One familiar name in children’s literature, from my childhood until now, is Jane Yolen. From middle grade novels to picture books and poems, her works have now influenced generations of children. In the deceptively simple picture book Janie Writes a Play: Jane Yolen’s First Great Story (illustrated by Madelyn Goodnight; Charlesbridge, 2025), Jane’s daughter Heidi E. Y. Stemple tells the story of her mother’s childhood of creativity and dreaming.
The author’s story frame is the upcoming elementary school play. In the beginning of the book, Jane’s excitement about being in a play is contagious. She dreams of the adventure of being on the stage. The author’s words and illustrator depict a girl inspired by books and people all around her. Even words and phrases that she doesn’t understand thrill her. Imagine her disappointment, then, when she gets to school and sees a boring script. She is disappointed, but again the world around her gives her ideas. Janie finds a solution: writing her own script. The play she writes is much more interesting. The teacher uses her script and to Jane’s delight, her play is performed.
This simple story then transitions to showing that Jane kept writing, and now she is the author we know. Janie Writes a Play is a biography that is not quite a biography. It’s a snapshot of a creative girl rescuing her class from a boring play. And yet it is also a welcome introduction to a creative girl that grew up to be a beloved author with more than a hundred published books. This is a great way to approach biography for very young children.
I received a review copy of this book in 2025.
