Released on May 24th, 2011
Source- ARC from Teen Book Festival/book to review from publisher
4.5 stars- I really enjoyed it
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 complete 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 eye liner.
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. Your tour guide? None other than Libba Bray, the hilarious, sensational, Printz Award-winning author of A Great and Terrible Beauty and Going Bovine. The result is a novel that will make you laugh, make you think, and make you never see beauty the same way again.
The only thing better than sitting down to read Beauty Queens would be to have Libba Bray herself reading this out loud or hosting her own reality show called Beauty Queens. In true Libba fashion, Beauty Queens is a hilarious, one of a kind read with literally a little bit of everything mixed in. The book is full of satire and honestly I don't remember the last time I laughed out so many times while reading a YA book while at the same time feeling some sort of connection to each of the characters.
Only Libba Bray could create a story with a cast full of Beauty Queens who have crash landed on a island that supposedly "no one else lives on", but it's really a secret location for a corrupt corporation, mixed with other social hot topics, sexy pirates and even some reality T.V. commentary. The girls themselves fit the Beauty Queen stereotype, but the way in which Libba introduces the surviving contestants personal stories makes each of them relatable in some way. There's at least one character within in the story that everyone who reads this will relate too. For the first time in a long time I can honestly say I don't have a favorite, each contestant had a least one quality that I loved about them. There are moving scenes, hilarious scenes, action, and romance scenes and one of my favorite scenes was Miss TX's butt kicking scene. Too bad she wasn't wearing a "Don't Mess with Texas" t-shirt.
Beauty Queen is one crazy, fun, wild read and just as I thought the plot couldn't possibly get any more outrageously funny, Libba throws something else into the story. This books is the perfect mesh up of Lord of the Flies meets Miss Congeniality, with a mix of reality tv that pokes fun at the latest trends and topics, while at the same time connecting with readers on serious topics with out feeling like it's in your face. This is a book that will make you laugh, and it will make you think. It's hilarious, it's entertaining and if this was a reality show I'd totally watch it wearing my team Sparkle Ponies t-shirt.
Thank you to Scholastic, we are giving away two copies of Beauty Queens! To enter, please fill out this form below: