Selp-Helf

Parents need to know that Selp-Helf is not a typo but a satire of the juggernaut that is advice and how-to videos on YouTube. Miranda Sings is the online persona of actress/comedian Colleen Ballinger, and her "Miranda Sings" YouTube channel garners millions of views spoofing the beauty, fashion, self-help, and DIY videos now ubiquitous on social media. She deliberately misuses, mispronounces, and misspells words for comic effect, and to demonstrate Miranda's chutzpah, she fearlessly presses on, certain that she's right about everything. Best for teens and up who are already "Mirfandas" and who understand and recognize satire, irony (the literary kind), and comic exaggeration (she's not really suggesting you open a can of soda by hacking at it with a kitchen knife). Most of the content is OK for middle schoolers, but brief references to porn, sexual positions, and an uncle's inappropriate touching make it better for high schoolers. The book may seem ridiculous at first glance, but mature, media-savvy teens can absorb positive messages about the absurdity of how self-help and self-esteem videos make things look so easy, and readers may even laugh at themselves and find a sense of community in realizing they're not the only ones who recognize social media's often-unrealistic expectations.