Westerfield, S. (2005).
Uglies. New York, NY: Simon
Pulse. Tally Youngblood is a 15 year old “Ugly” who is eagerly awaiting her 16th
birthday so she can undergo an operation that will make her a “Pretty”. Tally’s
best friend, Peris has already had her operation living in New Pretty Town.
Longing for her best friend, Tally sneaks over to New Pretty Town where she
meets another “Ugly”(Shay) sneaking around. Shay and Tally share a birthday and
both will be converted soon. But Shay is against being transformed and runs off
to Smoke where people go to dodge the operation. Tally is summoned to find
Shay. She does and she also meets David and his family there. His mother
explains to Tally that with the “Pretty” operation, there is also a brain
alteration. With that, Tally decides she no longer wants to be a “Pretty”. Eventually, the people of Smoke are located
and arrested but David and Tally are able to escape to find their loved ones.
But Shay is already captured and given the operation and David’s dad is dead.
Tally feels responsible and confesses to David why she was in Smoke in the
first place and then she turns herself in for the operation. The age range for
this book is 12 and up. Although it is a novel based on fantasy, I feel that it
loosely depicts how today’s society thinks about age and beauty. This story
definitely meets the criteria of both physical and social development.
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