Beauty Queens by Libba Bray YP FIC BRAY

A plane full of beauty queens crash lands on a desert island, but this isn’t the start of a cheesy joke!  They must band together to survive the elements and a dangerous cabal of drug dealers using the island for less than noble purposes.  More importantly they must struggle to find their inner beauty and common strength or be trampled by the misogynistic hegemony of the patriarchy!  Also, they need to get their dance routines down in case they are rescued.

Libba Bray has hit it out of the park.  Her last book, the hallucinatory bizarre epic Going Bovine won raves and adulation and acclaim and other good things.  Beauty Queens has all the wit and daring of Bovine but with a more straight forward (and to me more enjoyable) narrative.  The James Bondesque adventure plot actually is thrilling and action packed, it’s just also filled with hilarious social satire and genuine emotion.  The genuine emotion and satire can come from the same characters because Bray makes what seem like stereotypes at first (like Miss Texas the brash go-getter with big hair and big dreams) evolve into real young women.  A good deal of humor and satire comes from footnotes added by the corporate sponsors of the pageant. This isn’t JUST a super funny and exciting book. The problems it tackles of how companies sell young women horrible ideas of beauty and how that affects female identity are really intelligently and bravely addressed. A great read for anyone looking for a lighthearted dark comedy with adventure and Big Ideas!

New Teen Health Bibliography: Body Image

Back in June I posted about a collection of short stories called Does This Book Make Me Look Fat (YP Fic Does). This fiction collection, which was put together for young adults, focuses on body image, eating disorders, diets, self-esteem, and related issues. Body image is an issue that many teens and adults deal with because of societal pressures, including our fascination with celebrities.

A new bibliography, Body Image: Teen Health Resources, is now available online and in print at the Moore Memorial Public Library. This guide is a collection of books available at the library, databases, and websites. The primary focus is body image, but also addresses diet, anorexia, bulimia, and teen physical health.

Please visit the link posted above or pick up a paper coy of the guide, which is available by the online catalog computers in the reference area. If you have any additional questions regarding body image, please visit the library's reference desk and speak with a librarian.

Does This Book Make Me Look Fat? Edited by Marissa Walsh

Body image is an issue many people struggle with, but teens can be especially afflicted because of peer pressure and an over saturation of celebrity-focused media. It seems that at least once a week some celebrity, like Lindsay Lohan or Jennifer Love Hewitt, is being attacked for being “too fat” or “too skinny.” Society’s influence on what is beautiful has caused both teen boys and girls to go to extreme lengths to fit into an unrealistic mold.


Does This Book Make Me Look Fat? stories about loving – and loathing- your body, edited by Marissa Walsh, is a collection of short fiction and non-fiction writings addressing body issues. The book features the work of Ellen Hopkins (Crank, Impulse, & Identical), Sarra Manning (Guitar Girl, Pretty Things, & Let’s Get Lost), Matt de la Pena (Mexican Whiteboy & Ball Don’t Lie), Megan McCafferty (Perfect Fifths, Fourth Comings, & Charming Thirds), and many other young adult writers. Much of the writing focuses on the issues young girls may face, but Barry Lyga (The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl & Hero-Type) and Daniel Pinkwater provide a male perspective.

This collection demonstrates the common and often silent struggle teens go through and the effects it can have on their physical and emotion health. The book has a personal touch to it based on honest autobiographical contributions of some of the writers, which relays to the reader that they are not alone. Certain works are stronger than others, but overall the collection brings the message home that we are not alone with the struggle to feel “normal” and accepted.

In addition to appearing in this book, several of these authors are featured in the Moore Memorial Public Library Young Adult collection.