The process of designing a character in this particular book was very important. It enabled me to figure out the whole concept of extreme wealth that is the main issue of the story.

My first challenge was the main character of Amalia. She is 3 or 4 year's old, an only child, whos father has the time on his hands to take her on long strolls around the neighborhood. What kind of a 4-year-old would want a crocodile? I asked myself. "The daughter of a mermaid and a pirate" said my 15-year-old. Obviously a bad idea, especially since it is never mentioned in the story, but the concept of a weird-looking, edgy girl stuck with me.

It just so happened that I was studying Japanese contemporary art at the time, and came across the Kawaii style in Japanese illustration. I saw many pink haired sweet little girls, and decided that Amalia would be like one of them. I thought she needs to be a trend setter, have her own fashion style – and so dressed her a black and pink attire(Not common in western children's literature but very popular in Manga) and pink hair. Both the author and the editor were very pleased. "Why the pink hair?" asked the author. "Why not?" said I.

The parents were much trickier. At that early point I didn't know I was looking for wealthy folks. At first I created middle class working parents. They were cute, but they didn't quite work with the main character.

So I tried all kinds of people, and I even tried to change the character of Amalia to fit them. It just didn't work.

At that point I left the parents alone, and tried to figure out the neighbors. Nothing worked until the editor suggested I look elsewhere. Perhaps in a much higher class . That was when I realized everyone needs to be really wealthy, so that when she says she wants a crocodile she can really have one. "Richer"! said my editor "Go all the way up!"
And I did.

p.s. Mommy has pink hair too, and so do all the women in this family. That was important. Being a trend setter at four is fine. Painting your hair pink to achieve it is a totally different thing.

All I can say about these characters is the author asked me that although they are animals they need to look vulnerable, childish and genderless, so that both girls and boys are able to identify with them.

I was not quite sure about the result of my efforts and put the fox to a facebook test. There were many responses. Half of the people thought it was gender free as requested, and the other half said the fox looks like a little boy.

Eventually the whole project was dropped, and that was the end of that debate…

It took me several attempts to find the right character for this book, one that chimed with the author's mental image of her characters;

To find the right characters I went on a hunt to find the right faces. I went to countless kindergartens and took pictures of numerous children. I understood the boy's character much better than the girl's. Him I figured out almost right away. With her I genuinely struggled until I came across the brilliant idea of looking up the author's pictures as a child. I based the girl's face on Shira Geffen's likeness, and made her quite chubby. I figured she needed to have some kind of a disadvantage which would enhance her vulnerability. As I brought this image the author exclaimed "Yes! This is She! This is Baloona!"

The first characters I designed for this book were of a sweet colorful girl Vicky-Boom. I knew that the backgrownd will be very busy, and the main character needs to stand out. However, I was not entirely pleased with my work. Something was missing, and I couldn't quite tell what it was.

At that point, the author told me that all of her children had become very religious. Their children were not allowed to look at secular books, even if they were written by their grandmother. "Could you possibly create a more observant character?" she asked "My granddaughter really loves the story, and I would like to be able to read it to her for once".

Still I was not happy. I didn't mind Vicky-Boom wearing a long sleeved dress and panties – but something else was missing. The little girl's friends are mainly animals, and the illustrated theme is that of nature taking over. I wanted my main character to be able to connect with animals, so I gave her a rabbit suite. That was not quite accepted at first, by the author and the editor. They felt that this decision is to be determined by the author, and mentioned in the text.

A week later I recieved a phone call from the editor. "I lay awake all night," she said, "and then I asked myself: Why the hell not"?