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Jean Little, CM (January 2, 1932 – April 6, 2020) was a Canadian writer of over 50 books. Her work mainly consisted of children's literature, but she also wrote two autobiographies: Little by Little and Stars Come Out Within. Little was partially blind since birth as a result of scars on her cornea and was frequently accompanied by a guide dog.[1]

Key Information

Life and career

[edit]

Little was born in Formosa, the daughter of Flora (Gauld), a doctor, and John Llewellyn Little, a physician.[2] Her parents were Canadian doctors serving as medical missionaries[1] under the United Church of Canada. The Little family came home to live in Canada in 1939,[1] moving to Guelph in 1940. Although Little was legally blind from birth, she attended elementary and secondary school in regular classes. She went to the University of Toronto and obtained a Bachelor of Arts in English Language and Literature.

After teaching disabled children for several years, Little wrote her first children's novel, Mine for Keeps, about a child with cerebral palsy.[1] It won the Little, Brown Canadian Children's Book Award and was published in 1962. She has subsequently written over 50 published works, which include novels, picture books, poetry, short stories, and two autobiographical books. Her novel His Banner Over Me is based on her mother's childhood.[1] Little won literary awards for her work and has been published internationally.

Her novel Mama's Going to Buy You a Mockingbird won the Canadian Library Association Book of the Year for Children Award in 1985,[3] and was later adapted into a 1988 television film by Sandy Wilson.[4]

Little taught Children's Literature at the University of Guelph, where she was an adjunct professor in the Department of English. She had six honorary degrees, was a Member of the Order of Canada and a recipient of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Medal. Jean Little Public School, in Guelph, Ont. is named in her honour.[1]

She journeyed widely talking to both adults and children themselves about the joys to be found through reading and writing. In March 2004, she went to India and in November 2006 to Bulgaria. Little gave the 2016 Margaret Lawrence Lecture at the Canadian Writers Summit in June.[5]

As of 2016, Little resided in Guelph, Ontario with her sister Pat deVries, her great-niece Jeanie, and her great-nephew Ben. She continued to write through the aid of a voice-activated computer[1] and travelled with her guide dog Honey. She died on April 6, 2020, at age 88.[1][6]

Themes

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Several of Little's books, such as Mine for Keeps and From Anna, focus on children who have a disability or are affected by a person with a disability.[1] As many of her books were written several decades ago, they now serve as examples of how children with disabilities were previously raised and treated by society. Another frequent theme is adoption and foster care, as shown in Home from Far and Willow and Twig. Children often find homes and families throughout the course of the novel, whether it consists of rediscovering the importance of their family, being reunited with family or creating a new family in their new situation. While the novels often touch on very sad events, ranging from serious illness, abuse and death, the endings are usually positive and show the resilience of children.

Works

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  • 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
  • Brothers Far from Home (Dear Canada)
  • If I Die Before I Wake (Dear Canada)
  • 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 – autobiography
  • Stars Come Out Within – sequel autobiography
  • Somebody Else's Summer
  • Dancing Through the Snow
  • Love in Paris
  • Yesterday
  • Orphan at My Door (Dear Canada)
  • Growing Pains
  • Home from Far
  • Revenge of the Small Small
  • Take Wing
  • Exiles from the War (Dear Canada)
  • All Fall Down (Dear Canada)
  • Do Not Open Until Christmas
  • When the Pie was Opened
  • The Belonging Place
  • Forward, Shakespeare!
  • Plenty

References

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Jean Little

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Jean Little is a Canadian children's author known for her sensitive and realistic portrayals of children facing disabilities, adversity, and emotional challenges in her more than fifty published books. Her works, which often draw from her own experience of being legally blind from early childhood, emphasize resilience, inclusion, and authentic representations of disability without resorting to unrealistic "cure" endings. [1] [2] [3] Among her most notable titles are Mine for Keeps*,* From Anna*, and* Listen for the Singing*.[1] [3] Born in 1932 in Taiwan to Canadian medical missionary parents, Little moved to Canada in 1939 due to World War II and grew up primarily in Ontario, where she attended regular schools despite severe visual impairment and later total blindness. She graduated from Victoria College at the University of Toronto with a degree in English in 1955 and initially worked as a teacher at a center for children with disabilities before dedicating herself full-time to writing following the success of her debut novel. [2] Her stories frequently feature characters who are orphaned, disabled, or otherwise marginalized, reflecting her commitment to showing that children with disabilities can lead full, meaningful lives and form genuine connections. [1] [3] Little received widespread recognition for her contributions to children's literature, including appointment to the Order of Canada, the Vicky Metcalf Award for her body of work, and multiple book awards such as the Canada Council Literature Prize and the Ruth Schwartz Award. She also wrote two autobiographies and continued publishing into her later years with the assistance of technology and guide dogs. [1] [2] She passed away on April 6, 2020, at the age of 88. [2] [3]

Early life

Birth and family background

Jean Little was born on January 2, 1932, in T'ai-nan, Formosa (now Taiwan), which was under Japanese rule at the time, to Canadian medical missionaries Dr. John Llewellyn Little and Dr. Flora Millicent Gauld Little. [4] [5] Her parents, both physicians, served with the United Church of Canada, providing essential medical care to the local population in Taiwan. [6] [4] As the second of four children, Little grew up in a family deeply immersed in missionary work, a context that later informed her writing, notably in His Banner Over Me (1995), a fictionalized biography drawing on her mother's own childhood experiences. [4] The family returned to Canada in 1939 amid the escalating tensions of World War II. [5] [6]

Childhood, visual impairment, and move to Canada

Jean Little was born with scarred corneas that caused severe visual impairment from birth, limiting her sight significantly throughout her early years.[7][8] Her condition made everyday activities challenging, and her vision continued to deteriorate over time.[7] Due to the outbreak of World War II, Little's family returned to Canada from Taiwan in 1939 when she was seven years old, initially settling in Toronto.[8][9] In Toronto, she attended a special class for visually impaired students to accommodate her needs.[9] The following year, in 1940, the family moved to Guelph, Ontario, where she transitioned to attending a regular school.[9][6] These early experiences in Canada, amid her ongoing visual challenges, shaped her formative years.

Education and early teaching career

Jean Little earned an honours B.A. in English from Victoria College at the University of Toronto in 1955, where she studied under the prominent literary critic Northrop Frye. [10] This degree marked the completion of her undergraduate education and provided a strong foundation in literature that would later support her career as a children's author. Following graduation, she completed teacher training in Utah and began teaching disabled children for several years. [10] Because of her own blindness, Little primarily read aloud to her students, an approach that allowed her to engage directly with them despite her visual impairment. Her work focused on supporting children with disabilities, an experience that informed the sensitive and realistic portrayal of such characters in her subsequent writing. Later in her career, Little served as an adjunct professor teaching Children's Literature at the University of Guelph. This role allowed her to share her expertise with university students while continuing to contribute to the field of children's literature education.

Writing career

Beginnings and debut novel

Jean Little began writing poems and stories as a teenager, with two poems published in Saturday Night magazine. Her debut novel, Mine for Keeps, was published in 1962 and told the story of a nine-year-old girl adjusting to life with cerebral palsy. [7] The book won the Little, Brown Canadian Children's Book Award. [7] This success launched a long and prolific career during which Little published roughly one book per year for many years thereafter, resulting in over 50 books overall. [7]

Major novels and recurring themes

Jean Little achieved widespread recognition for her novels that portray children confronting physical, emotional, or social challenges with realism and empathy. [11] Her breakthrough success came with From Anna (1972), which follows a visually impaired girl immigrating to Canada from Germany in the 1930s, where she gradually accepts her blindness within a supportive family setting. [9] The novel's sequel, Listen for the Singing (1977), extends Anna's story into her teenage years amid the tensions of World War II and her efforts to navigate school life. [3] Other significant works include Mama's Going to Buy You a Mockingbird (1984), which depicts a boy's struggle to cope with his father's terminal cancer and the resulting family upheaval, and Willow and Twig (2000), which explores the experiences of siblings in foster care who eventually find stability through adoption. [11] Different Dragons (1986) addresses a young boy's fears and personal growth, while Hey World, Here I Am! (1986) presents a series of poems capturing the inner thoughts and observations of a perceptive young girl. [9] Little contributed several titles to the Dear Canada historical fiction diary series, including Orphan at My Door (1997), which chronicles a home child's arrival in Canada, and Exiles from the War (2008). [1] Recurring themes across her fiction emphasize disabilities as ordinary facets of everyday life rather than sources of tragedy or conditions resolved through miraculous cures, alongside explorations of adoption, foster care, family dynamics, and the resilience required to overcome adversity—elements frequently informed by her own lived experience with blindness. [3] [12] This approach helped normalize diverse experiences for young readers and influenced representations of disability in children's literature. [11]

Memoirs and autobiographical writing

Jean Little authored two autobiographies that offer intimate insights into her life, focusing on her experiences with visual impairment from birth and her journey as a writer. These works serve as primary sources for many personal details about the author, chronicling her challenges, resilience, and creative development. Her first memoir, Little by Little: A Writer's Education (1987), recounts her early years, beginning with her birth in Taiwan to medical missionary parents and the family's eventual move to Canada. The book describes the difficulties of growing up legally blind, including social rejection, bullying, and struggles for acceptance in school due to her appearance and vision loss. It also highlights her supportive family life, early love of reading and stories, and determination to become a published author despite the absence of characters with disabilities in the books she read as a child, culminating in the acceptance of her debut novel.[13] The sequel, Stars Come Out Within (1990), continues the narrative into adulthood, detailing her teaching career working with children with disabilities, her ongoing writing successes, and her adaptation to complete vision loss. The memoir explores her emotional and practical responses to worsening blindness, including learning new ways to navigate life and maintain independence. These autobiographical writings emphasize themes of perseverance and self-acceptance that echo in her fictional works.[14]

Recognition and awards

Television adaptations

Two of Jean Little's novels were adapted into television movies:
  • ''Home from Far'' was adapted as a television movie in 1983.[15]
  • ''Mama's Going to Buy You a Mockingbird'' was adapted as a television movie in 1987.[16]

Personal life

Living with blindness and advocacy

Jean Little's severe visual impairment progressed to total blindness in her mid-40s, after glaucoma led to the surgical removal of one eye around age 30 and sudden complete loss in the remaining eye. [12] She adapted to this change by adopting an early voice-activated talking computer developed by near-blind inventor David Kostyshyn in Hamilton, which allowed her to compose and review her work independently. [12] Little relied on this technology for her writing from that point onward, supplemented by guide dogs that enhanced her mobility and independence in daily life and public appearances. [7] Through her literature, Little advocated for positive representations of disability by portraying children with physical or sensory impairments as ordinary protagonists who achieve happy, fulfilling endings without their conditions being cured or erased. [3] This deliberate departure from common tropes in children's books—where disabilities were often "overcome" for resolution—aimed to normalize disabilities and offer realistic, affirming stories for young readers facing similar challenges. [11] Little extended her advocacy beyond writing by co-founding the Canadian Society of Children's Authors, Illustrators and Performers (CANSCAIP) in 1977 to build professional community and support among creators of children's literature. [17] She spoke publicly on topics of reading and writing, frequently accompanied by her guide dogs, and travelled internationally for engagements, including to India in March 2004 and Bulgaria in November 2006.

Family and later years

In her later years, Jean Little resided in Guelph, Ontario, where she shared a home with her sister Patricia de Vries, a former head nurse at Vancouver General Hospital, for the final 27 years of her life.[12] Together, the sisters raised their great-niece Jeanie de Vries and great-nephew Ben de Vries in a close-knit family arrangement that began in 1998, following the disappearance of the children's mother (Patricia's daughter, Sarah de Vries).[2][12][5][18] This period marked a second phase of family life for Little, who had no children of her own, as she and Patricia provided a stable home for the children over many years.[18][19] Despite her blindness, Little remained active as a writer and public figure into her eighties, continuing to produce work and participate in appearances with assistance from her sister, including travel for speaking engagements.[18][19] She was predeceased by her brothers Jamie Little and Hugh Little.[5][12] At the time of her death in 2020, Little was survived by her sister Patricia de Vries, great-nephew Ben de Vries, great-niece Jeanie de Vries, and ten nephews and nieces.[12][5]

Death and legacy

References

  1. https://www.scholastic.ca/our-books/contributor/jean-little
  2. https://www.vic.utoronto.ca/news/remembering-jean-little-c-m-vic-5t5-a-life-in-three-acts
  3. https://thewalrus.ca/the-author-who-shaped-the-way-we-represent-disability/
  4. https://www.encyclopedia.com/children/scholarly-magazines/little-flora-jean-1932
  5. https://www.guelphtoday.com/obituaries/little-jean-2237303
  6. https://www.vicu.utoronto.ca/news/remembering-jean-little-c-m-vic-5t5-a-life-in-three-acts
  7. https://www.cbc.ca/books/children-s-author-jean-little-dead-at-88-1.5524491
  8. https://thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/jean-little
  9. https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/childrens/childrens-authors/article/82964-obituary-jean-little.html
  10. https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/jean-little-profile
  11. https://quillandquire.com/omni/jean-little-was-her-familys-poet-and-a-pioneer-in-the-canadian-kidlit-community/
  12. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books/article-blind-childrens-author-jean-little-wove-tales-in-which-disabilities/
  13. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/293692.Little_by_Little
  14. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1202814.Stars_Come_Out_Within
  15. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0294628/
  16. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093484/
  17. https://www.canscaip.org/aboutcanscaip
  18. https://www.cbc.ca/radio/sunday/canada-s-refugee-policy-michael-s-essay-dr-ezekiel-emanuel-living-arrangements-the-itinerant-life-geoffrey-james-mail-about-wills-and-estates-tragedy-builds-a-new-family-1.2905324/tragedy-builds-a-new-family-for-children-s-author-jean-little-and-sister-pat-de-vries-1.2905325
  19. https://www.guelphtoday.com/obituaries/de-vries-patricia-pat-11397107
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