Uglies by Scott Westerfield
Author Biography:
Scott Westerfeld's teen novels include the Uglies series, the Midnighters trilogy, The Last Days, an ALA Best Book for Young Adults and the sequel to Peeps. Scott was born in Texas, and alternates summers between Sydney, Australia, and New York City. Information retrieved from Amazon.com.
Published by: Simon Pulse
ISBN: 1442419814
Genre: Science Fiction/Dystopia
Reading Level: Ages 12 and Up
Reader’s Annotation:
Everybody is born ugly, like it or not, but at 16 each person undergoes surgery to become perfect. Perfect hair, perfect height, perfect teeth, perfect everything. Tally Youngblood is 15 and is sick of being an Ugly and wants only to become pretty like her best friend Peris has. Yet becoming pretty may not be all she believes it to be as she learns what is really happening when people go under the knife.
Plot Summary:
Tally Youngblood lives in a community in Northern California where everybody can become “pretty” at age 16. Until then, the pretties and “uglies” are segregated into separate parts of the city, and the differences are stark. While uglies frequently fight each other and are committed to playing pranks, the pretties are well mannered, law abiding, and dedicated to having fun and not worrying about anything in the world.
This seems like the perfect life to Tally, especially considering how her best friend Peris recently received the operation. As a result, Tally hasn’t seen Peris in some time since he became a pretty, and sneaks off to his part of the city to visit him. What she finds however, is Peris is barely recognizable. Though he is drop-dead beautiful, his entire personality has changed and he is almost disgusted to see Tally ugly. He promises to see her once she becomes pretty, and leaves her once again.
Dejected, Tally waits as the days slowly count by for her operation. During that time she meets up with Shay, a girl that is something of a thrill-seeker. Unlike Tally, Shay does not want to become pretty and plans to flee the city before she is forced to have the operation. She invites Tally to come with her, but she refuses and decides to be pretty in the end. Though unhappy with her choice, Shay leaves an unusual message regarding a camp outside the city composed entirely of runaways who also decided against the operation.
The day of Tally’s operation finally comes, but a group known as Special Circumstances puts an immediate stop to it. The leader, Dr. Cable, explains the group Shay ran away to join is extremely dangerous to the city and must be found and destroyed. Since Tally was the last person to have any knowledge of that location, she is charged with infiltrating the camp and giving away their location. If she doesn’t, Dr. Cable warns, Tally will be ugly forever.
Tally follows Dr. Cable’s demands and locates the camp, and finds that many of the escaped uglies are chopping down trees and terraforming the land to their needs - which is practically a sin in the city where everything is provided by technology and lives in harmony with the environment. Despite that, Tally begins to make friends within the camp, and later learns those who become pretty also have their brains operated upon, rendering them docile and easily controlled. Horrified by the revelation, Tally begins to doubt if she should betray the group’s location. Yet as she watches the community tear down the environment and fight amongst themselves, she questions if the procedure is really as bad as it seems and if allowing the uglies to continue unhindered could be a greater danger to the world as a whole. As Tally ponders all of this, her decision may not actually be her own.
Critical Evaluation:
Uglies is one of many dystopian books written over the years. There are the obvious formulaic elements: an all-powerful government, citizens who are forced to do things for their own good, rebels, and of course a singular teen who can make the difference in changing everything. What is special about this book, however, is the ethical dilemmas it presents. While the government does tinker with the heads of citizens, they are provided for, well-fed, happy, and the city does live in harmony with the earth and is entirely self-sustaining. Readers will question if the potential harm of taking down the government is really worth it, and if Tally is making the right choice. Additionally, Tally is not necessarily a heroine throughout the story, and oftentimes seems to allow others to make her own choices for her. While this does make her seem like a weak character, it does raise the question of if she is responsible for what happens later in the book, or if she is just an innocent bystander caught by a wave of events far greater than herself.
Curriculum Ties:
Challenge Issues:
None
Defensive Maneuvers:
n/a
Book Talk Ideas:
Ever want to be absolutely handsome or beautiful? What about being perfect without having to do a thing? In Uglies, everyone is made to be beautiful at a certain age - except afterwards your brain gets all ripped up so you're only interested in having fun and are easily led. Would you go for it?
Why This Book?
Many dystopian books, such as the Hunger Games, provide clear-cut answers to the question of government rule. For instance, the government is killing you so naturally you should revolt. Uglies is much different in that regard, in that it presents many different ethical quandaries that are not easily resolved. For that reason, Uglies is worth adding to any collection because it forces readers to consider if the main character is justified in her actions, as well as making them question what they would do in her situation. After all, is talking like a valley-girl really THAT bad if it means you’re happy, beautiful, and provided for for the rest of your life?
Scott Westerfeld's teen novels include the Uglies series, the Midnighters trilogy, The Last Days, an ALA Best Book for Young Adults and the sequel to Peeps. Scott was born in Texas, and alternates summers between Sydney, Australia, and New York City. Information retrieved from Amazon.com.
Published by: Simon Pulse
ISBN: 1442419814
Genre: Science Fiction/Dystopia
Reading Level: Ages 12 and Up
Reader’s Annotation:
Everybody is born ugly, like it or not, but at 16 each person undergoes surgery to become perfect. Perfect hair, perfect height, perfect teeth, perfect everything. Tally Youngblood is 15 and is sick of being an Ugly and wants only to become pretty like her best friend Peris has. Yet becoming pretty may not be all she believes it to be as she learns what is really happening when people go under the knife.
Plot Summary:
Tally Youngblood lives in a community in Northern California where everybody can become “pretty” at age 16. Until then, the pretties and “uglies” are segregated into separate parts of the city, and the differences are stark. While uglies frequently fight each other and are committed to playing pranks, the pretties are well mannered, law abiding, and dedicated to having fun and not worrying about anything in the world.
This seems like the perfect life to Tally, especially considering how her best friend Peris recently received the operation. As a result, Tally hasn’t seen Peris in some time since he became a pretty, and sneaks off to his part of the city to visit him. What she finds however, is Peris is barely recognizable. Though he is drop-dead beautiful, his entire personality has changed and he is almost disgusted to see Tally ugly. He promises to see her once she becomes pretty, and leaves her once again.
Dejected, Tally waits as the days slowly count by for her operation. During that time she meets up with Shay, a girl that is something of a thrill-seeker. Unlike Tally, Shay does not want to become pretty and plans to flee the city before she is forced to have the operation. She invites Tally to come with her, but she refuses and decides to be pretty in the end. Though unhappy with her choice, Shay leaves an unusual message regarding a camp outside the city composed entirely of runaways who also decided against the operation.
The day of Tally’s operation finally comes, but a group known as Special Circumstances puts an immediate stop to it. The leader, Dr. Cable, explains the group Shay ran away to join is extremely dangerous to the city and must be found and destroyed. Since Tally was the last person to have any knowledge of that location, she is charged with infiltrating the camp and giving away their location. If she doesn’t, Dr. Cable warns, Tally will be ugly forever.
Tally follows Dr. Cable’s demands and locates the camp, and finds that many of the escaped uglies are chopping down trees and terraforming the land to their needs - which is practically a sin in the city where everything is provided by technology and lives in harmony with the environment. Despite that, Tally begins to make friends within the camp, and later learns those who become pretty also have their brains operated upon, rendering them docile and easily controlled. Horrified by the revelation, Tally begins to doubt if she should betray the group’s location. Yet as she watches the community tear down the environment and fight amongst themselves, she questions if the procedure is really as bad as it seems and if allowing the uglies to continue unhindered could be a greater danger to the world as a whole. As Tally ponders all of this, her decision may not actually be her own.
Critical Evaluation:
Uglies is one of many dystopian books written over the years. There are the obvious formulaic elements: an all-powerful government, citizens who are forced to do things for their own good, rebels, and of course a singular teen who can make the difference in changing everything. What is special about this book, however, is the ethical dilemmas it presents. While the government does tinker with the heads of citizens, they are provided for, well-fed, happy, and the city does live in harmony with the earth and is entirely self-sustaining. Readers will question if the potential harm of taking down the government is really worth it, and if Tally is making the right choice. Additionally, Tally is not necessarily a heroine throughout the story, and oftentimes seems to allow others to make her own choices for her. While this does make her seem like a weak character, it does raise the question of if she is responsible for what happens later in the book, or if she is just an innocent bystander caught by a wave of events far greater than herself.
Curriculum Ties:
- Government rule
- The value of beauty
- Freedom versus the destruction of the environment
Challenge Issues:
None
Defensive Maneuvers:
n/a
Book Talk Ideas:
Ever want to be absolutely handsome or beautiful? What about being perfect without having to do a thing? In Uglies, everyone is made to be beautiful at a certain age - except afterwards your brain gets all ripped up so you're only interested in having fun and are easily led. Would you go for it?
Why This Book?
Many dystopian books, such as the Hunger Games, provide clear-cut answers to the question of government rule. For instance, the government is killing you so naturally you should revolt. Uglies is much different in that regard, in that it presents many different ethical quandaries that are not easily resolved. For that reason, Uglies is worth adding to any collection because it forces readers to consider if the main character is justified in her actions, as well as making them question what they would do in her situation. After all, is talking like a valley-girl really THAT bad if it means you’re happy, beautiful, and provided for for the rest of your life?