Jean Little (1932–2020)
Author of From Anna
About the Author
Jean Little was born in Taiwan in 1932. She was born with a severe eye problem and is severely visually impaired. Little grew up in Ontario and graduated from the University of Toronto. A special "talking" computer assists her with her writing. She has a retired seeing-eye dog named Ritz and a new show more one named Pippa, with whom she travels. Little has written more than 50 children's books. Her childhood experiences inspired her to write books about children with physical disabilities or facing personal difficulties. She won a number of awards, including a Canadian Library Association (CLA) Book of the Year Medal and a Canada Council Children's Literature Award. Little has been writing children's books for over forty years. Listen for the Singing was the Canada Council Children's Literature Award winner in 1977. Mama's Going to Buy You a Mockingbird was the CLA Book of the Year in 1985. Little's first book, Mine for Keeps, won the Little Brown Children's Book Award in 1962 and was republished by Viking Penguin in 1995. Orphan at My Door: The Home Child Diary of Victoria Cope, won the 2001 CLA Book of the Year for Children Award. She awarded the Vicky Metcalf Award for Literature for Young People in 1974 for her entire body of work. She received the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Medal. She was named a member of the Order of Canada in 1993. Jean Little died on April 6, 2020, at the age of 88. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Disambiguation Notice:
[excerpt from Guelph Today obituary] The author of sixty books for young people, Jean Little won many awards; she became a Member of the Order of Canada in 1993. She spoke in schools and at conferences throughout North America, in Great Britain, Bulgaria and India. She taught children's literature at the University of Guelph and received honorary degrees from six Canadian universities. Legally blind all her life, Jean had her first poems published when she was a teenager and received her Bachelor of Arts from Victoria College at the University of Toronto in 1954. Always an avid reader, she found that children with disabilities were rarely realistically portrayed in stories. So, in her late twenties, she wrote her first book, a novel about a girl with cerebral palsy. Mine for Keeps won an award and caused Jean to turn from her work teaching handicapped children to life as a fulltime writer.
Series
Works by Jean Little
Associated Works
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Legal name
- Little, Flora Jean
- Other names
- Little, F. Jean
- Birthdate
- 1932-01-02
- Date of death
- 2020-04-06
- Gender
- female
- Education
- University of Toronto (BA|1955)
- Occupations
- author
instructor
lecturer - Organizations
- Institute of Special Education, Salt Lake City (visiting instructor)
Florida University (visiting instructor)
University of Guelph - Awards and honors
- Order of Canada
Matt Cohen Prize (2012) - Nationality
- Canada
- Birthplace
- Formosa (now Taiwan)
- Places of residence
- Guelph, Ontario, Canada
- Place of death
- Guelph, Ontario, Canada (Hospice Wellington)
- Disambiguation notice
- [excerpt from Guelph Today obituary]
The author of sixty books for young people, Jean Little won many awards; she became a Member of the Order of Canada in 1993. She spoke in schools and at conferences throughout North America, in Great Britain, Bulgaria and India. She taught children's literature at the University of Guelph and received honorary degrees from six Canadian universities. Legally blind all her life, Jean had her first poems published when she was a teenager and received her Bachelor of Arts from Victoria College at the University of Toronto in 1954. Always an avid reader, she found that children with disabilities were rarely realistically portrayed in stories. So, in her late twenties, she wrote her first book, a novel about a girl with cerebral palsy. Mine for Keeps won an award and caused Jean to turn from her work teaching handicapped children to life as a fulltime writer. - Associated Place (for map)
- Guelph, Ontario, Canada
Members
Discussions
YA/Children's Book - Blackberries? and Boy who's father or mother dies in Name that Book (July 2011)
Reviews
I mainly requested the book because it mentioned a girl getting a dog, and I myself had recently adopted one, too. At first, I wasn't sure if I would like this book--I have read, and liked, boys' school stories, as I am a male, but I wasn't sure how I would react to a story mainly about girls at school. I needn't have worried--I immensely enjoyed this story. First of all, the Puffin Classic edition was beautifully designed. Second, the story about a girl with cerebral palsy and her show more difficulties in adjusting to a new school was poignant. Also keenly emotional was her relationship with her newly acquired dog. Her relationship with a family that had come to Canada from Holland the year before was presented well, although how the girl from the Dutch family changed from not liking the protagonist, Sal, to liking her was not explained very clearly--there were hints as to how that change came about, but they weren't delineated. The ending was sweet and even brought tears--of joy, not sadness--to me, even though I'm a grown man! Overall, this story was old-fashioned (in a good, nostalgic way), innocent, didn't rely on swear words or inappropriately suggestive scenes, as many modern novels do. I hope they release the second book about Sal in a Puffin Classic, as I would buy it. show less
This review was written for LibraryThing Early Reviewers.
Of course, you did not expect me to neglect Jean Little's newest novel? Even amidst Cybils reading, Goosebumps parties, and exciting colds. Jean Little's pervading theme is hope and tenacity; her protagonists are stubborn try-try-againers and there's always hope that they will have a family, friends, and success in their struggles.
Dancing Through the Snow is no exception. Litterbin Min, as a mean bully at school labels her, knows she's a throwaway. She doesn't know who her parents were, the show more woman who raised her abandoned her, and every foster family has given her back. And now she's being dumped back at Children's Aid again, only a few weeks before Christmas. But this time, it's different. Jess Hart, the doctor who's been in and out of Min's life since she was small, happens to be passing and suddenly Min is scooped up and plunked down in a loving home for the holidays. Jess, who had an even more traumatic childhood than Min, is the first person who really understands; and she breaks Min's hard shell and opens her heart. Experiencing the healing power of love Min begins to learn to give back; to an abused and damaged stray puppy, to Jess's godson, and to her new friends at school. A new life, a new family, and a new Min: it's the perfect Christmas miracle.
Verdict: A story of hope and new beginnings, perfect for middle grade readers who like realistic fiction or for a family read-aloud.
ISBN: 978-1935279150; Published June 2009 by Kane Miller; Borrowed from the library; Purchased for the library; Added to my personal wishlist show less
Dancing Through the Snow is no exception. Litterbin Min, as a mean bully at school labels her, knows she's a throwaway. She doesn't know who her parents were, the show more woman who raised her abandoned her, and every foster family has given her back. And now she's being dumped back at Children's Aid again, only a few weeks before Christmas. But this time, it's different. Jess Hart, the doctor who's been in and out of Min's life since she was small, happens to be passing and suddenly Min is scooped up and plunked down in a loving home for the holidays. Jess, who had an even more traumatic childhood than Min, is the first person who really understands; and she breaks Min's hard shell and opens her heart. Experiencing the healing power of love Min begins to learn to give back; to an abused and damaged stray puppy, to Jess's godson, and to her new friends at school. A new life, a new family, and a new Min: it's the perfect Christmas miracle.
Verdict: A story of hope and new beginnings, perfect for middle grade readers who like realistic fiction or for a family read-aloud.
ISBN: 978-1935279150; Published June 2009 by Kane Miller; Borrowed from the library; Purchased for the library; Added to my personal wishlist show less
Flora Gauld is a missionary's daughter living in Taiwan, when her family decides to go home to Canada for a time, ultimately leaving her and her siblings behind with her aunt and uncle to attend school. In time, Flora comes to love her adopted family---but then the Great War begins and everything changes. This book is based on the true life story of Jean Little's mother.
I really did enjoy this little book. It was interesting to imagine the perspective of a missionary's kid---similar to the show more "spotlight" of a pastor's kid, except having to deal with a different culture on top of it all. Little brings this to light with scenes like the one where Gorrie talks about hating to dress in the Taiwanese costume when her family would go around to churches asking for support.
I really had an issue with the family separating as they did. I don't know---I guess it was different times, but my understanding is that the call of God to other people shouldn't take priority over the raising of one's own children. I can see how resentments would build up in those children, being sent away so Daddy could minister to others. But, perhaps I'm just thinking selfishly...
I will be looking for the other biographical books by this author. I'm interested to hear more about her life. show less
I really did enjoy this little book. It was interesting to imagine the perspective of a missionary's kid---similar to the show more "spotlight" of a pastor's kid, except having to deal with a different culture on top of it all. Little brings this to light with scenes like the one where Gorrie talks about hating to dress in the Taiwanese costume when her family would go around to churches asking for support.
I really had an issue with the family separating as they did. I don't know---I guess it was different times, but my understanding is that the call of God to other people shouldn't take priority over the raising of one's own children. I can see how resentments would build up in those children, being sent away so Daddy could minister to others. But, perhaps I'm just thinking selfishly...
I will be looking for the other biographical books by this author. I'm interested to hear more about her life. show less
This is one of my favorite books of my childhood. I reread it nearly every time I'm at my parent's house.
I was always intimidated by this book, because I was intimidated to meet Jean Little. She was billed to us in second grade as an inspiration; a partially blind author as evidence that we could do whatever we set our hearts to. I was nervous to meet her less because she was an inspiration and more because it was the first time that I'd ever met an author. But then I was nervous to read her show more books because I was scared that they would be books about being an inspiration over and over.
However, her books stand completely on their own merit. Kate in particular is my favorite. It is the most honest narrative I've ever read about friendship and the perils of being friends as middle schoolers, who are constantly changing, but trying to be the best self that they can. It also deals with being the product of an inter-faith marriage and about finding an identity separate from that of your parents while still being a part of the family.
More than any other childhood book, Kate still speaks to me when I read it. It's rare to find a book about middle school that's this faithful, especially one like Kate, which deals with the parts of middle school that apply to everyoneover and over throughout life show less
I was always intimidated by this book, because I was intimidated to meet Jean Little. She was billed to us in second grade as an inspiration; a partially blind author as evidence that we could do whatever we set our hearts to. I was nervous to meet her less because she was an inspiration and more because it was the first time that I'd ever met an author. But then I was nervous to read her show more books because I was scared that they would be books about being an inspiration over and over.
However, her books stand completely on their own merit. Kate in particular is my favorite. It is the most honest narrative I've ever read about friendship and the perils of being friends as middle schoolers, who are constantly changing, but trying to be the best self that they can. It also deals with being the product of an inter-faith marriage and about finding an identity separate from that of your parents while still being a part of the family.
More than any other childhood book, Kate still speaks to me when I read it. It's rare to find a book about middle school that's this faithful, especially one like Kate, which deals with the parts of middle school that apply to everyoneover and over throughout life show less
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