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The Re-Telling Of A Tale That Never Gets Old

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The Re-Telling Of A Tale That Never Gets Old

Jan Brett may have already won hundreds of awards and accolades for her previous releases, but hopefully the children’s book writer and illustrator still has some room in her awards cabinet for some new acquisitions.

Now that her latest creation has been released, it should follow that Gingerbread Baby, Ms Brett’s own take on the classic children’s tale, will be followed with its own path of awards and honors from The New York Times, Publishers Weekly, Reading Rainbow and Newsweek magazine. All of these organization, and a few hundred others, along with hundreds of thousands of readers, are already fans of Ms Brett, and for very good reason.

Her work is entertaining, and her fans are not only the children she began writing for but also the adults who stumble onto her books and find themselves as drawn in to the stories and illustrations their younger counterparts find so appealing.

Ms Brett has been in the book publishing business since 1978. That year, Atheneum released the first book Ms Brett illustrated, called Woodland Crossing.  She retold and illustrated Goldilocks and The Three Bears (G.P. Putnam’s Sons) in 1987, the first of five books Ms Brett has retold and illustrated. And in 1981 Houghton Mifflin released the first book written and illustrated by this talented woman, Fritz and The Beautiful Horses.

Next week, Newtown readers of all ages will have the opportunity to meet Jan Brett when she visits The Book Review in Sand Hill Plaza. Ms Brett will be in the southern Newtown store on Tuesday afternoon from 2 to 4 pm. She will be signing copies of her new book, Gingerbread Baby, along with any of the other 23 titles that bear her name on the cover.

Christmas themes are not new to Jan Brett. She has already illustrated recent releases of The Night Before Christmas, The Twelve Days of Christmas and Noelle The Nutcracker. She has also written the stories for and illustrated The Wild Christmas Reindeer (G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1991), Christmas Trolls (G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1993), and Comet’s Nine Lives (G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1996).

Gingerbread Baby picks up the holiday theme once again. The book also picks up the story of the little gingerbread boy who comes to life and causes mischief... but Ms Brett’s book has a different ending than that of the traditional tale.

“I’ve always liked the story of a gingerbread baby coming alive and becoming a teasy little guy full of fun,” the author said recently. “But once I imagined him, I didn’t want him to be eaten.

“In my new version, he’s one mischievous cookie creation that doesn’t get eaten!”

Generations of readers can go through Ms Brett’s new book to see not only how the story unfolds, but also what the clever artist has used as borders, backgrounds and the costumes of her characters.  The amount of detail that goes into each two-page spread takes Ms Brett a few months to complete, and her work is done fully by hand.

“Since I have a sweet tooth,” Ms Brett says, “the gingerbread baby, the gingerbread house, and the cookie borders were a natural.”

For readers in another holiday spirit this month, Jan Brett has also illustrated the book Scary, Scary Halloween, a 1986 release.

The Book Review is in Sand Hill Plaza, at 228 South Main Street in Newtown. The store can be reached at 426-1711. Copies of Gingerbread Baby and other titles by Ms Brett (or illustrated by the author) can be reserved in advance and picked up the day of the signing.

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