Books like Wishing on a Star

Wishing On A StarPLOT: Two Divittes in training Galleria Garibaldi and Channel Simmons (affectionately known as Bubbles and Chuchie) have the looks, the smarts, and the talent. Now all they need is three other Diva's (which they find in Youth Group volunteer and dancer Dorinda, and the fabulous, down south, Walker twins (with the powerhouse church voices) Angie and Aquanetta) and voila. The Cheetah Girls are born. But with all this growl power and fierceness will the Cheetah girls show their spots at the big bash on Halloween night at Kit's and Kitty's or turn on each other? MY THOUGHTS:So, before the Disney movie, was this book. And I remember when I first got Wishing On a Star at a mall in Atlanta, a very long time ago. Basically the plot of the book is 5 African-American girl's trying to start a girl group and much like in the show's we've seen in the past trying to put a group together we see all the personality clashes and drama. But unlike in the tv-shows that show this week by week, we get it all straightened out in 9 chapters. Even the fight is short and isn't really much of a fight. If you can consider being called a chocolate covered cannoli an insult. Actually that doesn't sound too bad to me. I guess it was more the context of how it was delivered. I liked that the event in this was Halloween and not Valentine's Day (which teen books seem to love to want to give us). And the Cheetah Girls costumes sounded HOT! I wish I could say the same for the songs, which sounded a lot like fluff. But then if The Glitterdome and The Jiggy Jungle had slamming beats, I have no doubt that they would have been hits like the book said. And back in the day if I would have heard them on the radio I probably would have been bobbing my head. I found it amusing that the book used singer's like Destiny's Child, Brandy, and the Spice Girls and tried to change the names. I could almost figure out all of who and what the songs were. Except "Don't Lox Me Out The Box?" The settings/stores and their names were fun and interesting such as "Unbeweavable", The Hatter's shop (where Miss Dorothea has tea on Sunday's it actually this reminded me of EAH's the Hatter's Haberdashery and tea shoppe), Dorothea's shop (Toto's), and the Cheetah printed Kit's and Kat's club. (They made me wanna to actually be in them physically). It would have been so cool to have something like the Kit Kat Club back in the day growing up here. A club where young singers could come up and get their shot. Even though I don't think anyone could afford the 600 dollar monthly fee. That is unless you're parents were rich or you sold. So then we have the characters, Galleria, Channel, Dorinda, and Angie and Aqua. (Galleria) I didn't find nearly as bossy and arrogant as I was expecting having watched the movie umpteenth times. She just really seemed to want the chance to sing her songs. And I didn't find that a bad thing. If I were trying to make it in the singing industry and I had the talent (which it can be argued if Galleria's lyrics from what we've read are indeed marketable) than yes I'd want the chance to sing my own material as well. (Channel)l was honestly in this book kind of bland. Nothing really made her stand out to comment on. And on the Disney movie she's my favorite one! Dorinda in the books (compared to the Disney version) I liked that right off the bat she didn't try to hide the fact that she was a foster child and wasn't ashamed of Mrs. Bosco and her 1o other siblings. Which I could never understand in the Disney version why she was embarrassed about that and thought the Cheetah Girls would call her out on it. The truth is always best upfront. Last but not least we have the hot-sauce, twins, from the South (Angie and Aqua). I didn't see that as over-bearing and I didn't understand why Galleria took a dislike to them. To have the best voices of all the Cheetah Girls they weren't trying to stunt and push themselves in the front. Which is rare. They were content to be in the background. They tried to push their music, but I don't think this was out of arrogance. Church music was just what they'd grown up on and was a part of them. It wasn't like they were trying to push their beliefs. It's just that I've found that "church people" like to strongly share. Bible verses, music, sermons, whatever have you. Not because their pushy just because they love it so intensely they want you to be into it just as hard as they are. There were a couple of other's Derrick and Mackerel. Derrick being the "love interest" Neither was given much depth.RATING: 5 It was average. Although the plot was decent, the phrases in it were cheesy even for me. And some of them didn't make sense. "A mop"? Didn't the book describe that as someone that liked to come in and shoplift? The lyrics were cotton-candy. The settings were fun. But the characters I had to reach deep into my head to find something to comment on. Probably at the time when I bought this book it thought it was so great, but this time around it was just so-so after watching the Disney movies which REALLY brought these books out! 10 x's over.