Beauty Queens by Libba Bray

The fifty contestants in the Miss Teen Dream pageant thought this was going to be a fun trip to the beach, where they could parade in their state-appropriate costumes and compete in front of the cameras. But sadly, their airplane had another idea, crashing on a desert island and leaving the survivors stranded with little food, little water, and practically no eyeliner. 

What's a beauty queen to do? Continue to practice for the talent portion of the program - or wrestle snakes to the ground? Get a perfect tan - or learn to run wild? And what should happen when the sexy pirates show up? 

Welcome to the heart of non-exfoliated darkness.

This story is a satire about the superficiality of consumer culture, politics, and mega-corporations that control everything we watch, read, and buy. It deals with racism, disability, and sexuality. There is adventure, mystery, and a dollop of romance. There are important messages here about survival, friendship, beauty, acceptance, independence, and what it means to be a woman. - excerpt from Nancy's review on Goodreads

I grew tired of this silly female tale, there was too much conversation concerning makeup and pedicures, products and dresses and the ridiculous rules or what girls are supposed to be.  What really bothered me that all this is going on while the text this story showed that they were actually incredibly smart girls who were able to invent things, use advances science and geography skills. I know that was part of the satire and part of the lesson of this novel -  to show that despite being the beauty queens with obsessive concerns over outward appearances, that they were more than that to begin with.  But it dragged on for so-o-o long.   I was just waiting for this book to hurry up and get on with it already! They did intersperse amongst the super girly prattle, almost hiding it, plotlines showing how these girls were smart AND capable AND independent. Again,  I get that it was part of the style of this story .  They were continuing to evolve and learn, even beginning to see each other as being capable of more than waving in a pageant parade or talent competition.  They were starting to understand that there was more to living than just being pretty;  they were starting to acknowledge this even in each other. It was still beyond annoying to have to read it page after page after page.

Another really annoying thing - which I suppose could have been a cute little quirk of the book to other readers- was the number of footnotes, references to television shows, and products and advertisements.  I get what the author was going four and it's a great idea. It just didn't translate well for me.  The presence of the notes at end of the page broke up the story.  I would have this great flow going, reading along and then BAM! stop. backtrack. look up the footnote. where was I..oh yeah, back to the story. I much preferred the character forms that peppered the book.  Giving information on the contestants, thoughts, dreams and showing how those ideas were often edited by the Corporation running the world media  pageant.  These were great and served to give a better insight into the true nature of each contestant.

"Maybe girls need an island to find themselves maybe they need a place where no one's watching them so they can be who they really are" (page 177)

This is a worthwhile story coated in Shiny glittery plastic. The way the story is told is it's own illustration of the moral it has to share with the reader:  that we need to look deeper beneath appearances and surface surface expectations down to what is important to the truth of who we are.  Great concept, wonderful quirkiness, OK execution.  Another book that I had to force myself to keep reading past the drawn-out middle to a last third that I really enjoyed.

Behind the Gates by Eva Gray (Tomorrow Girls Series)

The first in the Tomorrow Girls four book series, Behind the Gates sets the background for a near-future post-war world where young teens are sent away to safety.  North America struggles to survive a war with the mysterious group known as  The Alliance.  Canada is rumored to be saturated  Alliance agents.  Our main character Louisa, has grown up sheltered from the war due to the advantaged provided by her wealthy parents.  Her best friend Maddie is a somewhat more aware of how harsh life can be.  Her parents are both soldiers and not nearly as well off as Louisa's family.  The wealthy are able to send their children off to safety by paying for admittance into secret boarding schools.  Not even their parents will know where they are located. Communication is forbidden.

Louisa is nervous about being sent away to a boarding school -- but she's excited, too. And she has her best friend, Maddie, to keep her company. The girls have to pretend to be twin sisters, which Louisa thinks just adds to the adventure! Country Manor School isn't all excitement, though. Louisa isn't sure how she feels about her new roommates: athletic but snobby Rosie and everything's-a-conspiracy Evelyn. Even Maddie seems different away from home, quiet and worried all the time. Still, Louisa loves CMS -- the survival skills classes, the fresh air. She doesn't even miss not having a TV, or the internet, or any contact with home. It's for their own safety, after all. Or is it?

I wasn't expecting much from this book other than a quick read and hopefully some smart-not-silly female protagonists.  I was pleasantly surprised.  I fell easily into the narrative, travelling along with Louisa and Maddie.  Hints of tension lace the story from the beginning preparing the reader for the big reveal.  Louisa feels safe at her new school and even enjoys the unusual but exciting classes.  Still,  she and her roommates can't help but notice that there's something odd about their classes and surroundings.

I liked this book not only for the characters and plot, but because it is clearly written for brand-new teens.  The popularity of dystopian novels has captured the interest of many of my younger students whose  comprehension and reading maturity have not yet reached the level in the most popular titles.  Eva Gray managed to bring to life a dystopian world without the violence and bloodshed and moral ambiguity found in much of the genre.
She also manages to leave the reader hanging on the last page, prompting a mad rush to get the next in the series.

Testify by Valerie Sherrard

Shana Tremain is a good kid. She knows right from wrong and shes never been in any serious trouble. But when her best friend, Carrie, comes to her for help, Shana agrees to break the law to save Carrie from a molester. She even feels good about it for a while.

Then trouble starts. Someone in their group of friends is stealing from the others. As she searches for the truth, Shana uncovers evidence that raises a terrifying question: Has she made a horrible mistake?

Faced with the reality of what shes done, Shana finds herself trapped in a web of her own lies and deceit. Can she convince the right people that shes telling the truth now? Either way its clear someone is going to pay a terrible price for her crime

A Red Maple 2013 Nominee

For a short novel, the impact of the relationship between the girls is powerful and quick to reach out to the reader.   You don't have to identify with the specific circumstances of the group of girls to recognize the dynamics almost instantly- intense loyalty, the devastation of betrayal, the drop of your stomach when a mistake is realized, the desperation for a wrong to be corrected, the shame and fear of being outcast.  These are all emotions that can be experienced several times a day in the life of a teenage girl.  The rules of social survival can be brutal and binding.  Defying those rules can change how you see yourself and how those you think you know treat you.  

This is a powerful story that examines how motives and truth can change in an instant, altering who we think we are and who we will become.