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 2004. [1] Macmillan Children's Books announced that Halliwell had signed a contract to write six books featuring the character on 12 April 2007. [2]
The books follow the adventures of nine year old Ugenia, a character based on Halliwell, [4] alongside her friends Bronte, Rudy and Trevor. [3] Other characters are said by Halliwell to be loosely based on Gordon Ramsay, [2] George Michael, [5] Marilyn Monroe, [6] Vincent van Gogh, [6] Wayne Rooney [1] and the character Justin Suarez from the TV series Ugly Betty . [1] The character Princess Posh Vattoria, a caricature of Victoria Beckham, was featured in early drafts but has not appeared in the book series. [7]
Each title will feature a newsletter from Ugenia highlighting lessons she has learned, [8] along with quizzes, riddles and crosswords, [3] and will be available in an audio book edition read by Halliwell. [1]
The books are illustrated by Rian Hughes. [3] 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. [9]
Promotional activities for the series included a launch reading by Halliwell at London Zoo on 27 April 2008 [4] and a seven city UK book tour planned in 2008. [10] Halliwell recorded a theme tune for use in advertisements for the books. [8]
A review in the Liverpool Echo described the first book as "eminently readable and exciting". [11] The children's book reviewer in The Observer said it was "good fun" but criticised the quality of the prose. [12]
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. [13]
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