Synopses & Reviews
In a rollicking, cumulative tale, a badger family and their friendsHedgie, Mr. Ram and Vanya, the horsestruggle to pull up a giant turnip. A cocky rooster steps in and pulls, sending him into the air, holding onto the turnip. No one knows that a mother bear in her underground den has kicked the turnip up through the soil to give the family room to sleep through the winter.
Once again Jan Brett brings an original twist to a favorite folktale. Snow covers the farm in rural Russia as badgers and friends in old-fashioned clothes, and bears marching through bright-colored borders, send young readers laughing from page to page.
Review
-Beautifully conceived and finely wrought.+ -
Booklist, starred review
-Brett+s precise, glowing illustrations, drawing on Swedish folk art, make this a beguiling Advent calendar of a book.+-Kirkus Reviews
-This tale with its humorous close-ups of stubborn reindeer and a sharp child protagonist should prove popular at story hours.+-School Library Journal
Synopsis
This modern Christmas classic highlights how animals are just as curious as kids about their own Santa. When Big Snowshoe tells Little Snow that the animals' Santa is coming with presents for everyone, Little Snow wants to know who he is. The animals say they have never seen him. Maybe he's a badger, a moose, a polar bear, or a wolf, they tell him. But this spunky little rabbit thinks they are just fooling him.
On Christmas Eve, Big Snowshoe finds a way to see the animals' Santa and a Snowy Owl in a red cap swoops down with a pack full of presents. Never again will an excited Little Snow doubt that there is an animals' Santa.
Jan Brett's love of animals, winter, and all things Christmas is on grand display in this original holiday story.
Synopsis
When Big Snowshoe tells Little Snow that the animals Santa is coming with presents for everyone, Little Snow wants to know who he is. The animals say they have never seen him. Maybe hes a badger, a moose, a polar bear, or a wolf, they tell him. But this spunky little rabbit thinks they are just fooling him.
On Christmas Eve, Big Snowshoe finds a way to see the animals' Santa when a Snowy Owl in a red cap swoops down with a pack full of presents. Never again will an excited Little Snow doubt that there is an animals' Santa.
Synopsis
Every year, trolls knock down Kyri's door and gobble up her Christmas feast. But this year, the trolls are in for a surprise: a boy and his pet ice bear on their way to Oslo have come in from the cold. And once the ice bear is finished with the trolls, you can bet they won't come knocking next Christmas Eve!
Once again, Jan Brett creates an original Christmas story full of warmth and magic. Featuring beautiful borders, intricate illustrations, and a stunning display of the Northern Lights, Who's That Knocking on Christmas Eve? will rightfully take its place among Jan's Christmas favorites with the whole family.
Synopsis
For two decades, readers have loved this classic Christmas story, which was one of the first children's books to hit the
New York Times bestseller list. Now, this beautiful 20th anniversary edition, with a foil cover and a heartfelt note from Jan herself, makes a perfect introduction for new fans to this cherished yuletide story.
Featuring the wintry northern setting and the border illustrations that have become a hallmark of Jan's work, readers will love watching Teeka's humorous attempts to control the rambunctious reindeer in time for their Christmas run.
About the Author
With over thirty four million books in print, Jan Brett is one of the nation's foremost author illustrators of children's books. Jan lives in a seacoast town in Massachusetts, close to where she grew up. During the summer her family moves to a home in the Berkshire Hills of Massachusetts.
As a child, Jan Brett decided to be an illustrator and spent many hours reading and drawing. She says, "I remember the special quiet of rainy days when I felt that I could enter the pages of my beautiful picture books. Now I try to recreate that feeling of believing that the imaginary place I'm drawing really exists. The detail in my work helps to convince me, and I hope others as well, that such places might be real."
As a student at the Boston Museum School, she spent hours in the Museum of Fine Arts. "It was overwhelming to see the room-size landscapes and towering stone sculptures, and then moments later to refocus on delicately embroidered kimonos and ancient porcelain," she says. "I'm delighted and surprised when fragments of these beautiful images come back to me in my painting."
Travel is also a constant inspiration. Together with her husband, Joe Hearne, who is a member of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Jan visits many different countries where she researches the architecture and costumes that appear in her work. "From cave paintings to Norwegian sleighs, to Japanese gardens, I study the traditions of the many countries I visit and use them as a starting point for my children's books."