ANNA: CHOCOLATE BOX CRAZY!

Reader Anna is a big fan of the Chocolate Box Girls books… so much so that she made these cool avatars for each of the main characters. Read on to find out how…

Anna says:

When I was in primary school, before I had ever heard of Cathy Cassidy's books, I saw a friend reading a copy of MARSHMALLOW SKYE. The cover looked so appealing that I went over and asked about the book - my friend told me more and I instantly wanted to read it. I couldn't find the book to begin with, but then the school book fair arrived and SUMMER'S DREAM was on sale there! I bought it and read it and loved it, and that was it, I was hooked. I managed to buy MARSHMALLOW SKYE soon afterwards and thought that was brilliant too, and now I have all the Chocolate Box Girls books and I totally love them all.

Not long ago, I decided to design and make some avatars. I used a phone app which had lots of options for designing… you could choose the types of eyes, the skin colours, hair colour and style, the nose styles, the background and even what each character holds. I have always loved drawing people, making up characters and drawing or designing my favourites characters from books, so this seemed perfect… it was a way of bringing the Tanberry-Costello sisters to life, and a perfect summer project for me to try!

I imagined the sisters in my head, based on how they had been described in the books, and then began to create them. I made Summer first, with a pink background, a pink dress and blonde hair in a bun. I gave her a white headscarf and showed her holding a heart, with a pink polka-dot background After that, I made Skye, with a cute vintage dress, plaited hair and a blue flower in her hair… she was holding paints and I gave her a blue polka-dot background… that's how I imagined the twins to be, somehow.

To start with, I planned just to make the twins, but making the avatars got quite addictive so I decided I'd try to make Cherry next. I gave this avatar black hair in bunches, coffee coloured skin, dark eyes and red flowers in her hair. She had a Japanese dress - a kimono like the one in the story - and I gave her some candles to hold. I love that the books have so much detail and description, so there are lots of clues when you want to bring one of the characters to life! It was fun to imagine and then create the images.

I did Coco next, the youngest of the Tanberry sisters. I made her with very small bunches, a panda t-shirt and a wide smile. She is animal crazy, of course, so I gave her a rabbit to hold and had her feeding the rabbit with a carrot! I gave Coco and Cherry the same background of pink hearts on a white backing. Last of all, I did Honey, who is my personal favourite. I gave Honey blue eyes with mascara, lipsticked lips, a beauty spot, a denim jacket with a wonky tie and a stripy background.

I have just started secondary school and I've also begun reading SWEET HONEY. It's an amazing book, and I know just how Honey feels learning to settle in to her new school! I will be getting more of Cathy Cassidy's fab books in the future - I am really looking forward to FORTUNE COOKIE and intrigued to know what comes next in the Chocolate Box series. And of course, I hope to design more characters too!

Anna used the FaceQ app to make the avatars

Cathy says:
Wow… Anna's imagination and attention to detail is just plain AWESOME! Do YOU like bringing your fave fictional characters to life by drawing, painting or using computer apps? COMMENT BELOW to tell us more, or to give Anna a shout-out on her fab creations!