Gina the Dancing Queen.

'I was born and raised in Geelong, Victoria. I have been working as a freelance illustrator for the past 15 years, illustrating a variety of children's products such as greeting cards, posters, games murals and bed linen. However, writing and illustrating children's picture books has been dream since I was a child.'

Marisa has persisted with trying to get published since she completed her four-year art and design course at The Melbourne School of Art in 1994. She has faced numerous rejections over the years of hard work. However, Marisa was determined to be a published writer/ illustrator and had no intentions of giving up, finally gaining success with a contract for Gina the Dancing Queen from Windy Hollow Books.

A passionate Latin Dancer herself, Marisa was inspired to write Gina the Dancing Queen as a result of her own dancing experience. The book put together over the past two years is about a giraffe named Gina, who masters the art of dancing and becomes the dancing queen.

'I chose a Giraffe as the main character Gina because of its long neck and legs which enabled me to achieve the result of a tangled and clumsy Gina when learning to dance and a beautiful elegant Gina, when having mastered the art of dancing. I was also able to illustrate Gina blushing by changing her spots from orange to red. Giraffes are also one of my favourite animals.' (Review p 18)

Repeated throughout the story are three golden rules of dance. These rules are relax, feel the rhythm and follow the music. From her own experience Marisa has learnt that these three basic rules are the answer to being able to dance well. Gina the Dancing Queen, also teaches children about musical instruments and the countries associated with them.

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'I am currently working on two more of my own children's picture books as well as illustrating a book for another author.'