"I have un grando dare for Becca and Cat, " said Squidge. "You know this competition for Pop Princess? Well, I dare you both to enter." He looked pointedly at me. "And I mean both of you. Auditions are next Saturday." Becca missed the fun of the school production of Grease, and she has a reputation of being fickle and a dreamer. But the Pop Princess challenge makes her determined to try harder than she has ever tried before. She has the voice, but has she got the staying power?

A gorgeous new series about best friends and magical princesses! Best friends Charlotte and Mia are training to be Secret Princesses, magical princesses who grant wishes! But mean Princess Poison has a plan to stop them. If they don't grant the last wish, Wishing Star Palace will be destroyed forever! The girls have to help Samira's wish come true, even if it means stepping into the spotlight themselves! Can the girls grant Sam's wish and save Wishing Star Palace before it's too late? Plus... * Special campaign with Monsoon Children's - win the same princess outfits as Charlotte and Mia for you and your best friend! * Collect the tokens for a exclusive Best Friends necklace designed by Monsoon!

It's no secret that most girls, at some point, love all things princess: the poofy dresses, the plastic tiaras, the color pink. Even grown-up women can't get enough of royal weddings and royal gossip. Yet critics claim the princess dream sets little girls up to be weak and submissive, and allows grown women to indulge in fantasies of rescue rather than hard work and self-reliance. Enter Jerramy Fine – an unabashed feminist who is proud of her life-long princess obsession and more than happy to defend it. Through her amusing life story and in-depth research, Fine makes it clear that feminine doesn't mean weak, pink doesn't mean inferior, and girliness is not incompatible with ambition. From 9th century Cinderella to modern-day Frozen, from Princess Diana to Kate Middleton, from Wonder Woman to Princess Leia, Fine valiantly assures us that princesses have always been about power, not passivity. And those who love them can still be confident, intelligent women. Provocative, insightful, but also witty and personal, In Defense of the Princess empowers girls, women, and parents to dream of happily ever after without any guilt or shame.

The over-the-top musicals of Bollywood may be the most familiar aspect of Indian popular culture, but there are many more, all explored in this fascinating volume. Pop Culture India! Media, Arts, and Lifestyle follows the rise of modern India's pop culture world, especially since the 1980s, when relaxed censorship and economic liberalization led to an explosion in movies, music, mass media, consumerism, spiritual practices, and more. It is a captivating introduction to a diverse nation whose appetite for entertainment has led to some surprising twists and turns in recent history. How did a popular Indian television series spark a change in government and the rise of Hindu nationalism? Are some Bollywood film companies laundering money for organized crime, or even al Qaeda? What accounts for the overwhelming popularity of that quaint vestige of colonialism, cricket? The answers, and many more intriguing insights, await the reader in Pop Culture India!

This collection features examinations of popular culture, including manga, music, film, cosplay, and literature, among other topics. Using interdisciplinary sources and analyses, this collection adds to the global discussion and relevancy of Japanese popular culture. This collection serves to highlight the work of multidisciplinary scholars who offer fresh perspectives of ongoing cross-cultural and cyclical influences that are commonly found between the US and Japan. Notably, this collection considers the relationships that have influenced Japanese popular culture, and how this has, in turn, influenced the Western world.

Cherry struggles with communicating—even more than the average teenager. He keeps his noise canceling headphones on to avoid conversation and has trouble putting his thoughts into words. Writing haiku seems to be the only way he can express his emotions. It’s the final summer vacation of his high school years, and it’s passing by fairly uneventfully as he packs to move out of town and works part-time at a senior care center. But one day, he encounters Smile, a live streamer who’s self conscious about her buckteeth and braces. Days with her are more exciting, and as they help one of the seniors track down an old record he lost long ago, Cherry suddenly finds himself more inspired and invested than ever before. Fans of the hit anime movie will fall in love alongside Cherry and Smile in this detailed look from the characters’ perspectives!