A Favorite Illustrator

Jan Brett has to be my favorite author/illustrator.  On every page of her books, the illustrations tell not just the story that is being transmitted through words, but the "meanwhile" story, too.  The Mitten for example, is the story of a boy who begs for white mittens which Grandma admonishes will be hard to find in the snow.  After the boy loses one mitten, animals, ranging from the very small to the very large, snuggle inside the mitten for warmth.  When too many animals have squeezed inside the mitten, one of them sneezes and causes the whole crew to be dislodged, the mitten to sail into the air and the boy to find the mitten.  Each page contains text that tells the story of the animals squeezing into the mitten one after the other and a main image that illustrates the text.  But on the side of each page are mitten shaped illustrations which tell the "meanwhile" story of the boy.  It is fascinating just to look at the images and piece together that story. 

Jan Brett uses this technique in all of her books,  from The Umbrell to The Gingerbread Baby to Town Mouse and Country Mouse.  The illustrations are beautiful and the stories well told.  We only own the mitten, but we've borrowed the others from the library and enjoy them tremendously.