Specials

by Scott Westerfeld
CMSW, paper, 372 pages

I really disliked this book for the first half. Shay especially had changed so much as a character compared to when we first "met" her in book one. The specials are nasty - cruel and powerful. I also disliked the fact that the author seemed to glorify cutting, with the main characters feeling "icy," focused, and powerful when they cut themselves. With students who use cutting as a way to deal with emotions, I think this is irresponsible for a YA author.

Anyhow, by the end of the book, I liked the story. I don't want to give any spoilers, so I'll just say that I'm a very character-driven reader and Tally isn't my favorite character in this series. Now on to Extras!

Pretties

by Scott Westerfeld
CMSW, paper, 370 pages

Tally has undergone the operation to become a pretty, but her friends in the "Crim" clique include Zane who seems very different from everyone else. Together, they strive to find out what Croy, an ugly, meant when he crashed a party in new prettytown and told Tally that he was hiding something for her. The cure. Interesting to see where the author has taken the story, especially with the visit to the wildlife preserve. Shay's character seems so very different from when we first met her.

Uglies

by Scott Westerfeld
CMSW, paperback, 425 pages

I started out listening to this on CD, but it was much too annoying. The reader's voice was making me crazy and I wanted to see how the story went. This is one of our 7th grade novel choices.

Tally Youngblood is a 15-year-old who is awaiting her sixteenth birthday and "the" operation that will turn her from an Ugly into a Pretty. She thinks up daring tricks, like sneaking into New Prettytown to see her best friend Peris, who is startled to see her and asks her to not get into trouble before she turns pretty and joins him. Soon she meets Shay, another 15-year-old who likes to do tricks. But Shay has no desire to ever turn Pretty, a fact she slowly reveals to Tally, asking her to run away and join the Smoke, a group of runaways.

Liked the dynamic in the Smoke, especially David's character. Loved the hoverboards. Didn't like the self-centered immaturity of Tally. Or the attack on the Smoke.