Daphne’s Book by Mary Downing Hahn
Even though it’s been nearly 20 years since I picked it up for the first time, Mary Downing Hahn’s “Daphne’s Book” still remains an absolute favorite of mine. Like the main character, Jessica, I was a writer and reader, constantly imagining up stories and characters. I also had to sit by and watch as my best friends were stolen by the “popular crowd” while I was left to fend for myself, terrified of being associated with the weirdoes and freaks of my class. For Jessica, that “freak” is Daphne, a quiet, isolated peer that she is forced to work with on a school project. Together they are to write and illustrate a children’s book, and while at first Jessica is angry about having to work with her, she soon learns that Daphne’s skills in drawing match her own skills in writing, making them perfect partners after all.
But hiding behind the beautiful artwork that springs from Daphne’s talented hands is a sad and haunting history, and as Jessica is drawn deeper into Daphne’s world she comes face to face with those lessons we all have to confront while growing-up: lessons in loyalty and love, family and friendship.
“Daphne’s Book” is more than just a coming-of-age story. It is a story about that child in all of us who ever felt awkward and strange. That child that felt like an ugly duckling, dreaming of one day becoming a swan, never realizing that those ugly parts were what made us beautiful.