The Story
The Princess and Her Panther
written by Wendy Orr
published by Beach Lane Books, An Imprint of Simon & Schuster, 2010 ISBN-10: 1416997806 ISBN-13: 9781416997801 What do you get when you take: ๏ one brave big sister, ๏ one not-so-brave little sister, ๏ a spooky nighttime backyard, ๏ and heaps of imagination? The most magnificent campout ever! The world of imagination sparkles to life through vibrant illustrations, and the rhythmic text makes for a joyful read-aloud. A Personal NoteI fell in love with The Princess and Her Panther the first time I read it-- it was originally titled One Night, so when I look though my sketchbook, all of my notes refer to One Night. My initial drawings were of a little girl all dressed up as a princess and a cat that followed her wherever her imagination took her. My first dummy book shows the real and the imagined worlds side by side, but my editor’s comments were “Simplify, simplify!”, so my second dummy book shows just the little girl and her cat and lets the words tell of the imagined world, but this wasn’t satisfying. I really wanted to paint a princess and her panther! Then I remembered how my sister and I used to play dress up when we were little. She wasalways the princess and I was always a cat! I made a quick sketch of two sisters and knew that my third dummy book for The Princess and Her Panther was going to work!
   
Here on my studio wall are a few of the painted spreads for The Princess and Her Panther, but if you look closely, you will see that they are different from the illustrations in the book-- I paint in acrylics and the paintings evolve and change until I am satisfied that they work together from page to page. Some of my paintings have as many as ten layers of paint on them.
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The Princess and Her Panther
To purchase a copy of Lauren Stringer's The Princess and Her Panther visit your local independent bookstore, or order online at:
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