About the Author

With more than thirty million books in print, Jan Brett is one of the nation's foremost author/illustrators of children's books. Jan lives in a seacoast town in Massachusetts, close to where she grew up. During the summer her family moves to a home in the Berkshire Hills of Massachusetts.

With more than thirty million books in print, Jan Brett is one of the nation's foremost author/illustrators of children's books. Jan lives in a seacoast town in Massachusetts, close to where she grew up. During the summer her family moves to a home in the Berkshire Hills of Massachusetts.

Reviews

"A nice bit of imagining."--The New Yorker
"Jan Brett's outstanding art is the best ever....Wonderfully detailed mammoths and cave bears populate Brett's now-famous borders on each lovely page."--L.A. Parent
"Unquestionably spectacular...breathtaking."--The Christian Science Monitor
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PreS-Gr 1 A simple, imaginative tale of how the first domestication of a wild animal may have occurred. Kip, a cave boy living at the end of the Ice Age, is followed on his journey home by a Paleowolf, who, smelling the boy's roasted Woolly Rhino bones, begs for a treat. Each time the boy stops to rest and eat, the wolf hound senses danger and flees, saving the boy's life, too. After Paleowolf warns him of a fearsome Saber-Toothed Cat, the boy makes a deal with himhe will exchange some of his food for the animal's protective senses. The book's glorious watercolor illustrations will attract young prehistory enthusiasts, for amidst the melting ice floes roam the mighty Mammoth, the Wild Horse, the Woolly Rhino and other denizens of the Pleistocene period. Each scene appears on a ``canvas'' stretched across two pages. Borders show wood and stone carvings, cave paintings, and artifacts. Side panels on several illustrations show the dangers that Kip avoids by heeding Paleowolf's warnings. This is another of Brett's lavish offerings, intricately designed and filled with eye-catching detail. However, it is a fabricated story told with authority, featuring a modern-looking boy amidst authentic-looking animals and scenery. Children familiar with the ever-growing body of factual material on this period may accept it as the truth, despite its accompanying notes. Susan Scheps, Shaker Heights Public Library, Ohio