So I’ve been a little out of the picture of late. I’m sorry. For this I will pay in bad blogger hell (I’m already paying on earth in guilt feelings). But I must tell you one of the things that’s been occupying my thoughts and minutes: Squiggles a little pig who loves cupcakes. This is a story that Stella is working on for a children’s book.

One of my favorite illustrations from Stella’s book Squiggles and the Pink Cupcake. In this illustration Squiggles is getting the one and only thing he wanted for his birthday, pink cupcakes. “His friends didn’t mind,” says the text.

The book is her senior (high school) project and it’s been kind of a nail biter in the making. But look! It’s almost finished!! And I’m thrilled with the drawings and the story. Here’s a link to the illustrations and here’s a link to the book, laid out in iPhoto (quick and dirty–she had a MONTH to turn this project around!). Squiggles will get tweaked and sent off for a more professional treatment in the future. But one day at a time with this project is how I see it.

Another one of my favorite illustrations. Here we see Squiggles, exiled from cupcake land in a place where they have none -- Paris. But what?! After years of looking, he by chance finds a pink cupcake in Paris! Mon Dieu!! — Another one of my favorite illustrations. Here we see Squiggles, exiled from cupcake land in a place where they have none — Paris. But what?! After years of looking, he by chance finds a pink cupcake in Paris! Mon Dieu!!

Here’s Stella’s description of the story, one that has resonance in our food-obsessed, perfect body-obsessed world:

The book is called Squiggles and the Pink Cupcake and it’s about a little pig, named Squiggles, who is obsessed with cupcakes. His obsession gets so bad that he and his mom decide to move to France where there are no cupcakes. Months pass, and one day Squiggles walks into a grocery store and sees a patisserie selling cupcakes. Excited, he buys one and, unknowingly, drops it on the ground as he walks home to take a nap. When Squiggles wakes up, he becomes frantic when he cannot find his precious cupcake. Crying, he calls his friend Gordon, a duck. Gordon goes over to Squiggles’ house to comfort him when they both get the idea that they should start the very first cupcake shop in France. Squiggles decides that he should not run away from his obsession and, rather, embrace it.

In this illustration, the last in the book, we see Squiggles as a young entrepreneur, manning his own cupcake shop in Paris. It’s the first dedicated cupcake shop in France. The young pig goes on to fame and fortune and a chain of cupcake shops in Korea, Japan and South America! A wonderful outcome indeed.