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I honestly had a love/hate relationship with this book. Ok, maybe hate is too strong of a word, especially since I didn't hate anything about it, I actually rather liked it, however there were definitely parts where I was somewhat disappointed as to where the story was leading and how it's main character was acting. I suppose that is a part of a lot of books (I should know that by now, eh?), I guess just fell in love with the beginning of the story and wasn't quite as in love when the book ended. Still an enjoyable read and one I know young girls will like.

Charlotte Kandel has created a story around a timeless life lesson: be careful what you wish for. 13 year old Daphne was dropped off at an orphanage right after she was born and grew up wondering what it would be like to have a family. She also grew up being in love with ballet and dancing and wished for a day when she had the time to practice and the money to take lessons. When a mysterious package arrives anonymously in the mail for her, containing a book about ballet and a scarlet pair of stockings, Daphne is perplexed, but intrigued, especially when she discovers that the stockings are magic.

When she wears the stockings, magical things happen to her. She begins to be great at ballet and most importantly, is adopted by a wonderful family right there in London. She is able to begin taking dancing lessons and life seems to be great, until greed gets ahold of Daphne. The stockings change Daphne, making her want more and more out of life until it doesn't matter anymore who she hurts in the process. She leaves her family to study ballet far away and actually begins to make it rather big in the ballet world, landing a great role, though leaves her family in the dark the entire time. She becomes selfish, arrogant, and pompous. When Daphne realizes she no longer likes herself or the life she now has, making her wonder just where the real Daphne went. She must overcome the power of the stockings to return to who she once was and who she really wants to be.

This really is an enjoyable book and I think young girls will really enjoy Daphne's story. The jacket is absolutely beautiful with swirly pink letters and gold foil, instantly making me want to pick it up. The direction I first thought it would go is not how the story ended up, leaving me a tad bit disappointed. I didn't like how wicked Daphne became, though I know it was to show just how much a material possession, especially one with magic, could rule a young girl's life. I do recommend this book to others, especially girls between about 8 and 12 and will be purchasing it for the library. I know it won't stay on the shelves long, just as much as I know I would like to see more from Charlotte Kandel!

Here are some little bits scanned from my sketchbook, most I tweaked in Photoshop. They aren't very new, but I wanted to post something.... anything really. I feel stale so I'm attempting to motivate myself by using this blog to post ideas and sketches and finished work as much as possible. I don't know what (if anything) will come of these, but there you have it.

This is my Thumbelina as directly inspired by an illustration by David Johnson.



















This was a character sketch of Oliver Twist. I'm currently working on an actual painted version of this. It's not an illustration so much as it is practice on my stylization. I'll post that painting as soon as it's done. Maybe tonight even.












Just a girl in a field with some dark figures surrounding her....don't really know where this was headed.














Here we have a little piggy ala Wilbur, but that's just a coincidence. I like piglets is all. I started a painted version of this but hated it so I will probably retry it someday.



















Some character studies I did for Pinocchio...
















This is a sketch for a spot illustration for Pinocchio.



















Um, I guess this would be a knight and white horse near a pretty tree with a castle in the distance...I find this really boring, actually...
It needs some spice. Plus I think the colors are too cheery for the mood I originally wanted to give it.















I wanted to do this piece to continue exploring the theme of humanized animals and parental bonds, but I thought it wasn't really presenting much more than a cute-ified Corbis photo, so I put it on hold.













I guess this is my try at a cool old sea captain, but the picture isn't very narrative and he kind of looks like my dad, so I've not pursued this any further yet.