Libba Bray is the author of the 2010 Printz Award winning Going Bovine, and the acclaimed Gemma Doyle trilogy. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.
Gr 9 Up-Libba Bray takes vicious aim at American corporate culture, politics, our perceptions of physical attractiveness, and much more in this scathingly humorous tale (Scholastic, 2011) of a beauty pageant gone wrong. Fifty "Miss Teen Dream" beauty pageant contestants and all of their "people" are headed for a fun in the sun promotional photo shoot. Those plans literally go up in smoke when their plane crash-lands on a desert island and only a handful of the girls survive. This is by far Bray's best written work. She pulls no punches as she takes on everything from tea party politics to reality TV. She trumps her incredible storytelling skills with her narration. Each contestant has a distinctive personality, and Bray she masters a variety of accents from a Texan twang to a California Valley girl. Her male voices, including a crazy dictator, are flawlessly convincing. Bray even improvises by having a breathy Marilyn Monroe-like teen queen introduce each disc number with one of her hilarious observations. "The Corporation," the sponsor of the pageant, provides commercial breaks throughout the story that is far more effective in audio format. The best of the best!-Shari Fesko, Southfield Public Library, MI (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
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