Katharine Holabird | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | January 23, 1948 Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States |
| Education | Francis W. Parker School |
| Alma mater | Bennington College |
| Notable works | Angelina Ballerina |
| Spouse | Michael Haggiag (m. 1974) |
| Children | 2 |
| Website | |
| katharineholabird | |
Katharine Holabird (born January 23, 1948) is an American writer, best known as the author of the Angelina Ballerina series, illustrated by Helen Craig, and the Twinkle series, illustrated by Sarah Warburton.
Born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the second of four daughters, Holabird grew up in an artistic home in Chicago, and her family spent many summers in Michigan. [1] In 1969, she received a B.A. in literature from Bennington College in Vermont and then worked at Bennington College as a literary editor for a year after her graduation.
Holabird then found herself in Italy as a freelance journalist where she met her husband, Michael Haggiag. The two married in 1974 and moved to London, where she continued to write and worked at a nursery school. She has two daughters, Tara and Alexandra. Later, Holabird met Helen Craig, a London photographer and artist whose illustrations have been inspired by her childhood in rural England. Over the next few years, Craig illustrated several mini-books with mice, and Holabird provided some of the text. [2] In 1983, her third child, Adam, was born.
In 1983, Holabird's first children's book, Angelina Ballerina , was published. [2] Her son Adam was her inspiration for the character Henry, and Angelina's character was inspired by her daughters' love for dressing up and dancing. [2] Holabird wrote the first draft of Angelina Ballerina at the kitchen table with her daughters dancing around her. In fact, the Angelina books were originally about a girl, but then Craig drew a mouse, and Holabird loved it. "The impulsive character of Angelina came alive," says Holabird, "and seemed to pirouette off the page with enthusiasm and energy, while her plump and ebullient body expressed drama and attitude in every twitch of her tail." Angelina is a very emotional character; she is sensitive and often bursts into tears right before offering an apology. She struggles with her conscience but always ends up doing the right thing—which is very familiar to many young children. The universal childhood themes in Angelina include friendship, jealousy, loyalty, & dedication. As a child, she was an avid reader who loved fairy tales and stories about heroic animals, and she frequently saw ballets like Cinderella and Swan Lake with her grandmother. The young, imaginative Holabird loved animals, playing in her tree house, and dancing with her sisters. When reflecting on her childhood, she said: "TV hadn't become a fixture in every home, and we created our own imaginative world." She graduated high school from the Francis Parker School in realistically portray the difficulties of growing up. According to Holabird, it is a ballerina book for "all the passionate little dancers and performers in the world," including her own two daughters, which is why she "decided to explore the impulsive, highly emotional character of a small but determined ballerina."
The first American edition of Angelina Ballerina was published in 1984. A year later, Holabird received the Kentucky Bluegrass Award for Angelina Ballerina. In 1986 and 1987, she received the ALA Notable Book Awards. Angelina's Christmas was selected as Child Study Association's Children's Book of the Year in 1987. The following year, Holabird and Craig published Alexander and the Dragon, their first Alexander book, aimed at preschool children who want to be consoled about bedtime monsters. In 1990, Holabird wrote the Alexander sequel, Alexander and the Magic Boat, which portrays a strong mother/son relationship while the two go on a voyage to imaginary worlds. Also in 1990, Holabird received the British Book Design and Production award.
In 1999, HIT Entertainment in London (known for Thomas the Tank Engine , Bob the Builder , and Barney ) secured the rights for Angelina Ballerina and commissioned Grand Slamm Children's Films to make an animated TV pilot. HIT also developed a lot of Angelina merchandise. Angelina made her worldwide television debut in 2001 on CITV in the United Kingdom. Actress Finty Williams is the voice of Angelina, and her mother, Judi Dench, is Miss Lilly. In 2002, the Angelina series premiered on PBS Kids TV in the United States. Angelina Ballerina's Invitation to the Ballet received the prestigious Oppenheim Platinum Award in the U.S. in 2004. That same year, Angelina was named the official spokesperson of National Dance Week in the United States. In 2005, Angelina made her debut on PBS Kids Sprout, a 24-hour digital television channel for preschoolers in the U.S.
Holabird was honored in 2006 with an invitation to Queen Elizabeth's 80th birthday party at Buckingham Palace. [3] That same year, the entire series of Angelina books was reissued by Grosset and Dunlap in the United States. Also in 2006, The Angelina Ballerina Dance Academy debuted with special Angelina ballet classes across England. Angelina's Star Performance, an original ballet based on Angelina at the Palace, debuted in 2007 in London with the English National Ballet. Holabird is hoping to release a new theatrical pop-up Angelina book in 2008. Together, Holabird and Craig have now published a total of ten Angelina books and two Alexander books. Overall, the Angelina books have been translated into more than 20 languages.
Holabird speaks English, French, Italian, and a bit of Spanish. Her favorite books are Charlotte's Web , Black Beauty , and the Harry Potter series. She writes in a blue room with a scenic view upstairs in her London home, and it usually takes her six to eight weeks to write an Angelina book. After that, each book goes to Helen Craig for at least three months to be illustrated; then it goes to the publisher and is usually published nine months later.
Her most recent work, Twinkle, is about a child fairy that goes to the Fairy School for Music and Magic. The series was written by Holabird and illustrated by Welsh artist Sarah Warburton. [3]
Swan Lake, Op. 20, is a ballet composed by Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in 1875–76. Despite its initial failure, it is now one of the most popular ballets of all time.
Lydia Lopokova, Baroness Keynes was a Russian ballerina famous during the early 20th century.
Dame Darcey Andrea Bussell, is a retired English ballerina and a former judge on the BBC television dance contest Strictly Come Dancing.
Darci Kistler is an American ballerina. She is often said to be the last muse for choreographer George Balanchine.
Mary Noel Streatfeild OBE was an English author, best known for children's books including the "Shoes" books, which were not a series. Random House, the U.S. publisher of the 1936 novel Ballet Shoes (1936), published some of Streatfeild's subsequent children's books using the word "Shoes" in their titles, to capitalize on the popularity of Ballet Shoes; thus Circus Shoes, Party Shoes, Skating Shoes and many more. She won the third annual Carnegie Medal for The Circus Is Coming. She was a member of the historic Streatfeild family.
"The Steadfast Tin Soldier" is a literary fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen about a tin soldier's love for a paper ballerina. The tale was first published in Copenhagen by C.A. Reitzel on 2 October 1838 in the first booklet of Fairy Tales Told for Children. New Collection. The booklet consists of Andersen's "The Daisy" and "The Wild Swans". The tale was Andersen's first not based upon a folk tale or a literary model. "The Steadfast Tin Soldier" has been adapted to various media including ballet and animated film.
The Fairies is an Australian preschool live-action children's television series created by Jenifer 'Jen' Watts and is based on two fairies: Harmony and Rainbow Rhapsody. They also have friends, including Elf the Fairy Cake Maker, Barnaby the Bizzy Buzzy Bee and Wizzy the Wizard. Each episode of the third TV series would contain songs and dance routines. Originally it was a direct-to-video film series released by PolyGram Filmed Entertainment Australia in 1998 and ABC Video in 2000, before becoming a TV series in 2005. ABC for Kids released the TV series on DVD in 2005–09, with merchandise releasing in Australia and America throughout the program's run and tours.
Katharine Mary Briggs was a British folklorist and writer, who wrote The Anatomy of Puck, the four-volume A Dictionary of British Folk-Tales in the English Language, and various other books on fairies and folklore. From 1969 to 1972, she was president of the Folklore Society, which established an award in her name to commemorate her life and work.
Tara Cressida "Finty" Williams is an English actress. She is best known as the voice of Angelina Ballerina. Her mother, Judi Dench, voiced Angelina's ballet teacher, Miss Lilly.
Angelina Ballerina is a children's book series by author Katharine Holabird and illustrator Helen Craig about a fictional mouse named Angelina Jeanette Mouseling who is training to become a ballerina.
Helen Craig is an English children's book illustrator and writer. She is best known for creating the Angelina Ballerina series of children's books with writer Katharine Holabird.
Melissa Hayden was a Canadian ballerina at the New York City Ballet.
Allegra Kent is an American ballet dancer, actress, children's book author and columnist.
Mabel Esther Allan was a British author of about 170 children's books.
Policeman Bluejay or Babes in Birdland is a children's novel written by L. Frank Baum and illustrated by Maginel Wright Enright. First published in 1907, Jack Snow considered it one of the best of Baum's works.
Angelina Ballerina: The Next Steps is a British animated preschool children's television series produced by HIT Entertainment in association with Five and Nick Jr., with animation production by SD Entertainment in the United States. The series is based on the Angelina Ballerina series of children's books by author Katharine Holabird and illustrator Helen Craig; and functions as a revival and sequel to the 2001–2006 series of the same name.
Emma Katherine Walton Hamilton is a British-American children's book author, theatrical director, and actress. She is an instructor in the MFA program at Stony Brook Southampton, where she serves as Director of the Southampton Children's Literature Fellows program and the Young Artists and Writers Project (YAWP). She is the daughter of singer and actress Dame Julie Andrews and set/costume designer Tony Walton.
Tamara Tchinarova, also known as Tamara Finch, was a Romanian-born émigré Russian and French ballerina who contributed significantly to the development of Australian dance companies and was a Russian/English interpreter for touring ballet companies. She was a dance writer and author, as Tamara Finch, of a number of non-fiction books. She was the first wife of actor Peter Finch.
Robin Preiss Glasser is an American illustrator, best known for her work on the Fancy Nancy series of children's picture books, written by Jane O'Connor.
Angelina Ballerina is a British animated preschool children's television series based on the Angelina Ballerina series of children's books by author Katharine Holabird and illustrator Helen Craig. The series is produced by HIT Entertainment with animation production by Grand Slamm Children's Films, and aired on CITV for two seasons from 2001-2003, with three direct-to-video specials following afterward. The series centres on a young mouse named Angelina Mouseling who loves dancing ballet, her family, and her classmates. Finty Williams performed the voice of Angelina and her mother Judi Dench performed the voice of Miss Lilly.
