Born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the second of four daughters, Holabird grew up in an artistic home in Chicago, and her family spent many summers in Michigan.

Later, Holabird met Helen Craig, a London photographer and artist whose illustrations have been inspired by her childhood in rural England.

In fact, the Angelina books were originally about a girl, but then Craig drew a mouse, and Holabird loved it.

"The impulsive character of Angelina came alive," says Holabird, "and seemed to pirouette off the page with enthusiasm and energy, while her plump and ebullient body expressed drama and attitude in every twitch of her tail."

As a child, she was an avid reader who loved fairy tales and stories about heroic animals, and she frequently saw ballets like Cinderella and Swan Lake with her grandmother.

The young, imaginative Holabird loved animals, playing in her tree house, and dancing with her sisters.

In 1999, HIT Entertainment in London (known for Thomas the Tank Engine, Bob the Builder, and Barney) secured the rights for Angelina Ballerina and commissioned Grand Slamm Children's Films to make an animated TV pilot.

Actress Finty Williams is the voice of Angelina, and her mother, Judi Dench, is Miss Lilly.

In 2005, Angelina made her debut on PBS Kids Sprout, a 24-hour digital television channel for preschoolers in the U.S. Holabird was honored in 2006 with an invitation to Queen Elizabeth's 80th birthday party at Buckingham Palace.

[3] That same year, the entire series of Angelina books was reissued by Grosset and Dunlap in the United States.