Fritz and the Beautiful Horses

Description

Jan Brett's full-color artwork sparkles in intricate detail across every page of this exceptional picture book about Fritz, a sure-footed pony who finally gets the chance to shine in his own best way. Fritz was not beautiful. He didn't have a braided mane or a glossy coat. He couldn't prance with long, graceful strides like the elegant horses who carried lords and lovely ladies to the city-a city that allowed only the most beautiful horses within its walls. The citizens laughed at the short-legged pony's attempts to be like their own horses. But Fritz was dependable and hard-working. He proved to the citizens that there are things more important than being beautiful. He earned a special place for himself in the walled city just as he'll earn a special place in every reader's heart. Jan Brett's full-color artwork sparkles in intricate detail across every page of this exceptional picture book about Fritz, a sure-footed pony who finally gets the chance to shine in his own best way.

With over thirty seven million books in print, Jan Brett is one of the USA'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.'