Just Being Audrey

by Margaret Cardillo illustrated by Julia Denos

Balzer + Bray, 2011. Unpaged. Nonfiction.

"I never think about myself as a icon . . . I just do my thing," reads the quote by Audrey Hepburn at the beginning of this book. Audrey Hepburn certainly did her thing, and it made her an icon. This charming but simple look at her life reveals things that I didn't know about the star whose movies so many people have come to love. She struggled for years to become a ballerina despite the fact she was too tall and her neck was too long, both attributes that would eventually make her stand out and become the darling of the cinema world. She spent her childhood in Europe during the Nazi occupation of World War II and eventually became one of the greatest movie stars of all time. Julia Denos' simple but stunningly artistic watercolor illustrations are perfectly suited to telling the story of Audrey Hepburn's colorful life. If you would like a story about a true life heroine to inspire your own daughters with, this book is the one for you. Just a word of warning: reading this book will make you want to rent and watch every movie, Audrey Hepburn ever starred in--and love them!

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