Sixteen agonizing years of waiting, wanting, hoping, wishing, and dreaming are spent by all of the uglies in Uglyville. It seems like there is not a single person who cannot wait to get their operation to turn them pretty on their sixteenth birthday. When Tally Youngblood meets Shay, they quickly become friends, and Tally realizes that not everyone wants to become a pretty. Shay disappears, and Tally is given an ultimatum—to turn Shay in, or to never turn pretty at all. What Tally thinks will be a simple task turns out to be an enterprise that unveils the truth… and the truth isn’t all that pretty. Scott Westerfeld manages to get any reader’s gears turning, bringing up topics worth consideration. Uglies is a fast-paced novel that explores aspects of life that the average middle or high schooler may not yet be pondering. - Hannah (Sunset Teen)
