Jean Little was born in Taiwan in 1932. She was born with a severe eye problem and is severely visually impaired. Little grew up in Ontario and graduated from the University of Toronto. A special "talking" computer assists her with her writing. She has a retired seeing-eye dog named Ritz and a new one named Pippa, with whom she travels.
Little has written more than 50 children's books. Her childhood experiences inspired her to write books about children with physical disabilities or facing personal difficulties. She won a number of awards, including a Canadian Library Association (CLA) Book of the Year Medal and a Canada Council Children's Literature Award. Little has been writing children's books for over forty years. Listen for the Singing was the Canada Council Children's Literature Award winner in 1977. Mama's Going to Buy You a Mockingbird was the CLA Book of the Year in 1985. Little's first book, Mine for Keeps, won the Little Brown Children's Book Award in 1962 and was republished by Viking Penguin in 1995. Orphan at My Door: The Home Child Diary of Victoria Cope, won the 2001 CLA Book of the Year for Children Award. She awarded the Vicky Metcalf Award for Literature for Young People in 1974 for her entire body of work. She received the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Medal. She was named a member of the Order of Canada in 1993.
Jean Little died on April 6, 2020, at the age of 88.
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