Book Review - "Beauty Queens" by Libba Bray

Publisher - Scholastic Press
Release Date - May 24, 2011
Number of Pages - 390
Source - Bought

The fifty contestants in the Miss Teen Dream pageant thought this was going to be a fun trip to the beach, where they could parade in their state-appropriate costumes and compete in front of the cameras. But sadly, their airplane had another idea crashing on a desert island and leaving the survivors stranded with little food, little water, and practically no eyeliner.

What's a beauty queen to do? Continue to practice for the talent portion of the program--or wrestle snakes to the ground? Get a perfect tan--or learn to run wild? And what should happen when the sexy pirates show up?

Welcome to the heart of non-exfoliated darkness. Your tour guide? None other than Libba Bray, the hilarious, sensational, Printz Award-winning author of A Great and Terrible Beauty and Going Bovine. The result is a novel that will make you laugh, make you think, and make you never see beauty the same way again.



I purchased this book because of the amazingness of "A Great and Terrible Beauty" and the wonderful concept. I used to be obsessed with pageants when I wa s younger, so I knew that I need to pick this up. Overall, "Beauty Queens" was like an amazing trip with a few bumps in the road.

First of all, the story idea is original and fun! The plot is interesting in most places, but slow and boring in a moment or two. The characters definitely rule the book! They are all different, and they blend in with each other. As the story goes on, we find out more things about them and also their back story, which I thought was awesome!


Libba's writing style in this book was very satiric, which made reading even more fun. But the best part of this book is the format. There are not only the regular story chapters, but also commercial breaks, footnotes, confidential chapters, words from sponsors and profile pages! That has really made the book a great experience.

This book explores some really taboo issues and has a lot of girl power. It also felt like an episode of CSI sometimes.

However, this book has had a bunch of slow and boring moments, and towards the end, the footnotes were starting to get annoying.


Overall, this is a great summery book and I definitely recommend, despite these small downfalls.
Rating: A-