusetts-born artist Jan Brett rendered the drawings for Stephen Krensky's 1978 work of fables, Woodland Crossings, she began to realize her childhood dream of becoming a professional illustrator of children's books. As Brett developed her career, she has continued to provide art for the texts of others, adapted classic fairy tales such as Goldilocks and the Three Bears, and illustrated her own stories, including Fritz and the Beautiful Horses, The Hat, and Hedgie's Surprise. Brett's work, which frequently concerns animals and nature, has often incorporated Old World folklore and motifs. Her books have received attention from critics who are quick to applaud her effective use of illustration to further the meaning, symbolism, and moral of a story. Her inclusion of detailed borders and side panels to graphically reveal additional aspects not presented in the main story line and pictures has, in fact, become her trademark. Such ornamental peripherals offer "a story around a story, so that the reader instantly becomes an insider," pointed out New York Times Book Review contributor Pat Ross in a critique of Brett's illustrations for Annie and the Wild Animals. Praising the artist's work on Beauty and the Beast as "a brilliant marriage of artwork and text," a Publishers Weekly reviewer judged Brett "a contemporary illustrator of consummate skill."

The daughter of a sales engineer and a teacher, Brett attended the Boston Museum of Fine Arts School in 1970 to refine her artistic skills. She credits her keen ability to create fantasy through pictures and words to her mother, who encouraged her to be imaginative, and to her own penchant for becoming part of the stories she read in her childhood. "I remember the special quiet of rainy days when I felt that I could enter the pages of my beautiful picture books," she once recalled. "Now I try to recreate that feeling of believing that the imaginary place I'm drawing really exists." To elicit such an authentic air, Brett often uses real-life people, settings, and occurrences as the basis for her work. She feels that the beauty and tranquility of her summer home in the mountains, near where her husband plays with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, provides a source of inspiration and new ideas. Brett's stories and illustrations are also influenced by images she has stored in her memory.

For example, the artist's childhood love of horses influenced her 1981 children's story Fritz and the Beautiful Horses--her first published book to feature her talents as both writer and illustrator. Centering around the theme that one's inner beauty is more important than one's outer appearance, the volume describes how a shy, lanky pony named Fritz wins the hearts of townspeople through kindness and good deeds, despite his lack of grandeur and physical presence. Featuring Eastern European motifs and settings, Brett's book was widely lauded by critics, many of whom claimed her art evoked the enchantment of a distant era. Many reviewers assessed the book's paintings as special and magnificent. A Publishers Weekly commentator, for example, described the text of Fritz and the Beautiful Horses as "simple but engaging," adding that Brett's drawings showcase "the beauty of equines as few pictures do."

Brett continued to win critical approval with subsequent self-illustrated storybooks like 1985's Annie and the Wild Animals and 1990's The Wild Christmas Reindeer. In the former title, Brett draws from her daughter Lia's fascination with undomesticated critters to show what happens when a little girl's pet kitty disappears one winter and she searches for new friends in the untamed forest. Sad and lonely, the child leaves corn cakes in the snow to attract potential playmates and eventually meets a moose, wildcat, bear, and other beasts. However, she discovers each to be an unacceptable replacement for her beloved cat as they are either too ferocious, ornery, or unruly. Annie's desperation is short-lived, however, as she is reunited in the spring with her favorite feline. In the end, as foreshadowed in the border art of earlier pages, the tabby returns with three kittens in tow. A number of commentators remarked on the style of clothing and backdrops used in Annie and the Wild Animals, pointing out that both were greatly detailed and featured a Scandinavian design. The book's art uses a "treasury of motifs taken from the universal tradition of folk art and crafts," asserted Ross in New York Times Book Review. Brett's depiction of animals was also praised. A Horn Book Magazine reviewer found the work's creatures "rendered with . . . humor," and praised the artist's "elaborate illustrations" for adeptly conveying the change from winter to spring.

Like Annie and the Wild Animals, Brett's Wild Christmas Reindeer features a young female protagonist and the lessons she learns from her experiences with a group of disobedient beasts. Charting the frustrations of the youngster who trains Santa Claus's reindeer for their infamous journey on Christmas Eve, Brett shows how uncooperative the feisty reindeer become when scolded by the girl following a poor practice session. After the child realizes the ineffectiveness of her harsh instruction and subsequently offers kind words of encouragement to her pupils, the rambunctious creatures respond earnestly and the trainer succeeds in readying the group for its important flight. Brett again uses borders and side panels to disclose additional action. The peripheral illustrations feature gift-making elves at work, while the borders contain other holiday paraphernalia. A hit with many critics, Wild Christmas Reindeer was deemed a "sweet Christmas fantasy that shows Brett at her best," by a reviewer in Publishers Weekly.

The Christmas season has been a recurring theme in many of Brett's picture books. The author/illustrator celebrates the holiday in such original books and retellings as The Wild Christmas Reindeer, The Twelve Days of Christmas, Christmas Trolls, Knockety-Knock, It's Christmas Eve, and The Night before Christmas. Winter also becomes the setting for The Mitten: A Ukrainian Folktale, a retelling of a traditional story about several animals finding refuge in a girl's lost piece of outerwear, and The Hat. In the second book, Hedgie the hedgehog finds a red woolen stocking stuck to his prickles after it blows off the clothesline. Pretending the sock is his new winter hat, Hedgie ignores the other animals as they laugh at his new chapeau. As the sock's owner eventually retrieves her missing item, Hedgie's fellow animal creatures decide that his use of winter clothing is not such a ridiculous idea. While the other animals don winter attire, Hedgie laughs at them, finding their new clothing humorous. "Brett conveys the season with such loving spirit," according to Booklist's Susan Dove Lempke, "that children will almost wish for winter." Other critics gave Brett high marks for her illustration. Claiming that "Brett demonstrates an expert eye for color," a Publishers Weekly reviewer found the author/illustrator's cast of "animal characters as endearing and expressive as those who" appeared in The Mitten.

Hedgie again is featured in the 2000 work Hedgie's Surprise, a story where the hedgehog finds a clever solution to a chicken's problem. Laying eggs everyday, Henny loses her potential chicks to a hungry troll named Tomten. Hedgie feels sorry for his friend and devises a plan to scare off the troll for good. First substituting round objects such as an acorn, strawberry, mushroom, and potato in Henny's nest, the hedgehog finally uses himself as a egg-shaped decoy. As Tomten tries to steal the prickly fellow, Hedgie's pointed bristles sends the troll away for good. Again, reviewers noted Brett's artwork, and a Publishers Weekly critic reported that "the author's endearingly expressive animal characters, depicted in meticulous detail, steal the show."

In addition to her self-illustrated children's books, Brett has won acclaim for her art for other authors' texts, particularly works like Eve Bunting's St. Patrick's Day in the Morning and Valentine Bears, Diana Harding Cross's Some Birds Have Funny Names and Some Plants Have Funny Names, and Betty Boegehold's In the Castle of Cats. Brett's retelling and picture work for classic fairy tales such as Goldilocks and the Three Bears and Beauty and the Beast has also met with positive critical response. These books again demonstrate Brett's artistic vision as she furthers the main story lines through ornate pictures. In the latter title, for example, the book's moral--that appearances can be deceiving--is graphically presented in the tapestries that adorn the walls within the principal illustrations. In these wall hangings, the beast's servants, who appear in animal form in the primary story, are depicted as they truly exist in human form. "Brett shows real finesse in drafting various animals," observed a reviewer of Beauty and the Beast in the Bulletin for the Center of Children's Books. Calling the book "lovely, carefully made," a Kirkus Reviews contributor deemed it a "simple, yet graceful retelling." The artwork for Goldilocks received equal praise. Brett's illustrations "burst with action," noted Horn Book Magazine's Ellen Fader, adding that the volume "infuses the old nursery tale with new life."

The author/illustrator earned similar praise for her 1994 retelling of Aesop's well-loved tale Town Mouse, Country Mouse. Following the story of a mouse couple from the city exchanging residences with a pair of country mice, Town Mouse, Country Mouse adds a twist to the traditional ending. Where usually the mice realize that nothing replaces their own home, here a cat and owl, both chasing the mice, suggest to each other that they should trade places, potentially starting the cycle all over again. Calling the illustrations "gorgeous," Booklist's Stephanie Zvirin predicted "this playful retelling is certain to become a favorite."

Brett once said, "My imagination has always run away with me. As a child, this was entertaining but confusing. As an adult, I can direct my ideas toward children's books. Often I put borders in my books to contain the overflow of thoughts." With these characteristic borders, Brett has earned the applause of readers and critics alike, creating for herself a well-earned reputation as a notable author and illustrator of children's books.

PERSONAL INFORMATION
Born December 1, 1949, in Hingham, MA; daughter of George (a sales engineer) and Jean (a teacher; maiden name, Thaxter) Brett; married Daniel Bowler, February 27, 1970 (divorced, 1979); married Joseph Hearne (a musician), August 18, 1980; children: (first marriage) Lia. Avocation: Horses, gliding. Education: Attended Colby Junior College (now Colby-Sawyer College), 1968-69, and Boston Museum of Fine Arts School, 1970. Memberships: Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators. Addresses: Home--132 Pleasant St., Norwell, MA 02061.

CAREER
Painter; author and illustrator of children's books. Exhibitions: Master Eagle Gallery, New York, NY, 1981; Gallery on the Green, Lexington, MA, 1985; Main Street Gallery, Nantucket, MA, 1987; Society of Illustration show, New York, NY, 1991.