E is for Esther...

Esther Greenwood, sinking into bleak depression in New York, in Sylvia Plath's the Bell Jar.

D is for Dark Lord...

...Trapped in the body of a teenage boy and sent to our world, having to endure indignities such as school, homework and detention. He befriends his complete opposite: a sweet, innocent boy named Christopher who tries to help him regain his terrifying form and return home. I’m a couple of decades out of the target reading age for this book but it didn’t stop me enjoying it. I think what I loved best is how much the two main characters seem to truly care about each other (deep deep down) and rely on each other. Like Harry Potter, this book appears at first glance to be about magic and fantasy, but to me it was equally about friendship. Dark Lord: The Teenage Years by Jamie Thomson

 

C is for Cat

This week’s illustration is of The Cat That Walked By Himself, by Rudyard Kipling. So far this project has made me look around and read new material, or re-read old books I used to love. You’d think that not having a TV would leave me more time to read, but actually I seem to spend a lot of time up in my studio doing art! Which is still great.

I absolutely love cats and it’s surprising they don’t find their way into more of my illustrations. Now that I have a garden I’ve been enjoying the birds visiting, so when I see a cat, my feelings are mixed. But I’ll always be a cat girl...

B is for Bilbo

As part of my A-Z literary alphabet, here is poor Bilbo, running away from Smaug's deadly flames!