Jean Little

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Jean Little is a Canadian author born in 1932. Her work has mainly consisted of children's literature, but she has also written two autobiographies: Little by Little and Stars Come Out Within. she has a guide dog because she is partly blind.

[edit] Biography

===Professional Work===Jean taught handicapped children until 1962, when her first book, Mine for Keeps, was published. Since then, she has had 31 books published, including novels, picture books, autobiography, poetry and short stories. Her books have been translated into a hundred and ten languages and have won many awards.Due to her own experience with blindness and her work with handicapped children, almost all of her books involve characters with physical or mental disabilities. She also writes about many systems in place to help those with handicaps such as raising guide dog puppies and schools for children with disabilities. His Banner Over Me is based on Jean's mother's childhood and experiences growing up in China and Canada.Willow and Twig is also based loosely on her family's, involving Jean's young great-niece and great-nephew coming to stay with her and her sister, Pat.Three of Jean Little's more recent books are Orphan at My Door: The Home Child Diary of Victoria Cope (2001), Brothers Far from Home: The World War I Diary of Eliza Bates (2003), and If I Die Before I Wake: The Flu Epidemic Diary of Fiona Macgregor (2007) for the popular historical fiction series, Dear Canada. All three books have been very well-received.Currently, Jean lives in Guelph, Ontario, with her sister, great-niece and great-nephew. They have two dogs, two cats, a dwarf rabbit and two African Grey parrots. Jean is an adjunct professor at the University of Guelph where she has taught children's literature. She has four honorary degrees and is a member of the Order of Canada. Her most recent honorary degree, a Doctor of Letters, was awarded by the University of Toronto on June 23, 2006. At that time, she was accompanied by her newest seeing eye dog, a two-year-old golden retriever called Honey. Her niece Maggie de Vries was a finalist for the 2003 Governor General's Awards for her book Missing Sarah: A Vancouver Woman Remembers Her Vanished Sister.[1]