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| Second 'Help!'-ing hits animal-rights activists. |
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| Rayonna's got some tips for Janie and Sam. |
Of all the swag in all the gift bags at Oscar parties on Sunday, one giveaway was sure to irritate some humorless A-listers.
It was a book titled "Help! Mom! Hollywood's in My Hamper!" - the second in a series by Katharine DeBrecht, a South Carolina mother of three. The tome is being published by World Ahead Publishing, which bills itself as "The West Coast's Leading Conservative Publisher." Last summer, it also released DeBrecht's "Help! Mom! There Are Liberals Under My Bed!"
A couple hundred copies of the book were quietly dropped into gift bags at one celeb-heavy (and undoubtedly liberal-heavy) Oscar event - but party organizers refuse to let the publisher reveal which one it was.
"The reaction was... somewhat interesting," says Eric Jackson, president of World Ahead, which released the book in stores two days ago. "I asked if any of the celebrities were willing to be photographed with the book, and let's just put it this way - the organizers didn't end up with any pictures."
DeBrecht, a former event planner, freelance reporter and vocal supporter of President Bush, came up with the idea for her second book when her three sons were watching television one day.
"All of a sudden there was Britney Spears, dancing around scantily clad," recalls DeBrecht. "One of my sons said, 'Look, Mom! She's in her underwear!' I thought, this is not the message I want my young boys to have."
But rather than get angry, DeBrecht decided to get funny, and resorted to parodies of the likes of Britney, Madonna, Barbra Streisand, Sean Penn and others.
"I want kids to be able to laugh at them," she says. "I want them to know that celebrities can be silly, but that's not real life."
While the book's thrust is decidedly right-wing, it still feels more like a true children's book, not one for adults in disguise. The plot focuses on the adventures of Janie and Sam, sisters who take on baby-sitting jobs to earn money toward a new bicycle.
The girls are continually thwarted, however, by Hollywood celebrities who keep popping up from their laundry basket to offer products, tips and advice on the sisters' lifestyle. A Britney-like "Daisy Smears" emerges with a flower-pot hat for the girls; another singer named "Rayonna" (guess who?) offers up seemingly trendy pants, while "Barbara Buttersand" (again, guess who?) advises them that radish earrings are all the rage.
Not surprisingly, Janie and Sam soon realize that, just because these celebrities are promoting a product, like onion perfume, which drives people off and hurts their baby-sitting venture, it doesn't mean it's worth owning. The book includes illustrations by Jim Hummel, whose celebrity sendups are bound to be deemed hilarious regardless of the reader's political beliefs.
DeBrecht says she's more fed up with the delivery, not the message, of celebrity beliefs.
"There's nothing wrong with them expressing their opinions, they're just so heavy-handed about it," she says. "They think that, because they're a movie star, they know what's best for the real America.
"For example, a star having a baby out of wedlock - I'm sure that baby will be taken care of financially, but what happens to the young girl in real America who does? The consequences are far different."
Liberals are bound to be rankled by the book, but someone out there is buying copies: Jackson says DeBrecht's first book reached No. 1 on Barnes & Noble online, and he has high hopes for her second effort - although he knows that gift bags for future Hollywood events are a long shot at best.
"I am certainly not expecting them to carry it next year," says Jackson. "But that's all right - it was a fun thing to do."
As for DeBrecht, she's hard at work on two more books in the series: one on trial lawyers, and the other, due out next Christmas, entitled "Help! Mom! The Ninth Circuit Nabbed the Nativity!"
Originally published on March 9, 2006
