I just started reading a great new YA novel--Beauty Queens by Libba Bray. You know the old saying, "Don't judge a book by its cover"? Well, I saw this cover and thought, "Hmm....maybe I better read this one before it hits the shelves." A tiny bikini over a well endowed body.....with what I thought was a string of ammunition. Well, it was ammunition.......lipstick!!! The tubes of lipstick were all lined up in a ammo sling--pretty cute!
Beauty Queens by Libba Bray -- link courtesy of Amazon.com
So I started reading and before I finished the first page, I was reading parts of it out loud to my assistant. The story is Miss Teen USA meets Lord of the Flies on Survivor Island! The Corporation sponsors the Miss Teen Dream pagent every year and this year, the plane carrying the contestants crashed on a deserted island. The inevitable power struggles and the prety girl cliches keep the story moving ahead at full speed, peppered with "commercials" from the Corporation--which is what makes me think of Survivor Island. I wouldn't be surprised to find out the whole incident is being taped for a reality tv show!
I haven't finished it yet so I can't give away anything. I'm hoping the message of the story,while not a total slam of prettiness, is one of girl power. I've all ready read one mention that if girls had been characters in Lord of the Flies, the story would have been entirely different!
I will caution, though, this story is for more mature teens. I've all ready read some parts with some pretty adult subject matter--nothing too wild, but not the type of subjects you would want in a middle school library.
I'll let you know how the story turns out--hopefully, I can be done with it soon. My assistant is trying to take it away from me every chance she gets.......
No comments:
Post a Comment