From Hawaii to Rhode Island, this issue's "Dear She-Ra" pages are filled to overflowing with letters and drawings from She-Ra's devoted fans, many of whom wish to grow up to be just like the princess of power. One notable exception is a 5-year-old named Derek, who tells She-Ra how beautiful he thinks she is. Go fanboy!

Feature Story: "The Pool of Beauty"
Admiring her reflection in a meadow pool, Catra learns from the whispering waters of the existence of an oasis in the Sizzling Desert, whose waters, a tiny remainder of a once great ocean, are said to be the ultimate judge of beauty. Trekking across the burning sands to this oasis, eager to stake her claim as most beautiful in all Etheria, Catra is instead told by the pool that although she is beautiful, there is another more beautiful than She. Catra decides that she's lost on a technicality, and reasons that if she were to wear the most beautiful clothes in the land, then the pool would certainly reconsider its decision. And so Catra is off, journeying to the Kingdom of Snows. Under cover of darkness, she steals Frosta's Ice Crystal Cape. This glittering garment is sure to tip the scales in Catra's favor. Discovering her cape missing, Frosta calls on her friends Adora and Angella. Frosta is concerned, for her icy influence lingers in the cape. The thief is in danger of freezing to death! Concentrating on a thread from the cape, Angella's powers of intuition reveal a vision of the thief, a shivering Catra, headed back across the desert towards the Pool of Beauty. Adora rushes off, promising to find someone to help Catra if she can. Once safely out of sight, of course, Adora raises her sword, and becomes She-Ra! Returning to the pool, a nearly frozen Catra demands a second reading, but the pool gives her the same answer: Although she is very beautiful, someone else is fairer still, owing to the inner beauty of her heart, not her clothes or smile. In her anger, Catra slips and falls into the pool, which freezes instantly. As Catra cries out for help, She-Ra and Swift Wind arrive. Leaping into action, the princess of power uses her shining golden shield to reflect the sun's burning rays into the pool, quickly melting the ice. Divested of the purloined cape, a rescued Catra is given the moral by She-Ra: that envy and vanity can make even someone as beautiful as Catra seem ugly. Catra misses the point entirely, and stalks off angrily into the desert. She-Ra shrugs, and, taking Frosta's recovered cape with her, flies away on Swift Wind. As she departs, the Pool of Beauty smiles admiringly in her direction.

Puzzles and Activities
In "Fashion Fantasy," the reader is encouraged to become an Etherian fashion designer, and dream up some duds for their favorite character! She-Ra is on hand to act as a model, while the costumes shown as examples bear more than a passing resemblance to "Rise and Shine," "Hold on to Your Hat," "Flight of Fancy," and "Ready in Red!" In keeping with the fashion theme, a "Crystal Crossword" allows you to fill in the grid with words pertaining to articles of clothing, jewelry, and weaponry. Then, a "Perfuma Puzzle" needs solving, using the letters from fill-in-the-blank questions to form the last line of a poem that Perfuma has written to celebrate spring.

Posters
Poster #3 is a lush scene of She-Ra and Swift Wind, coming in for a landing with their horses, Crystal Moonbeam and Crystal Sun Dancer, near a vividly reflecting pond, where Sweet Bee and Peekablue wait to meet them. A nice subtle bit of merchandising. At the time, toys of Sweet Bee with Crystal Sun Dancer, and Peekablue with Crystal Moonbeam, were available as Horse and Rider gift sets! Poster #4 is not a poster at all! When cut into quarters and fastened together, it forms a princess of power birthday book, the pages of which are graced with portraits of various Princess of Power characters, to help keep track of important dates.

The spring princess of power is 13-year-old gymnast Phoebe Mills, who would go on to win a bronze medal in Women's Balance Beam (her most difficult event) in the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, Korea!