Beauty Queens

This novel was very fun and upbeat, despite the circumstances the teenagers were in. Being stranded on an unknown island is bad enough - but being stranded when one is going to a beauty pageant? That was very unexpected for the 13 girls that survived the plane crash.

I love this book, and not for the reasons that one might think. Libba Bray has transformed beauty pageant ladies from their usual stereotypical features into girls who know how to hunt, fight, build huts, and survive through the worst of times. The cover of the book definitely represents the book: those girls were able to find a weapon out of all of their pageant belongings that they found after the plane wreak.

The best part in the book that I enjoyed the most was the introduction to Miss Illinois (I have to represent my state!) Now, while it may be completely unrealistic of how Sosie defeated the snake, you have to admit that Miss Illinois is pretty badass! She didn't give up without a fight, that's for sure!

This book is definitely different than Libba Bray's other novels and I really like that about this author. She writes more than one genre and is great at all of those genres! I think for this particular book, it is a new, refreshing topic that our young adult viewers have not see in writing before - sure there's the television series Lost but there definitely wasn't any beauty pageant contestants on that show!

And to conclude, here is my favorite quote from the book, page 379: "Really, being a librarian is a much more dangerous job than you realize."