Meeting Jan Brett

Jan Brett is a beloved author and illustrator of children's picture books. I have long read her books aloud to students and used them as the centerpiece of various lessons. I do an annual Jan Brett author/illustrator study with first graders, so I was beyond excited when I learned she would be visiting Wichita, which is just a little over an hour  from my home.

The event was organized by the fabulous independent bookstore Watermark Books and held at the Advanced Learning Center, a branch of the Wichita Public Library.

The Dec. 2 Wichita stop was part of Brett's Winter Wonderland Tour, and she was traveling in style in a bus beautifully decorated with her artwork and beloved book characters. 

Jan Brett's website is a treasure trove of resources related to her books. She provides free printables like coloring sheets and puppets. In the last couple of years, dozens of illustrators have created and shared video drawing lessons for kids. Jan was doing it years ago. My students love watching her video where she introduces them to her pet hedgehog and then teaches them to draw a hedgehog. 

During the author event, Brett talked about the research she did in preparation for writing the book Cozy, which is about a group of animals who take shelter underneath a musk ox during cold weather. She also did a drawing demonstration so we could see her draw and color the character in real time.

Brett is well known for her detailed illustrations and realistic depictions of animals. She told us that she draws and then paints with watercolor to create her books and that it takes an hour to complete one inch of artwork. She spends about a year on each book and does extensive research.

At the end of the presentation, there was a long line of people waiting to meet Jan and get books autographed. I ended up towards the back of the line and enjoyed chatting with Tammy Barb, a school librarian from Ulysses. 

It was worth the wait to meet Jan. I was able to tell her how much I enjoy sharing her books with students. I had just read The Mitten with first graders and when I told them the story is a Ukrainian folktale, they made the connection that they have a classmate who is a Ukrainian refugee. 

It was such a fun event, and I enjoyed being in the presence of so many book lovers. 

Upon returning to school, I was able to share my photos with students and tell them what I learned. I was able to put a signed bookplate into our school copy of The Mitten, and I added a photo of me with Jan Brett to my author wall. 

​Whenever I meet an author or illustrator, I take a photo, print it, and add it to my author wall. Students love to see all the book creators I have met, and I have found it builds their excitement for reading.

MY FAVORITE JAN BRETT LESSONS
Each December, I retell the traditional gingerbread man story to kindergarten classes (using a flannel board) and introduce the concept of a folktale. Then I read aloud Jan Brett's Gingerbread Baby. We pay special attention to the illustrations.

Over the next few class periods, we do a gingerbread man glyph activity and read more gingerbread man stories. The unit culminates with a fun storybook STEM activity when I invite students to design and build a trap that could catch the gingerbread man. Students use their imaginations along with recyclables (cardboard tubes, boxes) and craft materials (yarn, straws). At the end of the session, I announce that their traps have worked and they caught a real gingerbread man!  "What should we do with him?" I ask the kids.  "EAT HIM!" they reply. And so we do.

I teach The Mitten with first graders. I printed off the beautiful animal masks from Jan Brett's website and made them into stick puppets. I created a large mitten from white poster board and taped a manila folder to the back to create a pocket for the animals to rest in as they each "climb" into the mitten. Students serve as my "puppet helpers" to help act out the story as I read.

During the next class period, the students color the animals from the story and cut out a mitten using free printables from the author's website. We sing a song and use the animals from the coloring sheet to retell the story.