Jean Little

Doing the research for this post was a joy. Jean Little is one of my favorite authors, a widely acclaimed author of both picture books and middle grade novels. She was born in Taiwan of Canadian parents in 1932, which makes her 81 — a fact which boggles my mind just a little. The family returned to Canada when she was quite young. Her books often deal with tough subjects, and often have characters with disabilities — when she began writing, she wanted to not only give children with disabilities a voice, but also wanted them to be able to find themselves in books. It was and is important to her that these depictions be realistic, not the sort of disability that is found in books like Heidi, where the character is suddenly and miraculously healed. Her books are not depressing, however, despite their realism. They may show the difficulties a child faces, but they also show the joys of everyday life, and give hope — not hope of healing, but hope of having the life of a regular kid who just happens to have a challenge of some sort.