Trouble With Trolls
Jan Brett
Puffin Books (1992)
Seriously? Jan Brett is from Massachusettes? I had assumed she was from Norway, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, or Antarctic. I was sure she was a man with a name pronounced Yan, distant relative of Thor.
Her books have such a lovely sense of place. Even as an adult, I feel transported to a different time and setting. One biography depicted her pictures as lavish. I think that's definitely true. There's the story and then there's a needlepoint border with all kinds of things happening on the edges. One could stare at this book for hours and never see it all. I remember loving books like this when I was a kid.
As for Mirette, it's a little much for her to take in, so we mostly stick to the main story. She'll tug on my arm and say, "mommy, turn the page" which I ever so reluctantly do.
Jan Brett does book tours on a giant bus with her husband and pet hedgehog. She's a serious chicken-raiser, has a husband who plays for the Boston Symphony, and takes an entire year to write one book. She travels to the places that her books are set in, looking for fine details that will help the reader connect. Also, she thinks of smells and sounds while she is writing. She has a great blog:http://janbrettsblog.com/ and an even better website: http://www.janbrett.com/index.html
The website has tons and tons of activities such as making hedgehog cookies and place mats for Christmas as well as lots of how to draw videos.
To learn more about Jan Brett and see her mind in action (and let me tell you, it's fascinating), check out this video about The Night Before Christmas: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZSQ6exsfIM
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