Zodiac Girls: Discount Diva

Tori is a typical Taurus shes stubborn, has an appreciation for the finer things in life, is considerate of others, and shes creative. And can also be a bit lazy, but not for lack of being practical. Her family is strapped for cash, which puts a real crimp into her life. Its not that shes ashamed of her family or anything like that, but she is ashamed of their situation in life. In fact, she tells some white lies to fit in with her rich friends and does everything she can to keep up appearances. Shes terrified that no one will like her if they find out she is a Discount Diva.

Luckily for Tori, shes about to become a Zodiac Girl. In the Zodiac Girl series, the planets have come to life in human form and offer a particular girl guidance during her month as a Zodiac Girl. A book for every sign of the zodiac is planned.

As a Taurus, Nessa (Venus) is Toris guardian. At first, Tori doesnt believe any of it (after all, who would believe someone who said they were a planet come to Earth to help you out?), but once she cant help but believe, shes relieved. Maybe this is the magic push needed to help her family out. Maybe now she can sit back and things will just, finally, get better.

But the planets have more than that planned for Tori, which is what I really liked about this book. Sure, they help her out and even bail her out of some bad situations, but the important thing is that they teach her a number of lessons: 1) that self-worth can mean so much more than money, 2) that helping yourself and playing to your strengths is much more satisfying (and useful) than relying on others to magically make things happen for you, and 3) that you should trust your friends and family and let them into your life (after all, if Toris friends were the kind of people who would drop her just because she didnt have enough money&well, those arent the kind of friends you want to have).

These are fun middle-grade reads that dont contain any explicit material, making them a very appropriate read for girls aged 9 and up. They are also very inspiring and empowering, though theres enough fluff to keep even light readers from being bogged down. Girls will be especially interested (I imagine) in the book that will relate to their particular star sign and those of their friends, so look for the whole series.