Ugenia Lavender is the title character in a series of children's novels written by
Geri Halliwell
Geraldine Estelle Horner (née Halliwell; born 6 August 1972) is an English singer, songwriter, author, and actress. She rose to prominence in the 1990s as Ginger Spice, a member of the girl group the Spice Girls. With over 100 million records ...
, 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 2004.
Macmillan Children's Books announced that Halliwell had signed a contract to write six books featuring the character on 12 April 2007.
Books
*''Ugenia Lavender: The First Book'' (2 May 2008)
*''Ugenia Lavender and the Terrible Tiger'' (6 June 2008)
*''Ugenia Lavender and the Burning Pants'' (4 July 2008)
*''Ugenia Lavender: Home Alone'' (1 August 2008)
*''Ugenia Lavender and the Temple of Gloom'' (5 September 2008)
*''Ugenia Lavender: The One and Only'' (3 October 2008).
Story
The books follow the adventures of nine year old Ugenia, a character based on Halliwell,
alongside her friends Bronte, Rudy and Trevor.
Other characters are said by Halliwell to be loosely based on
Gordon Ramsay,
,
Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe (; born Norma Jeane Mortenson; 1 June 1926 4 August 1962) was an American actress. Famous for playing comedic " blonde bombshell" characters, she became one of the most popular sex symbols of the 1950s and early 1960s, as wel ...
,
Vincent van Gogh
Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who posthumously became one of the most famous and influential figures in Western art history. In a decade, he created about 2,100 artworks, inc ...
,
Wayne Rooney
Wayne Mark Rooney (born 24 October 1985) is an English professional football manager and former player, who is the manager of Major League Soccer club D.C. United in the United States. He spent much of his playing career as a forward while ...
and the character
Justin Suarez from the TV series ''
Ugly Betty
''Ugly Betty'' is an American comedy-drama television series developed by Silvio Horta, which was originally broadcast on ABC. It premiered on September 28, 2006, and ended on April 14, 2010. The series is based on Fernando Gaitán's Colombi ...
''.
The character Princess Posh Vattoria, a caricature of
Victoria Beckham
Victoria Caroline Beckham (; born 17 April 1974) is an English fashion designer, singer, and television personality. She rose to prominence in the 1990s as a member of the girl group the Spice Girls, in which she was nicknamed Posh Spice. Wi ...
, was featured in early drafts but has not appeared in the book series.
Each title will feature a newsletter from Ugenia highlighting lessons she has learned,
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
Rian Hughes is a British graphic designer, illustrator, type designer, comics artist and novelist.
Overviews
Hughes has written and drawn comics for '' 2000 AD'', Vertigo CMYK and Batman: Black and White, and designed for DC Comics and Marv ...
.
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 own.
Promotion
Promotional activities for the series included a launch reading by Halliwell at
London Zoo on 27 April 2008
and a seven city UK book tour planned in 2008.
Halliwell recorded a theme tune for use in advertisements for the books.
Reception
A review in the ''
Liverpool Echo
The ''Liverpool Echo'' is a newspaper published by Trinity Mirror North West & North Wales – a subsidiary company of Reach plc and is based in St Paul's Square, Liverpool, Merseyside, England. It is published Monday to Sunday, and is Liver ...
'' described the first book as "eminently readable and exciting".
The children's book reviewer in ''
The Observer
''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the ...
'' said it was "good fun" but criticised the quality of the prose.
Sales
According to the official site, the book sold more than 250,000 copies in its first five months which made Halliwell 2008's most successful female celebrity children's author.
References
External links
Ugenia Lavender official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lavender, Ugenia
Literary characters introduced in 2008
Characters in children's literature
Geri Halliwell
Child characters in literature
Female characters in literature