About Jeanette
Jeanette Stampone was born in a three-hundred-year-old English house and grew up with stories of local legends, pixies, ghosts, and fairies. When Jeanette was a child, she had interesting pastimes including camping in the backyard for the entire school holidays and organising snail races. Jeanette has now retired from her snail manager job and lives in a small country town in WA with her husband and two boys.

About Shadow and the Girl
Shadow and the Girl is a picture book about a shadow who tries to run away from a giant girl. Soon Shadow realises she is stuck to the girl and there is no escape. This book explores friendship, fear and self-acceptance.

It is written by me, illustrated by Demelsa Haughton and published by Red Paper Kite.

The Hardest Thing About Writing this Book
The most difficult thing about writing this book was trying to get a good idea out of my head and onto paper. Shadow began as a monster but that didn’t work. Then Shadow was playing in the girl’s room but that didn’t work either. So I ended up changing the whole scene and beginning the story outside in the park. Finally, it worked! This process alone took about six months.

The Most Fun Thing About Writing this Book
The most fun I had was when I saw the initial drawings from the illustrator, Demelsa. It was so magical to see how she had imagined the story from reading my words. It was so different and better than I could have ever dreamt of! Just amazing.

Prompts

Illustration – Draw your own shadow but consider how your emotions and personality may shape your shadow.

Writing – Imagine you are a shadow but it’s night and completely dark. If there’s no light to cast any shadows, where do you go and what do you do? Write a short story based on this theme.