Local author Jane Monroe Donovan has been writing and illustrating children’s books for close to a decade. Donovan lives on a farm in the Pinckney area of Southeast Michigan and is drawn to the subject of the natural world for her books. She is interested in animals, the beauty of the landscape around her, as well as how these elements interact with people on a daily basis. Her books have been praised for their highly naturalistic and whimsical illustrations and have successfully sold many copies.
Little Foal’s Busy Day
This is a board book suitable for babies and kids through age 5. The board book provides a sturdy cardboard frame that is strong enough to endure throughout early childhood. The material is also fairly spill-resistant. This story recounts the day that a young baby horse (a foal) has on the farm he lives on. The little baby foal makes friends in the pasture, runs, walks and explores all the parts of his environment. Finally, his mother calls him to come home to the barn. The plot is told with clear, simple sentences and accompanied by watercolor illustrations sure to delight young and older readers alike.
Black Beauty’s Early Days in the Meadow
A longer version of “Little Foal’s Busy Day,” this book features excerpts from the famous “Black Beauty” book by Anna Sewell. Donovan provides the illustrations to the different passages from the book to re-create the world of the young Black Beauty. This book is appropriate for kids 6-9 years of age and is in a classic hardcover picture book format with accompanying dust jacket. The images are hand-drawn and painted with watercolor, using colors that echo and evoke the natural world. They provide a perfect complement to the text for early readers who might still be too young to read the longer novel by Sewell.
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Small, Medium, and Large
“Small, Medium and Large” is a wordless book that features Donovan’s illustrations. The book is appropriate for kids aged 2-4 years old. It is a hardcover book with a dust jacket. It tells the story (using only pictures) of a girl who is surprised on Christmas morning by three animals that were delivered to her by Santa. They are a dog, horse and cat. The book recounts the day she has with her new pets. She serves them breakfast, takes them for a walk where each help to build a snowman, and then finally they all head back home where they make Christmas cookies. The book introduces little readers to the mathematical concepts of size, as each animal is either small, medium or large, and it also helps them to understand the order in which events happen, by the way the pictures are laid out. It would be a great addition to any classroom or homeschool library.
Winter’s Gift
This book is, perhaps, Donovan’s most famous one, and one which she both illustrated and provided the text for. It deals with themes of loss in a way that is appropriate for children to discuss with their parents, caregivers and teachers. In the story an old man who has just lost his wife, encounters a mare (horse), who has gotten lost in the woods on a cold and stormy winter’s night. He takes her in and at the end the mare surprises him with a gift of hope that reminds him of his late wife. It sends a positive message to all readers and the illustrations do a wonderful job at echoing the meaning of the written words. Great for older readers in elementary school or higher.
My Momma Likes to Say
This book of idioms and proverbs, written by local Michigan author Denise Brennan-Nelson and illustrated by Donovan, provides a funny and informative guide to different sayings and expressions that adults often say to kids. Examples of those found in the book include “Time flies when you’re having fun,” “Money doesn’t grow on trees” and “It’s raining cats and dogs.” Each expression is accompanied by a separate text on the side of the page that tells you where the expression originated from and its history. It is an informative, educating and fun book.
