Uglies
Scott Westerfield
RECOMMENDED AGE: 12 and up
LEXILE READING LEVEL: 770L
Tally Youngblood is about to turn sixteen, and she can't wait. In Tally's world, your sixteenth birthday brings an operation that turns you from a repellent ugly into a stunningly attractive pretty and catapults you into a high-tech paradise where your only job is to have a really great time. Anticipating this happy transformation, Tally meets Shay, another female ugly, who shares her enjoyment of hoverboarding and risky pranks. But Shay also disdains the false values and programmed conformity of the society. She'd rather risk life on the outside and urges Tally to defect with her. When Shay runs away, Tally learns about a whole new side of the pretty world — and it isn't very pretty. The authorities offer Tally the worst choice she can imagine: find her friend and turn her in, or never turn pretty at all. The choice Tally makes changes her world forever.
Topics:
Medical Ethics
Technological Ethics
Brainwashing
Government Control
Awards:
Chicago Public Library's Best of the Best for Teens, 2005
Kirkus Editor's Choice, 2005
New York Public Library's "Books for the Teen Age", 2005
School Library Journal Best Books of the Year, 2005
Texas Lone Star Reading List, 2006-2007
VOYA's Top Shelf Fiction for Middle School Readers, 2005
YALSA Best Books For Young Adults, 2006
YALSA Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults, 2006
YALSA Quick Picks Nominee, 2006
Books in the Series:
UgliesDiscussionKit.pdf (65,5 kB) Discussion guide with activities