Gorgeous

✍ Scribed by Vail, Rachel

• Book ID: 106920623
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Year: 2010
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 147 KB
• Series: Avery Sisters Trilogy 2
• Category: Fiction
• ISBN-13: 9780060890483

✦ Synopsis

From School Library Journal

Grade 7-9–This second book about the Avery sisters retells the events in Lucky (HarperTeen, 2008) from the perspective of middle sister Allison. She sees herself as the plainest of the three, stuck between two pillars of perfection, and wishes she, too, were gorgeous. The ninth grader also has to come to terms with the effect that the loss of her mother's high-powered job has on the entire family. One night, she dreams that she has sold her cell phone to the devil in return for at least seven people who think she is gorgeous, and strangely, after the dream, things start to change in her life. She becomes friends with new girl Roxie Green, who talks her into cutting school and going to Manhattan for an open call for models for teen magazine zip. To her utter amazement, Allison is selected as a finalist in its cover-model contest, but she then has to deal with the fallout from keeping this a secret from her family and from Roxie and with her fading friendship with her best friend. As always, Vail is spot-on in her depictions of young teen girls and their complex relationships with friends and family, and her treatment of the clichéd girl whom everyone thinks is plain becomes successful is fresh, innovative, and realistic. Allison is an engaging, funny character, and girls will identify with her disappointment with her looks and her longing for respect and recognition.–Kathleen E. Gruver, Burlington County Library, Westampton, NJ
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Review

“A solid, realistic account of a girl’s beginning to find her own identity.” (Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books )

“Kindness and understanding emerge in unexpected, fresh, and satisfying ways, and readers will be looking forward to finding out what lies ahead for the Avery family” (School Library Journal )

Praise for Lucky: “This is superior for its realism, its moderation, and its understated complexity of characters and relationships. Readers will drink up the drama and impatiently await the planned follow up titles.” (Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books (starred review) )

“Vail shows a clear understanding of the everyday turmoil faced by today’s teens and handles them with wit and obvious affection. If they haven’t already read its predecessor, Lucky (2008), teens will want to after finishing this one. ” (Kirkus Reviews )

“Vail (You, Maybe) again demonstrates a penetrating insight into the concerns of young teen girls, this time upending the conventions of the rich–girl novel… Readers will absorb this in one fell swoop.” (Publishers Weekly (starred review) )