If Jan Brett wasn't an author/illustrator, she might be a horsewoman in the Olympics, a chicken farmer or an airline pilot.

Lucky for us, she chose the former.

2009 is a banner year for Brett. It marks 30 years in the book industry. And she's celebrating with a 20th anniversary edition of her classic "The Mitten" and the release of "Jan Brett's Snowy Treasury," which includes best-selling titles "Gingerbread Baby," "The Mitten," "The Hat" and "The Three Snowbears."

There's a warm ease to Brett's books that's at once comforting and familiar. Her timeless tales haves sold more than 33 million copies and garnered fans of all ages worldwide.

Everybody likes a good story, Brett said in an interview from her home in Norwell, Mass. But even though her tales are beloved by millions, Brett says she was born to be an artist, not a writer. "Writing is much harder," she said. "I hate to write. I really loathe writing. I don't even like to write letters."

So, why not work with someone else? Because, Brett says, the words and pictures are so intricately dovetailed, it would be near impossible to collaborate. "I love the idea that the picture can tell something and then the words can tell something," she said. "I can use the pictures to play on the words. … I like doing that, playing back and forth, and it's just so internal. I love the way it just takes over and then it's not like I'm even doing it."

What Brett really loves to do, though, is illustrate. It's been a part of her life from before she can remember. "I had a very nurturing mother who just loved to have her kids be creative," Brett said. "I just immediately took to it and loved it. I think I was very shy, so that was great to have this little world that I could create."

Brett is known for her incredibly realistic illustrations. It's a look that she puts a lot of effort into. She travels all over the world researching and observing different folk traditions and landscapes and animals.

It's that eye for detail that comes through in her images. "I've always been drawing like that," Brett said. "Even when I was little I would always have lots of detail. I like to feel like I could walk into the page.

"The books that I loved were the ones that had the very detailed pictures because I felt like that was a real place, and I could pretend that I was there. That's what I gravitated toward when I was little, and I've just never stopped."