JAN ANDREWS

Jan Andrews lives at the end of a road on a lake in Lanark, Ontario. She believes this is the perfect setting for someone who is a passionate lover of the outdoors. She started writing in the seventies when Canadian Children’s Literature was just beginning to come into its own and has been delighted to be part of the process of flourishing and growth. Her books have been shortlisted for a number of awards and include such classic titles as The Auction and Very Last First Time. She writes out of a conviction that young people have within them all that they need to manage in their lives. Her faith in her readers shows clearly in her work. Jan is also a storyteller. She tells for listeners of all ages and has a strong commitment to ensuring that the life of the traditional folk material is maintained. She has told at festivals across the country and is known for holding her audiences spellbound with performances of depth and power. A dedicated organizer, she has been the Artistic Director for two storytelling series and has hosted complete tellings of The Iliad and The Odyssey in her own backyard.

Books:

The Stories At The Door
Tundra Books, 2007

Dear Canada:
A Season of Miracles
Scholastic Canada, 2006 - anthology

The Twelve Days Of Summer
Illustrated by Susan R. Jolliffe
Orca Books, 2005

• Our Choice, Canadian Children’s Book Centre

“Here is a very enjoyable book borrowing on the “Twelve Days of Christmas” song theme….With each page and newly added animal, it becomes a test of observation skills to find all the plants, animals and insects the artist has lovingly drawn….This will be a popular read-aloud book in your collection.”
     - Puget Sound Council for Reviewing Children’s Media

Winter Of Peril:
The Newfoundland Diary Of Sophie Loveridge, 1720
Scholastic Canada, 2005

• Our Choice, Canadian Children’s Book Centre

“Sophie’s father has taken the family to live by themselves in Newfoundland for a year. It is 1721 and Sophie’s impractical father dreams of writing a book about the family’s exploits…. Sophie is a gentle and thoroughly engaging heroine and a welcome addition to this series.”
     - Canadian Children’s Book Centre News

Pa’s Harvest
Illustrated by by Cybèle Young
Groundwood Books, 2000

• Our Choice, Canadian Children’s Book Centre
• Starred review, Quill and Quire
• Reviewed, Globe & Mail

“Veteran storyteller Jan Andrews, author of the Canadian storytelling classics Very Last First Time and The Auction, has taken a true Depression-era story and moulded it into a tiny literary gem…. Every word seems accounted for in this spare, elegant text”
     - Quill And Quire

Out Of The Everywhere:
New Tales For Canada
Illustrated by Simon Ng
Groundwood Books, 2000

• Starred, Our Choice, Canadian Children’s Book Centre

“Andrews’s masterstroke is to set her ten tales in North America and to bestow immigrant status on their protagonists…..The narratives are swift and taut and occasionally wink playfully at the reader….Each story’s lustrous if brooding main image bleeds onto the facing page, reinforcing the notion of muddled boundaries underpinning each tale.”
     - Horn Book

Keri
Groundwood Books, 1996

• Shortlisted, Governor General's Literary Award
• Shortlisted, Manitoba Young Readers’ Choice Award
• Selected, White Ravens International Youth Library
• Reviewed, CBC Morningside, Books in Canada, Globe and Mail

“Jan Andrews appears to have chosen every word of this short novel with utmost care, nevertheless the effect is one of effortlessness. She depicts with great skill and insight not just the inner life of a 13-year-old, but also the vagaries of the mother-daughter relationship. Newfoundland’s language and landscape emerge from Andrews’s prose real and poignantly beautiful….The reader will close this book transformed.”
     - Globe And Mail

The Auction
Groundwood Books, 1990

• Shortlisted, Governor General's Literary Award
• Shortlisted, Ruth Schwartz Children’s Literature Prize

“This text says a great deal in a few simple words, expressing a lifetime of joy and sorrow. The story of one rural family becomes a symbol for the passing of a way of life.”
     - Citation, Governor General’s Literary Award

Pumpkin Time
Groundwood Books, 1990

“Andrews has a direct line to school-age children in this, her latest picture-storybook. Zany, and off-the-wall the comic story tells about a single mom who turns into a pumpkin, much to the wonder, yet matter-of-fact acceptance of her three children.”
     - Ottawa Citizen

Very Last First Time
Groundwood Books, 1985

• Shortlisted, Canada Council Children’s Literature Prize
• Shortlisted, Ruth Schwartz Award
• Shortlisted, Washington State Children’s Picture Book Award
• Selected, White Ravens International Youth Library
• Selected American Library Association Notable Books
• Reviewed, Reading Rainbow, Globe and Mail, New York Times

“Andrews recounts Eva’s adventure with commendable economy….The imagination is left to reel at the exhilarating and terrifying prospect presented…In its understatement, the moment of rescue can be seen for what it is – a rebirth.”
     - Globe And Mail