The line that snaked around the top floor of the Barnes and Nobles at the Grove Saturday night -- the line that required that you have wristbands to even stand in it -- was for Rachael Ray, that smiley, sweet doyenne of domesticity who was signing her latest book.

The line didn't surprise us. People turn out in droves for brushes with minor celebrities. Sometimes they turn out in droves for brushes of minor celebrities.

But what got us was the number of 'tween girls in the line. The place was lousy with them. 11-year-olds, fresh from getting their photos taken with Santa, screamed, "Hi Rachael!" as she got out of the elevator and walked past. How a cookbook designed for "cooking for couples or crowds" appeals to the American Girl set, we don't know. But we have some guesses: 1. People hate her. What teenage girl can't empathize with someone who has inspired the ire of an entire community of nearly-literate hate monkeys? And 2. Many of her recipes call for things like Doritos and Ramen and, like, belly-button lint or something. She's given girls who have never seen a parent use a stove hope that one day, when they're grown up, they'll be able to cook, too.

Of course, there is always the possiblity that they had the wrong Rachel Ray.