Review: The Prettiest by Brigit Young brings the #MeToo movement to middle school in an accessible, inclusive, and ultimately empowering story about fighting against toxic masculinity and sexual harassment.
The eighth grade class is rocked by drama as an online list of the top 50 prettiest girls is released. Bookish and budding poet Eve is suddenly on the spotlight as she is ranked number 1 and her life is thrown into chaos. Popular girl Sophia Kane is second-placed, which threatens her security at the top and being seeing as anything but "less than". Nessa Flores-Brady never had any expectations of being on any kind of list due to her body size. The story is told through these various points of view in alternating chapters. The author does a great job in highlighting the complexities of middle school life, especially when girls are either have gone through puberty or just beginning and how quickly they are seen as objects by boys in their school. Unfortunately and realistically, the author does highlight the failures of adults to address the incident though steps are taken later in the book. What makes The Prettiest a standout for me is how the author is able to create full character arcs for each of the main characters. Eve struggles with self confidence and paralyzing insecurity and even though she is harmed by text messages ranging from Anti-Semitic vitriol to comments about her body, there is a part of her that likes the spotlight especially when the most popular boy in school begins to talk to her and asks her out. She has to come to terms with these conflicting emotions. Sophie Kane is the polar opposite to Eve. She is an ambitious young woman though she too is incredibly fearful of letting know the real her, the poor girl whose mom works as a waitress in a diner. She uses make-up, which ages her beyond her years, as an armor and mask to create an illusion of a perfect girl. She at first does not care about being objectified by the list just so long as it's rewritten with her in first place, but slowly accepts herself and attempts to not objectify her female classmates by their looks. Nessa is confident and has her eyes sight on Broadway, but she too hurts knowing her body type is never going to be an acceptable beauty standard.
Along with the personal character journey's, the list highlights the insidiousness of toxic masculinity and targeted bullying. Eve’s father believes there is nothing wrong with the list as it's "boys being boys" and glad that his daughter is ranked number one. Eve's older brother, Abe, and classmate Winston offer insights into the pressures of toxic masculinity and the complacency of being bystanders. I really appreciated how the girls came together and talked about the effects of normative beauty standards and that they come together against the majority boys who enforce them. I would have liked to see the perpetrators' own epiphany and discussion of what they did wrong and the actions by the school administration. This timely and diverse discussion of bullying and sexism is a must read for budding feminists and their parents.
Rating: 4.5 stars
Words of Caution: There is bullying in the book, which is both explicit and implicit. Recommended for Grades 5 and up.
If you like this book try: Maybe He Just Likes You by Barbara Dee, The List by Siobhan Vivan (for YA readers)
Labels:
2020 Reading Challenge,
4.5 stars,
Bullying,
Childrens,
Diversity,
Feminism,
Friendship,
Realistic Fiction
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This sounds so important for middle grade readers and like it is well done. A must for library shelves.