TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT
Children’s author Jan Brett does research, faces tiger
Jan Brett is wild for research when it comes to her children’s books. While preparing to pen her latest work, “The Tale of the Tiger Slippers,” the beloved Bay State-based author and illustrator found herself up close and personal with her catty main character in one of India’s national parks.
“We were told there was a good chance we wouldn’t see a tiger because they’re mostly up and about at sunrise and sunset, when they don’t let you in the park because of obvious reasons: They’re fearsome predators,” Brett said of her nature reserve visit.
But Brett, who’s known for her ornate drawings and cherished stories like “The Mitten” and “Gingerbread Baby,” was in for a frightening treat.
“All of a sudden, the monkeys started making this ruckus,” she said, adding that the primates were apparently sounding the alarm that a major predator was approaching.
“We hear this huge roar and we knew who the giant predator would be,” she continued. “Our hair stood on end. It was so primal. There must be something buried in our brains that tells us, ‘Loud animal roar means be afraid.’ I’m getting goosebumps just thinking about it.”
As she and her guides sat in suspense within their open-top Jeep, a patch of reeds in front of them swished and an enormous male tiger emerged.
“It came out of the bushes and treated us like we were dirt, like, ‘Your existence is so insignificant that I won’t even look at you,’” Brett said.
Paying no attention to the “nice, warm tasty bodies” in the car, the wild feline proceeded to pad along the sandy trail ahead of them before stopping and stretching to his full height so he could sharpen his claws on a nearby tree.
After having such an intimate encounter with the tiger, Brett had a moment of hesitation with regards to making such a startling species the center of her story. In the tale, which is her reimagination of the classic Persian parable of Abu Kasem’s slippers, she had planned to follow a poor tiger whose mother weaves him a pair of slippers to protect his feet as he worked. The handmade footwear allows him to prosper and, once he is wealthy, serves as a reminder of how far he has come.
“My reaction was, ‘I could never do a children’s book about this creature. I could never put clothes on him and make him talk and have babies and build buildings,’” she said.
Despite her reservations, she knew she had already committed to constructing her book around the striped protagonist.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a wild creature where you just couldn’t get close to it in your mind,” said Brett,
who will be bringing her book tour to Belmont Books at Trinitarian Congregational
Church in Concord on Nov. 29. “It’s so other. It’s really spiritual to look at.
“But when I got back home, I had to do it because I had this book planned and spent all of this money going to India,” she added, laughing.