Pretty Kiddie

When Ashley H. found her brother's old Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles lunchbox one morning and decided to take it to school, she had no idea that she was part of a national trend. Far from being the lone Ninja on her Iowa campus, Ashley writes, "Someone actually offered to buy it off of me because they thought it was so cool." Turtle power is, indeed, making a comeback, along with webcrawler Spiderman and many other icons from years past. "A lot of people are wearing Care Bear T-shirts, too." Ashley admits that, though some might scoff at sporting such youthful paraphernalia, she thinks they're awesome. "It almost takes you back to that time when you were at the age of innocence and nothing could touch your happiness." Alexandra A. from California agrees. She, too, has noticed guys, "mostly the emo group," wearing Care Bears and Ninja Turtles T-shirts. Kiddie backpacks are also making the scene. "Girls tend to wear the Tinkerbell, Dora the Explorer, Blues Clues, and Strawberry Shortcake." When asked how the trend got started at her school, she says, "I don't really have any idea about why the trend started." For Happy Campers who want in on the kiddie craze, Alexandra advises hitting up your local Target, K-Mart or Wal*Mart.