Since they were both living in London at the time, they would occasionally go on field trips together to research scenes - like for a story where Angelina is getting to a dance festival on a barge. Holabird says she would first spend several weeks writing the story. Unlike some author and illustrator pairs, Katharine Holabird and Helen Craig worked closely over the years. 'They're very hard things to draw,' says Craig. 'And Helen said to me, 'Please don't ever write a story about bicycles again.'' The last full-page spread was the whole village coming out and riding bicycles with Angelina. In one story, Holabird decided that Angelina should get a bike for her birthday. 'I used to go in with the roughs and say, 'Look, does this work? Is this pulley working?''īut one thing Craig never wants to illustrate again? Bicycles. 'I like the drawings to make sense.'įor one book in the series, Angelina On Stage, Craig says she spent a lot of time consulting her father, who was a stage designer. 'I have great respect for the children who are looking at these books,' says Craig. 'I think Helen's illustrations have created such a magical world for Angelina,' says Holabird. It's a fully-realized snapshot of village life. It's where Angelina goes to buy balloons on her birthday.

Thimble's store in the village sells dresses, potatoes, cut glass and sweets. The china has patterns, the butter melts on the table, the sink is full of dishes. 'So that I could move around and always get it right, because children are very sharp.' The house - and the town, and the ballet studio - are incredibly detailed. 'I made a plan of Angelina's cottage,' Craig says. What's not simple, though, are her illustrations of Angelina's world.

'In a small cottage without any running water. 'I lived in a very small village in Essex,' she says.

Kids will notice if the drawings don't make senseĪngelina Ballerina is set in in the village of Chipping Cheddar - all thatched cottages and winding roads - a look from the 1940s East of England, where Craig grew up.

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