Scott Westerfeld's "Uglies" is "Pretty" Amazing

Context: When I did a three-week practicum at Mountain Ridge Junior High last semester, two series of novels were the cool reads according to my students. Unsurprisingly, one of the two was Stephenie Meyers' Twilight series, but the other one was completely new to me. In the words of a ninth grader, "Miss Andreasen, you have not lived until you've read the Uglies books!" I'm not sure if I quite agree with that statement, but I must admit it piqued my curiosity. So, I eventually procured a copy of the first book, and I was pleasantly surprised at the depth of it's themes and it's tense, page-turner quality. Although it is technically a young adult novel, I highly recommend Scott Westerfeld's Uglies to "kids" of all ages.

Summary: Tally Youngblood can’t wait to turn sixteen because then she will get the operation that will turn her from an awkward “Ugly” to a physically and genetically enhanced “Pretty,” and she will join her older friends in “New Pretty Town” where everyone is beautiful and happy. Two weeks before her birthday, Tally becomes friends with Shay, who takes her to the Rusty Ruins and introduces her to life outside the city and the mysterious “Smoke.” The city’s cruel “Specials” want to destroy the rebellious “Smokies,” so they force Tally to journey into the wilderness to find Shay and the “Smoke” so she can give them the location of the evasive community. When Tally finds friends in the “Smoke” and learns that the operation is more than just an innocent cosmetic change, she decides to leave the city behind for good. Unfortunately, she betrays the “Smokies” unwittingly, and decides to sacrifice herself to save the friends she betrayed.

Educational Value: Uglies is an excellent novel for eighth- to tenth-graders because it presents important themes in a way that teenagers can connect to. It is a quick read, but contains some valuable vocabulary for this age level. Themes of acceptance, diversity, betrayal, governmental ethics, and more provide the medium for a plethora of text-to-world, text-to-text, and text-to-self connections to be explored by teenaged students. The futuristic setting invites students to think about how the things we do now will affect the future. Above all, students will enjoy this novel immensely, and it will inspire them to read more and think more about the world’s societal issues.