The Uglies By: Scott Westerfeld Review by Lexi H.

Have you ever thought of being considered a “pretty”, one that is always perfect, and never having to worry about looks, and always dancing the night away with your best friends? Some people agree that being perfect isn’t always the greatest. In the book The Uglies, Scott Westerfeld describes the differences of being an ugly, and being a pretty. He also describes the consequences that come with both.

First off, the book is set in the future. To me, it is like a fantasy world because the characters always get away with things. For instance, Tally the main character, is an ugly. Everyone is ugly until they turn sixteen. Once they turn sixteen, they get an operation that turns them from hideous uglies, into stunning pretties. Tally, however, has always dreamed of what it was like to be a pretty, long before she turned sixteen. She would always sneak out from Uglyville to New Pretty Town to have a glimpse of what it was like and see the differences of being pretty or ugly. This wasn’t allowed, but Tally always got around it. She put on a pig mask to cover her face up at one point, to keep from getting caught.

The uglies weren’t allowed to hang out with the pretties. It was like there were two different worlds, and you were only accepted in one. As Tally liked the adventures of sneaking out and crashing the pretties’ parties, she was craving the attention to finally be noticed, to finally become perfect.

As the book went on, Tally met a new friend and her name was Shay. Shay was doubtful about becoming a pretty; and when her sixteenth birthday was coming up, she ran away.
The Special Circumstances group, the people who turned everyone from uglies into pretties, then confronted tally. They gave her two choices; to find her friend and turn her in, or never turn pretty at all.

In the end, I think that this book was very interesting. I loved how it showed the differences of being ugly verses being pretty. I learned that you shouldn’t judge people on their looks, and to make friends by their personality. Even though this book is in the future, I can relate to it in many ways.