FASHION FAIL is a 124-page graphic novel geared towards girls who are avid readers but reluctant mathematicians.

When eight year-old Marsha is given every aspiring fashion designer’s dream sketchbook she is disappointed to discover her mother’s instructions for the book. It is to be filled with addition instead of attire and fact families instead of frocks. Marsha reluctantly accepts the challenge and sets out to discover if an ambitious second grader’s life can be reduced to mere numbers and simple equations. But it turns out that simplifying friends, foes and fashion isn’t as easy as it looks.

Last year my second-grader (and oldest of four children) was told to stop reading and just stick to flashcards after some less than stellar math tests. That suggestion didn’t stop her from sneaking Dork Diaries, Goddess Girls and dozens of other literary friends into her bed at night. So I did a little math of my own. Take one feisty female, subtract all the boy trouble, add patterns and codes to advance the plot and maybe I’ll have something my daughter’s teacher would approve of her reading. It couldn’t hurt if my daughter wanted to read it too.

FASHION FAIL is similar to the journal storytelling style of DIARY OF A WIMPY KID and DORK DIARIES but is directed toward a younger audience with a vaguely veiled academic element.