This year's Miss Teem Dream Pageant has hit a small "issue". The plane, carrying the contestants, TV crew and others has crashed on a deserted island. 13 of the girls survive, and while they hope for a rescue, a group of secret black-ops workers is making sure the secret island is not found.
First, we meet Adina, Miss New Hampshire. Adina is not a typical pageant girl. She's got brown hair and brown eyes, and plans on becoming an investigative journalist. She only did the pageant because her mom and step-dad promised to buy her a bass guitar if she won. Then there is Miss Texas: Taylor Rene Krystal Hawkins. Blond, tough and well rounded, Taylor's dream is to be Miss Teen Dream, just like her idol, Ladybird Hope. Taylor is easily voted to be the leader due to her commitment to the pageant and ability to take charge.
With 13 girls, very few supplies and a pageant to prepare for, there is a lot of work to do. Beauty Queens takes breaks in the story to give you commercials for products like Lady 'Stache Off (tag line: Because there's nothing wrong with you that can't be fixed) and profiles of each of the contestants, so you get a better glimpse of the girls and into the crazy world they are living in. (Big hint, not everyone is exactly who they seem to be). The point of view switches rapidly, so you better be awake and aware to catch all of the crazy that this book brings.
I'm not going to lie, I have been looking forward to this book since I first heard "beauty queens stranded on a desert island". Libba Bray has a huge imagination, plus the smarts to back up a social commentary survival story of this magnitude. Did I mention it was laugh-out-loud funny?
The obvious book to compare Beauty Queens to is Lord of the Flies (Golding), with the privileged teens being deserted on an island plot line. However, books like Feed (Anderson) or more recently Bumped (McCafferty), have similar tone and feel, with their sarcastic edge and futuristics world that hits a bit close to home.
Don't judge Beauty Queens by it's cover (even though the cover is kind of awesome), this book is more that just looks: it's smart, funny and just like the Miss Teen Dream contestants, very layered.
I'll see you @ the library!
Katie (With a pile of books for summer reading fun, and unsure of what to read next!)