Wednesday, October 10, 2012

November 2012 Book 1: Beauty Queens by Libba Bray


Read the comments below from your teachers.

8 comments:

Mrs. Schatz said...

Absolutely loved this over the top sarcastic book!!!! I was soooooo dreading reading it but....HOLY MOLY!!!! This book was a complete riot and so wrong on so many levels but so truthful at the same time. I laughed out loud at so many times during the book. I loved that the girls triumphed over their self-image, self-confidence, love, and many other obstacles. This was definitely Girl Power!!!! However, this book is for mature readers only and I won't know until the book discussion whether it will be available in the library.

Mrs. Schatz said...

Mrs. Hunziker:

I did not enjoy reading Beauty Queens, and I would not recommend this book to anyone, especially not students.

After reading the back cover, I was hesitant to even begin because the story-line sounded very superficial. The idea that the teen beauty queens have to learn to survive after being plane-crashed is a tolerable plot. I even applaud their ingenuity and their clever use of resources to survive in the wild. Adding the story line of the illegal weapons trading and the "reality TV" pirates that show up, and this book becomes too much for me to digest.

The footnotes, commercial breaks, and messages from the sponsor made the book very "cheesy". In addition, the author somehow manages to incorporate almost every controversial social issue out there today. Call me old-fashioned, but there were parts of this book that I was embarrassed to read, even to myself, and the strong language flowed a little too freely for my liking.

I did laugh out loud multiple times because so many things were just so over the top. I guess you could consider that entertaining if you want to, but for me that is where the entertainment stopped. I would not let my 11 year old even browse through this book because I was afraid of what he might read, nor would I feel comfortable putting this book in the hands of a high school student .

Mrs. Schatz said...

Mr. Wiese:
This book reminded me a lot of my home room with seniors. While I like the kids, I really don't need to know who is getting drunk, who is sleeping with whom, and how many times they can incorporate a cuss word into their everyday conversation. Call me old fashion, but sometimes things are better left unsaid. The book is a girl power story about beauty pageant contestants that crash on a semi deserted island. They whip up 8 small huts so they can all have their separate living spaces, and figure out the food and water problem within hours of crashing. Yeah for them. It gets even better when they start exploring themselves and hook up with ship wrecked pirates, and fight an evil corporation.


The positive:

It was short



Negatives:

Bad story line

as much reality as an action thriller movie staring the Rock

pushing homosexual/ transgender agenda

The book cover- a 32 year old man can't walk around with this book with out looking like a creeper.


Benjamin Wiese
Head Track Coach
Liberty High School

Anonymous said...

I started out loving this book and ended up not being able to finish it. While I loved the sarcasm and laughed out loud a number of times, it just seemed to go on forever. I think it would have been much better if it had been half as long.

Anonymous said...

I personally am not a fan of the materialistic world. Even through it sounded like this book might have some unexpected twists, I just could not get into this book. It had some sarcastic humor. A beauty queen with an airplane tray in her head –I’m not sure if I should laugh or be horrified.
Mrs. Wilson

Anonymous said...

I personally am not a fan of the materialistic world. Even through it sounded like this book might have some unexpected twists, I just could not get into this book. It had some sarcastic humor. A beauty queen with an airplane tray in her head –I’m not sure if I should laugh or be horrified.
Mrs. Wilson

Anonymous said...

I loved this book. I laughed from beginning to end. Each word is dripping with sarcasm :)

Mrs. Hasan said...

A great satirical piece on beauty pageants and how we perceive beauty contestants. This book also takes a stab at reality TV, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Lots of funny moments and some serious ones, as well. Reminded me of the movie "Miss Congeniality."