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Jean Little

    Authors' Booking Service is pleased to announce that children's author, Jean Little is now scheduling visits to Ontario schools and libraries.

    Jean's ideal presentation day is three sessions long. Her rate is $350 for one session, $600 for two, $750 for three, or $1100 for four, plus HST and kilometrage from Guelph, Ontario. She can travel to Toronto, London, Stratford -- basically a 120k radius of Guelph. She is also available for areas beyond if several days are booked in a cluster.

    Jean Little, the daughter of medical missionaries, was born in Taiwan but has been living in Canada since the age of seven. Jean began writing as a child and has never stopped, in spite of the challenge of her blindness. Despite limited vision, she attended regular school and graduated in 1955 from the University of Toronto with an Honours Degree in English.

      Teaching handicapped children until 1962, her first book Mine for Keeps won the Little Brown Children's Book Award and since then has had over 30 books published, including novels, picture books, autobiography, poetry and short stories, among them some of Canada’s best-loved works for children, such as Mama's Going to Buy You a Mockingbird, Listen for the Singing, Mine for Keeps, and Pippin the Christmas Pig. Her books have been translated into ten languages and have won many awards including a Canadian Library Association Book of the Year award (for her Dear Canada title, Orphan At My Door), the Ruth Schwartz Award, the Canada Council Literature Prize, The Vicky Metcalf Award and the Boston Globe Horn-Book Honor Book Award. Her other Dear Canada books include Brothers Far From Home (2003), If I Die Before I Wake (2007) and Exiles from the War (2010). She writes these award-winning titles by using a talking computer.

      Jean Little lives in Guelph, Ontario, with her sister, great-niece and great-nephew and a house full of dogs, cats, birds and other pets. In addition to all the awards and nominations, she has received four honorary degrees, and has been made a member of the Order of Canada for her outstanding contribution to Canadian children's literature.

       Here's what Marsha Skrypuch, of Brantford Book Camp has to say about this author:

       "When Jean was the keynote speaker at Brantford Book Camp, we had so many parents and children attend that we ended up extending the event for an extra hour to accommodate all of the autograph requests. The acoustics in the gym were terrible, but that didn't matter. The audience was so entranced by Jean's presentation that the only sound you could hear was her voice. I have a photo of the audience that day and the universal expression is one of contented awe."

Published Works

    * Mine for Keeps
    * Spring Begins in March (Sequel to Mine for Keeps)
    * 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
    * Love in Paris
    * Orphan at My Door
    * Growing Pains

Presentation Details

       Jean is comfortable with a variety of venues and she does not mind large groups but she prefers students to be within three grades of each other. Jean's talks can be tailored to your needs. She can talk about a specific book or about her life as a writer. She is an ideal keynote speaker.

Setting/equipment

      A chair and a glass of water

      And, if I am forced to speak in a gym, a mike that works

      I supply my own Seeing Eye dog.

      Since I have written for all ages except older teenagers, I am willing to speak to all of them. My preference is for the middle grades, 4, 5 and 6.

      I ask for an hour which gives me time to talk and then answer questions. I change the speech every time depending on the children, which books they already know, whether they want most of all to hear about my guide dog or how I write when I cannot see. I also speak about the actual work involved in writing.

      Although I do not write Young Adult fiction, I am happy to talk to high school kids about the craft of writing.

      I also speak to conferences of teachers, librarians, parents or just people. I have been called a “motivational speaker” and I have talked to inmates in jails about stuff like making choices.

      I am happy speaking to large groups – up to 200 for instance. I want the audience to be big enough that I can hear them laughing at my jokes. Eighty to 100 is probably ideal.  If the school wants me to speak to kindergartners, I talk about the dog and one picture book and cut the session shorter.

      I usually bring books with me which I autograph for anyone who buys one. I will NOT sign pieces of paper but I will bring a sheet of autographed messages like “Keep reading a Little. The best place for your nose is inside a book. Jean Little” which the teacher can run off and hand out after I am gone.

      I will bring an autographed poster to give to the school or library.
If at all possible, Jean would appreciate a parking spot close to the school entrance.