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Jan Brett

"Reading to a child gives you a great springboard to share your values without preaching."

Have you and your child discovered author/illustrator Jan Brett? Jan's funny, touching, brilliantly illustrated books invite children to stretch their imaginations and explore new worlds filled with unforgettable characters. Jan loves her readers. Her Web site offers children a huge assortment of free, fun activities related to her books, and this fall she will be visiting bookstores across the country to meet children and talk about her new book, On Noah's Ark. Before leaving for her trip, she shared some of her thoughts about reading, writing, and drawing with us.

In the back of your book Comet's Nine Lives, you say that you have wanted to write and illustrate books since you were a child. Was reading important and encouraged in your family?
Absolutely. My grandfather and father were great storytellers, and every night my mother would read a story to my sister and me. Not every child has that experience, and it makes such a difference. I have lots of happy memories from being read to, and lots more happy memories from reading together with my daughter--even up until junior high, when we read Gone With the Wind together. Reading to a child gives you a great springboard to share your values without preaching. Just lifting an eyebrow at the actions of a character, or having disgust in your voice when you're reading about something that is unfair, sends a strong message to your child.

This fall, you're having a contest as part of your book tour for On Noah's Ark, and the lucky winner will get to have lunch with you. When you were a child, who was your favorite author, and if you could have had lunch with that author, what would you have asked him or her?
When I was really little, I loved Beatrix Potter's books because the illustrations of animals were quirky, but so realistic that I felt like I could walk right into the pictures. I also loved that they had nuggets of grown-up words that I could add to my vocabulary. For example, in her book The Roly-Poly Pudding, the character John Joiner made me wonder, and ask my mother, "What's a joiner?" I think it's very important for authors and illustrators to avoid "talking down" or "drawing down" to children. When I was six and I read a book like that, I would think, "Don't pass that off on me!" Kids feel insulted by stories and pictures that are not thoughtful and engaging.

If I'd had lunch with Beatrix Potter, I would have asked her about all of her animals. And, I would have asked her what her day-to-day life was like. Once, I went to a museum and I saw her original drawings. They were far more colorful and vibrant than the printed illustrations in her books. The old technique used to manufacture picture books in the late 19th and early 20th century couldn't capture the beauty of her drawings-the printing process has improved so much since then.

What questions do children ask you about your books?
Lots of children ask me, "How do you draw pictures?" I'll do some drawing demonstrations in bookstores during my tour for On Noah's Ark this fall, and I've also put some "how-to" tips on my Web site. One tip is, hold your drawing up to a mirror. Have you ever caught a glimpse of yourself in a store window, and although you think you know what you look like, you think, "Who is that?" It's like that when you hold a drawing up to a mirror. You see it in a new way, and you get more ideas. I also encourage children to use their own imagination as much as possible, and just copy and trace a little. And, I tell them, "Make the face that your character is making." When I'm drawing a surprised hedgehog, I make a surprised hedgehog face because I need to think about what it feels like to be surprised and capture that.

Do you ever get an idea for a story by drawing a picture, or do you always write a story first and then illustrate it?
I don't follow a specific formula, and each book is different. Sometimes, though, if I have a great idea for a story, I immediately think, "Okay, but can I draw this?" For example, I've always wanted to do a book with a fire engine, a truck, or some other piece of equipment--like Mike Mulligan, where the main character is a steam shovel. I love that children, especially little boys, just adore mechanical contraptions, but I can't draw them and make them come to life.

How did you come up with the idea of creating mini-illustrations in the page borders to give a "sneak preview" of the action that is coming up in the story?
There are really two explanations. I have drawn intricate, decorative borders on all of my pictures, since I was very young. So, artistically, that's important to me. Also, when I was young I hated surprise endings in books. I liked to see the story unfold, and have hints of what was going to happen next. I wanted to include border illustrations in my first book, but my editor said, "We don't make PLBs (pretty little books) here." I was a new author, and I took his advice very seriously. But, as I created the dummy of my second book, I included borders that showed what was going to happen next. He saw the dummy of the book and said, "Oh! It's different if you have content in there!"

You go to lots of great places--zoos, museums, exotic countries--to research your books. Do you have a favorite place you've traveled to?
I loved Africa, where I researched On Noah's Ark. To be able to see all of the animals, and meet the wonderful people there, many of whom triumph over difficult circumstances, was amazing. When I'm traveling, I observe everything very closely, and take it all in. I don't like to take photographs, so my husband takes photographs for me. The picture of the lion that Noah's granddaughter is snuggled up to in On Noah's Ark is based on a real lion that was just five feet away from us. I will be going back to Africa, to do more research for an upcoming book that I'm developing that will have an African child as the main character.

Have you started to work on your next book yet?
Yes, my next book will be called The Umbrella. The Umbrella is similar to my book The Mitten, except it takes place in the rainforest. I got the idea for the book from a teacher, and I went to Costa Rica to research the book. Right now, I'm finishing up the illustrations, the book should be all done by Christmas, and then it will be in the stores next fall.