Laura Ellen Anderson: Amelia Fang and the Barbaric Ball (HarperCollins Publishers 2017)
Laura Ellen Anderson: Amelia Fang and the Unicorn Lords (HarperCollins Publishers 2018)
Laura Ellen Anderson is a London-based artist, author and illustrator of children’s books and comics. I had written about her before when I presented illustrators who are famous abroad and whose works have already been published in Hungary. You can read the post here.
After graduating, Laura Ellen Anderson worked with several English and American publishers as an illustrator. Her first book, which she also notes as a writer, Amelia Fang and the Barbaric Ball, was published in 2017 and won several prestigious awards that year. In the first volume of the series, we get to know Amelia, who is a vampire girl, but you don’t have to be afraid of her because she doesn’t bite. She really likes her little pet pumpkin, Squashy and her friends, Florence the yeti and Grimaldi the reaper. What Amelia does not like at all is the Barbaric Ball, which is held every year. Plus, this year she even has to tolerate the King’s spoiled son. In the second volume, the friends must leave the safe and dark Nocturnia to find Queen of Fairyweather in the dangerous and bright Kingdom of the Light, where glitter and unicorns lurk behind each rainbow.
This year, the adventures of the vampire girl will finally continue in Hungarian: the third volume, Amelia Fang and the Memory Thief, will be released in October.
The author’s favorite season is Halloween and she has always wanted to create a Gothic-style tale, so she drew Amelia’s figure in a cafe. The tale was inspired by the works of Tim Burton and Roald Dahl’s Witches. The adventures of Amelia and her friends teach the importance of friendship and teamwork. We can see that we don’t have to judge first based on where someone lives or what they look like, because if we get to know the other person, we will enrich with a valuable friend.
You can read about the Amelia Fang series and Laura Ellen Anderson’s other works and admire her illustrations inspired by her favorite books and films on her website: http://lauraellenanderson.co.uk/.
