Remember when you were a young girl faced with a really tough dilemma, you thought to yourself, “If only someone could give me advice in my own, tween, rhyme-y wordplay language”? Well, someone has finally published the book you’ve been waiting for! After years of writing “Starlette Universe” as a comic in Pageantry magazine, creator Kathy Johnson has compiled a whole book that is “aimed at young girls and designed to appeal to their fashion sense, language and adventurous spirit.” Johnson explains, “After entering Starlette Universe, all readers are faced with a decision: Team GOoD? Or Team D-evil?”
Admittedly, I don’t have my hands on the book. But the Starlette Universe website gives a pretty good glimpse of the main characters (six fashionable girls) and provides what I assume are typical storylines. One comic provides such “sage advice” as: don’t kiss a boy on the first date. Drawn as caricatures, the personalities of these characters are equally vague and sterotypical. See, Bekka is the smart one, and Sallee is the sporty one. I mean, I’ve certainly never encountered girls who are BOTH smart and athletic.
While parts of the Starlette Universe are admirable (they are against bullying and cliques, and people who don’t treat them nicely), it is unfortunately wrapped in stereotypes and told through “wordplay.” For example:
It’s the clothes-est thing to heaven you’ll find.
These Starlettes are glammin’ and slammin’ the mind!
Starlettes love shopping & trying clothes on.
Trust me, these Starlettes have lots going on!
I don’t know. I think I identify most with Lizzie. She “has food on the brain — and she’s a bit vain!” Just kidding. I’m obviously more in tune with Evil Eva.
Images: starletteuniverse.com
