Jan Brett Quotes

• Writing a story is like going down a path in the woods. You follow the path. You don't worry about getting lost. You just go.

  Jan Brett

  Writing, Worry, Stories

  32 Copy quote

• A children's book is the perfect place where young readers can understand the world because they can take a deep breath and look at it and imagine and contemplate while they're looking at.

  Jan Brett

  Children, Book, Perfect

  Source: www.teachingbooks.net

  26 Copy quote

• When I was little, I loved books that gave me lots of detail so that I felt like I could be transported to this other place, or, in the case of an illustration, I felt like I could walk into the page.

  Jan Brett

  Book, Illustration, Details

  Source: www.teachingbooks.net

  19 Copy quote

• The detail in my work helps to convince me, and I hope others as well, that such places might be real.

  Jan Brett

  Real, Details, Might

  19 Copy quote

• I like to pretend that each book is my first one and last one, because it takes a tremendous amount of energy to do a book.

  Jan Brett

  Book, Energy, Lasts

  Source: www.teachingbooks.net

  16 Copy quote

• I would like teachers to look deep because sometimes kids do have a faade that they put up because they feel vulnerable. Their creative truth may not be ready for their friends to see.

  Jan Brett

  Teacher, Kids, Creative

  Source: www.teachingbooks.net

  17 Copy quote

• Teachers have to respect the privacy of students' creative life, but at the same time give them a chance to express themselves.

  Jan Brett

  Teacher, Giving, Creative

  Source: www.teachingbooks.net

  11 Copy quote

• The books take a year just to do the drawing. I will travel to a country to do the research and get ideas. Sometimes I don't travel to do research, but mostly I do. It takes a long time, but do I ever get tired of it? Not really. The characters kind of grow and evolve.

  Jan Brett

  Country, Book, Tired

  Source: www.teachingbooks.net

  11 Copy quote

• I loved being a child. If I do have a talent, it's not so much being an artist, but it's being able to remember back to that time.

  Jan Brett

  Children, Artist, Able

  Source: www.teachingbooks.net

  10 Copy quote

• Of all people, children are the ones that really understand when there's a truth there for them - an emotional truth. The characters really have to work. Children, as an audience, are very inspirational for me.

  Jan Brett

  Children, Character, Emotional

  Source: www.teachingbooks.net

  15 Copy quote

• 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.

  Jan Brett

  Beautiful, Real, Book

  13 Copy quote

• I just love to draw. It's very intense for me. The day will just go by like the snap of a finger. A lot of times I'll draw or paint late into the night. When I am really concentrating, I kind of lose track of what I am doing.

  Jan Brett

  Night, Track, Kind

  Source: www.teachingbooks.net

  5 Copy quote

• I love children because that's a part of my life that was so happy, and I like to remember back to those days where everything is a discovery, and the world is so fresh.

  Jan Brett

  Children, Discovery, World

  Source: www.teachingbooks.net

  5 Copy quote

• A book is something that young readers can experience on their own time. They decide when to turn the page. They'll put their arm right on the page so you can't turn it because they're not ready to go to the next page yet. They just want to look at it again, or they want to read the book over and over because they really enjoy setting the pace themselves.

  Jan Brett

  Book, Looks, Pace

  Source: www.teachingbooks.net

  8 Copy quote

• I knew that I wanted to be an illustrator since I was in kindergarten. I can remember the exact day. The art teacher usually came to our classroom once a week, but she was absent that day. Instead, our regular teacher gave us each a huge piece of paper and crayons, and we could do whatever we wanted.

  Jan Brett

  Teacher, Art, Pieces

  Source: www.teachingbooks.net

  9 Copy quote

• People may think that because I have illustrated and written all these books it must be easy for me, but it's not really easy for me. The drawing part is easy - I love doing it. But continuing to move forward is hard.

  Jan Brett

  Moving, Book, Thinking

  Source: www.teachingbooks.net

  8 Copy quote

• I create books for six-year-olds. I don't know why that time of my life was so important to me, but no matter what I draw, it always looks like it comes from a children's book. I can't resist. I'll set out to paint a serious picture then think, "Well, maybe there would be a little bunny in that corner."

  Jan Brett

  Children, Book, Thinking

  Source: www.teachingbooks.net

  8 Copy quote

• I always feel like my book is a success when I see a child reading it, and they have their pointer finger out, and they kind of keep their place as they look all around the page. I've always been impressed by how children are so observant.

  Jan Brett

  Children, Book, Reading

  Source: www.teachingbooks.net

  7 Copy quote

• When I go to another country, I try to be a big sponge and look at what the houses may look like and what colors predominate. I do not do research as much as just get ideas and ask people about things.

  Jan Brett

  Country, Color, Ideas

  Source: www.teachingbooks.net

  8 Copy quote

• A lot of times it's the child that sees something and not the grownup. I love that because, when readers get older, they start looking for the most important ideas in the story. They don't look at things in the same way anymore. Children haven't really learned to do that yet. They take all their great, intellectual skills, look at the full page, and appreciate all of the different things.

  Jan Brett

  Children, Skills, Ideas

  Source: www.teachingbooks.net

  8 Copy quote

• When I was little I used to wish I could talk to the illustrators because I wanted to discuss something about the books. With so many of the other art forms that children experience, such as movies and television, they don't get to control the pace.

  Jan Brett

  Art, Children, Book

  7 Copy quote

• I remember kids used to give me a penny for drawing them a horse. I loved horses, but I couldn't have one, so I would draw a horse for myself. I would make it food and a blanket for it to wear and a place to live.

  Jan Brett

  Horse, Kids, Drawing

  Source: www.teachingbooks.net

  7 Copy quote

• We're going to Surf City, gonna have some fun. Now, two girls for every boy.

  Jan Brett

  Girl, Song, Fun

  7 Copy quote

• I've found places that are just as beautiful as New England, but this is my home.

  Jan Brett

  Beautiful, Home, England

  Source: www.teachingbooks.net

  6 Copy quote

• My parents would tell us to go outside and play or to do creative stuff, but television was very limited. So we used our own creativity to entertain ourselves. We were out in the woods a lot making huts and playing horses.

  Jan Brett

  Horse, Creativity, Play

  Source: www.teachingbooks.net

  4 Copy quote

You May Also Like:

Eve Bunting

Eric Carle

Tomie dePaola

Ezra Jack Keats

Kevin Henkes

Patricia Polacco

Mo Willems

Chris Van Allsburg