About the Illustrations
by Cheryl Orsini

Here are some of the very rough drawings I like to do when I'm trying to work out an illustration. I think it's fun to see the very scribbly start of an idea which eventually ends up looking not too bad, if I may say so myself, in the finished book. 

These colour illustrations are some I originally did for the cover of Fashion Follies. Even though we didn't end up using these, I learned something new anyway. In the one with the spotlight I learnt how to "paint in the dark". I did lots and lots of practice (see the paint palette). In the one in the dress shop I had so much fun painting the pretty store and getting to know The Dolls, Kiki, Jane and Susannah. 

The rough drawings for the dolls house are my favourite. I liked designing the house for The Dolls, it was like designing the perfect dolls house for myself—I mean, for my daughter, Olive!

About the Stories
by Natalie Jane Prior

When I was a little girl, playing with dolls was my favourite game. My sister Kim and I had an old wardrobe which we used as a sort of giant doll’s house. Our dolls used to live in it and have all sorts of amazing adventures. For a long time I wanted to write some stories about dolls which were just as much fun as the games Kim and I used to play. The idea stayed in the back of my head for years, and eventually I got around to writing the stories I’d dreamed about for so long.

  Jane is named after one of my own dolls. She was given to me when I was about three or four years old and I still have her. My Jane had black hair, just like Jane in the book, and the same sort of kind, gentle personality. I also had a blonde doll called Susan, and although I wasn’t thinking of her when I came up with the character of Susannah, I’ve often wondered since whether that was where she came from.

  Kiki is not based on a particular doll that belonged to me, but there was a singer around when I was little called Kiki Dee. It was a fun sounding sort of name, and since Kiki is a fun character and likes to sing, it seemed to suit her. Steve, the boy doll, is based on a doll who belonged to my brother Brad. He was a sort of half-baked action man who was always spoiling the girl dolls' fun (Brad was a lot younger than us and kept butting into our games when we didn’t want him).

  I also had a very snooty doll, whose name I don’t remember now, though her character was a lot like Madison’s. I tended not to play with her unless I needed a nasty character in my games. Needless to say, my other dolls always came off best when she came along!