- Jean Little
Jean Little is a Canadian author born in 1932. Her work has mainly consisted of
children's literature , but she has also written twoautobiographies : "Little by Little" and "Stars Come Out Within". She has a guide dog because she is partly blind.Biography
Little taught handicapped children until 1962, when her first book, "
Mine for Keeps ", was published. Since then, she has had 31 books published, including novels, picture books, autobiography, poetry and short stories. Her books have been translated into a hundred and ten languages and have won many awards.Due to her own experience with blindness and her work with handicapped children, almost all of her books involve characters with physical or mental disabilities. She also writes about many systems in place to help those with handicaps such as raising guide dog puppies and schools for children with disabilities. "His Banner Over Me" is based on Jean's mother's childhood and experiences growing up in China and Canada."Willow and Twig" is also based loosely on her family's, involving Jean's young great-niece and great-nephew coming to stay with her and her sister, Pat.Three of Jean Little's more recent books are "Orphan at My Door: The Home Child Diary of Victoria Cope" (2001), "Brothers Far from Home: The World War I Diary of Eliza Bates" (2003), and "If I Die Before I Wake: The Flu Epidemic Diary of Fiona Macgregor" (2007) for the popular historical fiction series,Dear Canada . All three books have been very well-received.Currently, Jean lives inGuelph, Ontario , with her sister, great-niece and great-nephew. They have two dogs, two cats, a dwarf rabbit and two African Grey parrots. Jean is an adjunct professor at theUniversity of Guelph where she has taught children's literature. She has four honorary degrees and is a member of theOrder of Canada . Her most recent honorary degree, a Doctor of Letters, was awarded by the [http://www.utoronto.ca University of Toronto] on June 23, 2006. At that time, she was accompanied by her newest seeing eye dog, a two-year-old golden retriever called Honey. Her nieceMaggie de Vries was a finalist for the2003 Governor General's Awards for her book "Missing Sarah: A Vancouver Woman Remembers Her Vanished Sister". [http://www.missingpeople.net/they_know_she_was_murdered.htm]Works
* "Mine for Keeps"
* "Spring Begins in March"
* "Mama's Going to Buy You a Mockingbird"
* "Different Dragons"
* "Lost and Found"
* "From Anna"
* "Hey World, Here I Am!"
* "Willow and Twig"
* "I Know an Old Laddie"
* "Orphan at My Door"
* "Brothers Far from Home"
* "If I Die Before I Wake"
* "Dancing Through the Snow"
* "His Banner Over Me"
* "Look Through My Window"
* Kate
* "Stand in the wind"
* "One to Grow On"
* "What will the Robin do then?"
* "Listen for the Singing" (Sequel to "From Anna")
* " Little by Little " - Her Autobiography
* " Stars Come Out Within"- The Sequel to her Autobiography
* "Somebody Else's Summer"
* "Dancing Through The Snow"External links
* [http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTJ0004718 Jean Little's] entry in [http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCESubjects&Params=J1 The Youth Encyclopedia of Canada]
* [http://www.jeanlittle.com Jean Little's personal website]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.