Christmas Trolls

by Jan Brett, Jan Brett (Illustrator)

Overview

Christmas is Treva's favorite time of the year. But this year, decorations and presents are mysteriously disappearing. When Treva follows a small creature making off with the Christmas pudding, she discovers two irresistible trolls who want to have Christmas, but don't understand it. Jan Brett's trademark luminous paintings give readers a magical Christmas full of surprises.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780698118461
Publisher:	Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated
Publication date:	09/25/2000
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	9.02(w) x 10.76(h) x 0.11(d)
Age Range:	3 - 8 Years

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."

Editorial Reviews

As Treva and her family prepare for Christmas, their favorite decorations suddenly begin disappearing. Eventually Treva finds the culprits—two trolls who think they can steal Christmas. She shows them how to truly have Christmas, and it seems the two squabbling rascals learn the lesson. Jan Brett's signature artwork, replete with Scandinavian motifs, tells the story in split panels. The large illustrations follow Treva, while the narrow banners on the side and beneath follow the mischievous trolls and the hedgehog who does their bidding. 1993, Puffin/Penguin, $6.99. Ages 3 to 8. Reviewer: Dr. Judy Rowen

Children's Literature