Garen S. Wolff, author of Girlz of Galstanberry, poses at her author signing event at Detroit Country Day School. "What better place to hold the event than my alma mater?" she said. Galstanberry Girlz is a brand new series in a series for "tweens" ages 9-11. Wolff draws upon her own experiences, educational background as well as her imagination to create this book about five girls from five different cities, socio-economic statuses, and ethnicities, who build a lasting friendship. Wolff went to Wellesley College in Massachusetts where she got her bachelor's in neuroscience. She is planning to get her master's degree and doctorate from Wayne State this year. She also runs a nonprofit organization called Official City Prep that mentors middle school students and is the founder and editor of Intellect Magazine.
Garen sees herself in each of the five characters from the book. She says she has the energy and spunkiness of Lillian, the humor of Brandi, can be sassy like Tabitha when she is annoyed, comes up with clever comebacks like Nisha and musters all the confidence and strength like Fei when she needs to speak at a book singing in front of tons of people. "I wanted to choose 5 cities that represented different parts of the United States. From the west coast, the south, east coast, and Midwest, each state has a different type of industry and culture. It was important to recognize this geographic diversity," Wolff said.
In the crowd of her book event, was over 50 girl scouts from different troops accompanied by their mothers to learn about the wholesome message of the book. "The diversity of girls around the world...tall, short, blonde, dreads, spunky, shy. While walking down the street, I see no two girls that look alike. Every girl has a story to tell due to their varied experiences, geographic location, ethnicity, and family structure. I wanted to create a series that truly reflected the diversity of girls’ voices," Wolff said.
Garen invited 5 girls at a time on stage to ask her questions about her book and share life experiences of a middle school girl. "The different outfits reflect each girl's personality and most importantly illustrate the theme of the series that girls have unique voices that should be recognized and celebrated," Wolff said. Similar to girl scouts, "although the five girls are wearing the same uniform and must follow the rules and traditions of Galstanberry Girlz they never lose their individuality, which is reflected in the different poses, facial expressions, and shoes."
Wolff says the most important message of her book is that girls should embrace and celebrate their unique voices. "What do I mean by "voice"? Girls' voices (aka personalities, opinions) are shaped by their cultural background, socio-economic status, friends, family and even geographic location. Therefore, girls shouldn't feel confined to anyone's standard of beauty or "popular status". We are all different and should be celebrated for our uniqueness," Wolff said. Wolff said the event was a huge success and everyone looked like they were having a great time.
