Ugenia Lavender

Ugenia Lavender is the title character in a series of children's novels written by Geri Halliwell, who achieved fame as a member of the Spice Girls and as a solo singer-songwriter before deciding to pursue a career as an author. Halliwell began writing the books in 2004cite news |accessdate=2008-05-05 |date=2008-05-05 |first=Barry |last=Didcock |work=Sunday Herald |title=Geri Halliwell |url=http://www.sundayherald.com/arts/arts/display.var.2246073.0.0.php] . Macmillan Children's Books announced that Halliwell had signed a contract to write six books featuring the character on 12 April 2007cite news |date=2007-04-12 |accessdate=2008-04-29 |title=Halliwell launches writing career |work=BBC News |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6549521.stm] .

The first book, "Ugenia Lavender", was published on 2 May 2008 in the UKcite web |url=http://www.ugenialavender.com/dynamicContent/downloads/PR1.doc |title=The first of six children’s books by Geri Halliwell |work=Pan Macmillan press release |accessdate=2008-04-29 |format=DOC] . Subsequent titles and planned release dates are "Ugenia Lavender and the Terrible Tiger" (6 June 2008), "Ugenia Lavender and the Burning Pants" (July 4 2008), "Ugenia Lavender: Home Alone" (1 August 2008), "Ugenia Lavender and the Temple of Gloom" (5 September 2008) and "Ugenia Lavender: The One and Only" (3 October 2008).

The books follow the adventures of nine-year-old Ugenia, a character based on Halliwellcite news |title=New chapter for author Geri as she presents her 'inner brat' Ugenia |url=http://www.hellomagazine.com/celebrities/2008/04/28/geri-halliwell-book/ |date=2008-04-28 |accessdate=2008-04-29 |work=Hello Magazine] , alongside her friends Bronte, Rudy and Trevor. Other characters are said by Halliwell to be loosely based on Gordon Ramsay, George Michaelcite news |title=Geri: Books first step to girl power|work=This Is Nottingham|url=http://www.thisisnottingham.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=244367&command=displayContent&sourceNode=244365&contentPK=20495264&folderPk=112383&pNodeId=188965&returnNodeId=188965
date=2008-04-29 |accessdate=2008-04-29] , Marilyn Monroecite news |first=Barbara |last=Ellen |title=Geri blossoms |work=The Observer |url=http://books.guardian.co.uk/news/articles/0,,2057295,00.html |date=2007-04-15 |accessdate=2008-04-29] , Vincent van Gogh, Wayne Rooney and the character Justin Suarez from the TV series "Ugly Betty". The character Princess Posh Vattoria, a caricature of Halliwell's bandmate Victoria Beckham, featured in early drafts but does not appear in the first or second bookscite news |title=Geri Halliwell writes kids' books |work=BBC Radio 1 |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/hi/entertainment/newsid_7375000/7375130.stm |date=3008-04-30 |accessdate=2008-05-03] .

Each title will feature a newsletter from Ugenia highlighting lessons she has learnedcite news |title=Spice Girl renounces music for writing career |url=http://books.guardian.co.uk/news/articles/0,,2277692,00.html |work=Guardian |accessdate=2008-05-03 |date=2008-05-02 |first=Guy |last=Dammann] , along with quizzes, riddles and crosswords, and will be available in an audio book edition read by Halliwell.

The books are illustrated by Rian Hughes. Children's author Jonny Zucker is also given a special credit on the books, but Halliwell has maintained she wrote the books entirely on her owncite news |date=2008-05-04 |accessdate=2008-05-05 |first=Katy |last=Guest |work=Independent |title=Publishing: They can sign an autograph, but can they actually write? |url=http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/publishing-they-can-sign-an-autograph-but-can-they-actually-write-820693.html] .

Promotional activities for the series included a launch reading by Halliwell at London Zoo on April 27 2008 and a seven-city UK book tour planned for May 2008cite news |title=Geri announces book tour |url=http://www.metro.co.uk/fame/article.html?in_article_id=144007&in_page_id=7&in_a_source= |date=2008-04-21 |accessdate=2008-04-29 |work=Metro] . Halliwell has recorded a theme tune for use in advertisements for the books.

A review in the "Liverpool Echo" described the first book as "eminently readable and exciting"cite news |accessdate=2008-05-05 |date= 2008-04-29 |url=http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-life/liverpool-lifestyle/2008/04/29/genia-lavender-she-s-totally-ingenious-by-geri-halliwell-6-99hb-macmillan-100252-20833212/ |title=Genia Lavender: She’s Totally Ingenious! by Geri Halliwell, £6.99hb (Macmillan) |work=Liverpool Echo |first=Janet |last=Tansley] . The children's book reviewer in "The Observer" said it was "good fun" but criticised the quality of the prosecite news |url=http://books.guardian.co.uk/reviews/childrenandteens/0,,2282119,00.html |title=Sir Nigel and the holy grail |first=Stephanie |last=Merritt |work=The Observer |accessdate=2008-05-26 |date=2008-05-25] .

References

External links

* [http://www.ugenialavender.com/ Ugenia Lavender official site]