A Thoughtful Fable for Our Times
Cozy is a yearling musk ox (also called an Oomingmak) who becomes separated from his immediate family and herd during a harsh Alaska winter in the tundra of the high Arctic. Cozy was given his name by his beloved parents who noted that his great winter coat is especially silky, soft, thick, and warm. In the frozen wilderness the climate becomes so harsh and life threatening that other animals seek out shelter under Cozy’s welcoming, fluffy coat. Cozy generously provides live-saving protection for a multitude of creatures who live in the hostile habitat. A small brown lemming mother and her three pups are the first animals to seek shelter under Cozy’s warm and comfy fur. Soon, a snowshoe hare, a snowy owl, and an Arctic fox join them. A wolverine, sled dogs and a playful sea otter add to the animals that gather together burrowing in the ever-expanding shelter that Cozy’s great coat offers. His only rule is simple: “Quiet voices, gentle thumping, claws to yourself, no biting, no pouncing, and be mindful of others.” Cozy is a beautiful fable that symbolizes the harsh difficulties that face human beings today. In the age of the COVID pandemic, people regardless of their different origins and backgrounds need to huddle together and live in harmony to survive a very cold season of danger and discontent.
The plot of Cozy is probably closest to Brett’s much beloved picture book stories, The Mitten (G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1989) and The Hat (G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1997), both of which feature a varied collection of charming animals in search of warmth, safety and companionship. Visually, Brett’s watercolor and gouache illustrations feature her love of exquisite detail and her signature side panels that help to amplify each basic story. The panels, while beautiful in themselves, also provide a bounty of seek-and-find background information. Close-ups of the Arctic fauna that find their way under Cozy’s comfy and protective fur add to the knowledge children gain about the fable’s animal characters. The panels also reveal the turning of seasons in the high Arctic region of Alaska and luminous images of the pearl-like shells of the abalone for which sea otters are passionate. Beautiful images of lichen-covered tundra rocks attractively decorate the end pages.
Cozy deserves more than a single reading. In addition to the central story told in words and pictures, the author-illustrator adds special touches to enlighten readers. The Northern Lights (aurora borealis) represent just one example to be found in many glorious double-page spreads. So, too, are the normal predator and prey relationships among the sheltered creatures who find their better selves in this endearing story of togetherness for the sake of survival.
Jan Brett has a special fondness for settings in far northern climates such as Scandinavia, Russia, and now Alaska. She loves snow and probably no other author-illustrator for children makes it seem so inviting. However, she has also created Honey...Honey...Lion! (G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 2005) that unfolds in Southern Africa, The Umbrella (G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 2004) set in Costa Rica, and The Tale of the Tiger Slippers (G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 2019) that takes place in India.
Few author-illustrators for children reach out so broadly as Jan Brett does via her extensive and colorful website. Parents, educators, and gifted children can freely subscribe to her colorful and highly informative newsletter. Readers also learn about her many books, discover activities and coloring pages, discover more about Jan Brett, find printable cards, podcasts, and games. Her newsletters are especially noteworthy for extending the knowledge base associated with her newest books. The current newsletter for Cozy, informs readers that musk oxen have lived on the planet Earth for a very long time. They emerged in the Pleistocene epoch when they shared the planet with such contemporaries as sabre-toothed cats and wooly mammoths. Brett introduces interesting facts about all of the Alaskan animals who populate Cozy. She also invites readers to travel with her to a musk oxen farm in Palmer, Alaska.
Dr. Jerry Flack is Professor Emeritus and President’s Teaching Scholar Emeritus at University of Colorado, Colorado Springs.
Home Activities
A fable is a short story typically with animals as characters that conveys a moral. Cozy is a fable about the need of God’s creatures to come together to help one another survive a very rough time. Cozy is set in the harsh winter of Arctic Alaska. Encourage students to read Aesop’s Fables to grasp an even broader understanding of how fables are written. Next, ask students, individually or with siblings or friends, to create a fable set in another time or place that conveys Cozy’s compelling moral of why kindness and togetherness are often roots for survival. In a new, original fable, how might an umbrella in a tropical rain forest save the lives of its inhabitants?
Ask children and young adults to engage in literary criticism by comparing two or more of Jan Brett’s classic picture books such as The Mitten and Cozy. Encourage children to describe or outline the stories found in both books. Next, suggest that children compare and contrast both the words and images of the two books. Suggest that they become childrens’ book critics for a major educational journal such as the School Library Journal. Their culminating activity is to write an article about the similarities and differences of two or more Jan Brett books they choose to critique.
Invite children to explore information found in Jan Brett’s website about Cozy. What, for example, is the Pleistocene epoch in the history of Earth? How do musk oxen protect their young? In the early 1800s, musk oxen were hunted to the point of extinction in North America. How were they brought back to the Arctic regions of the Alaska and Canada? What is unique about the pupils in the eyes of Oomingmaks? What is the favored diet of sea otters? What is unique about the winter fur coat of wolverines? What color are snowshoe hares and Arctic foxes in the summer months in the high Arctic? Based upon their research findings, suggest that children create a nonfiction companion guide book to accompany Cozy.
Jan Brett’s illustration style is lovely, unique, and very popular with children. She has created original stories as well as illustrated folk tales, poetry, and passages from the Bible. Encourage artistically talented children to broaden their own creative skills by illustrating an original story or a passage from literature that replicates the aesthetic style of Jan Brett. Be sure they duplicate the artist’s trademark sidebars in their own creations. Jan Brett is known for her school visits and for reaching out to meet young readers and fans. Once students create their own Jan Brett-style original book, urge them to send a copy to Jan Brett via her colorful website.
Brett, Jan. Cozy. New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers, 2020.
