As an illustrator, you hope for characters like Dulcie Campbell to illustrate. Cynthia Defelice has come up with a plucky girl who can’t quite believe what she sees around her is the way things really are. So she sets off to do something about it. For me, the best part of Cynthia’s story, and the hardest part to illustrate, is that Dulcie lives in two worlds; the world of her parents’ farm and the world inside her fairy tale books. I had to show both in my pictures; often at the same time.
Here’s how the publisher describes the story:
Dulcie Campbell knows she’s a princess. The woman with the bunny slippers can’t be her real mother. The man with scratchy whiskers isn’t her real father. The boy who teases her isn’t her real brother. And the dog who sniffs her isn’t hers, either. Dulcie sets out to live the life she was born for. “Take a warm jacket,” calls the woman. “Don’t forget your book,” calls the man. “I thought you were leaving!” shouts the boy. The dog drools. Off to the barn (the royal palace) goes Dulcie, where she perches on a bale of hay (her throne) to wait for things to right themselves. Then she opens her book of fairy tales and learns that the life of a princess isn’t all that she’s dreamed - and that the one she’s been living may not be so bad after all.
And, here are some reviews:
A search for identity and a dose of reality come in a pleasing package. …Alley’s illustrations in summer colors do justice to the down-home aspects of the family farm and kitchen as well as Dulcie’s silken-and-gilt royal musings and some pretty neat ogres.
- Kirkus Reviews
DeFelice hits the mark with this tale of wishful identity, amiably chronicled in Alley’s warm portrait of a hardworking family. Dulcie lives on a farm but is convinced that she’s really a princess named Dulcinea….A smartly told story with a gentle moral.
- Publishers Weekly
Is Dulcie really the daughter of farmers? As she mucks out the chicken coop, she ponders the question… In Alley’s lively, appealing watercolor paintings, Dulcie’s royal fantasies appear in picture frames alongside homelier scenes of life on the farm. The many nuances of facial expression and body language underscore the wit and humanity of the text.
- Booklist
Is this really what Dulcie had in mind?
