Uglies

Uglies by Scott Westerfeld


Stars: 5 out of 5
Genre: fiction
Age group: 11 and up

What really got my attention to pick this book up was the author. Scott Westerfeld is a man, so I'm thinking, What does this guy know about teenage girls? Unless he's a dad, he only cares about food and sports.



While I was reading, I began to regret thinking that. Uglies is about Tally, a girl living in Uglyville. In her world, everyone is considered an ugly until they get an operation that will turn them super-model gorgeous pretty on their 16th birthday. Tally can't wait for the operation but everything changes when her friend, Shay runs away. The authorities force Tally to make a decision: turn Shay in or never turn pretty at all.

Uglies is full of action, friendship, and excitement. There were surprises on every page. That made me wonder if even Westerfeld knew what was going to happen on the next page. Uglies is breath-taking and hard to put down. In fact, I didn't even know that I was at the end of the book until I turned the page and there was blank pages. The ending was so captivating, I dropped what I was doing and ran out to get the sequel, Pretties.


Well done, Scott Westerfeld. You surprised many girls, including me, that even men can write about teenagers.