Mind-Rain, By: Scott Westerfeld

Title:

Mind-Rain: Your Favorite Authors on Scott Westerfeld's Uglies Series

By: Scott Westerfeld

• Reading level: Ages 9-12
  
• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Benbella Books (June 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1933771348

Reader's Annotation: A collection of essays about Scott Westerfeld's amazing Uglies Series.

Notes: Due Out June 2, 2009

• With essays by Lili Wilkinson, Robin Wasserman, Diana Peterfreund, Sarah Beth Durst, Gail Sidonie Sobat, Rosemary Clement-Moore, J. Fitzgerald McCurdy, Janette Rallison, Linda Gerber, Charles Beaumont, Ted Chiang, Will Shetterly, Jennifer Lynn Barnes, and Delia Sherman.
  

Extras, By Scott Westerfeld

By: Scott Westerfeld

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing

Publish Date: 2007

ISBN: 1416951172

Page #: 432

Reading Level: Young Adult

Classification: Fiction

Genre: Science Fiction

Series Title: Uglies Series

Uglies 
Pretties 
Specials 
Extras 

Bogus to Bubbly (Companion)

Mind-Rain (Famous Authors Talk About the Uglies Series-June 2009)

Subjects: Dystopia, Friendship, Plastic Surgery, Fame, Romance

Reader's Annotation: Extras is the unexpected 4th book in the awesome Uglies "trilogy." In another city, also affected by the "Mind-Rain" Tally Youngblood (of the first three Uglies books) induced, Aya Fuse is at the center of a fame-centric universe and all she wants to do is not be an extra.

Synopsis: Aya is a nothing. Her feed shows her fame status at a very high, high level. But high is not good. Your stats are better as you get lower because they signify your level of fame: 1 being the most famous person in the world. Any level of fame Aya has is due to her paparazzi like brother who manufactures fame in a Perez Hilton manner at the expense of others. But suddenly Aya has a chance to be outrageously famous and she plans on doing anything possible to kick her own story, even at the expense of others. But when Aya meets her new love interest and begins to find out more about her feed, things get increasingly dangerous and twisted. Is fame worth all that?

Notes: Another provocative take on a socially conscious issue, Westerfeld makes everybody reflect on the world we live in now. This story could stand alone, but I think it delivers much better having read the Uglies first. A new cast of characters leave you wondering what happened to Tally Youngblood, and when we finally find out it ends to fast. But Westerfeld is the master of topic not the master of giving you what you want, which makes me love him even more. 

Stars: 5

Extras: 

The Westerblog: http://scottwesterfeld.com/blog/

Scott Talks Extras:

 

Fan Made Video:

Nothing, By Robin Friedman

By: Robin Friedman
Publisher: Flux
Publish Date: 2008
ISBN: 073871304X
Page #: 232
Classification: Fiction
Genre: Fiction
Age Level: Older Teen
Series Titles: n/a
Subjects: Eating Disorders, Eating Disorders in Boys, Bulimia

Reader's Annotation: Everyone always thinks its just the girls who worry about their weight. Meet Parker, who seemingly has it all, but for him the pressure results in a secret that has him ill inside and out.

Synopsis: Parker is in high school. He is on the track team, he is gearing up for college, and he even has a girl who he likes more then just a little. It seems like he has it all, but his father is overbearing (planning out his future to be a doctor) but never really asks Parker what he wants to do. Parker is uncomfortable in his skin and doesn't like the way his body looks. Under the pressure of school, family, and image issues, Parker turns to food for comfort. He eats until he can barely stand it and then releases it into the abyss of the bathroom toilet. His sister, though jealous of the attention her brother gets, begins to suspect that things aren't right with Parker and she is faced with how to help her brother (or if she should even confront him at all). Parker is definitely not ok. His body is weak, and his personality is becoming more and more irritable. Nothing is a stunning book for both boys and girls to read. It deals with issues that are even harder to talk about then drugs and death. A shaming disease, eating disorders are something that in our culture have risen to un-calculated heights and Nothing is one step in the right direction. It is a book that can appeal to both the sufferer and the people around them as it gives a heartfelt but realistic window into a taboo subject.

Notes: Inspiration for Novel: By Robin Friendman

I met an old friend from college years after we graduated, and he mentioned in passing that he had an eating disorder when we knew each other.

“An eating disorder?” I said.

“I didn’t know that.”

“Nobody did.”

“But you’re a guy!”

“So?”

“Guys get eating disorders?”

“Yup.”

That’s all it took.

Read the first Chapter here http://www.robinfriedman.com/books/chapters/firstNothing.html

Stars: 5

Awards:

• A 2009 Notable Book for Teens by The Sydney Taylor Book Award Committee of the Association of Jewish Libraries.
  
• A 2008 Book of the Year Finalist from ForeWord magazine in the Young Adult category.
  
• Bronze winner in young adult fiction by FOREWORD magazine
  

Extras: Author's Website http://www.robinfriedman.com/books/Nothing.html

Author's Facebook http://www.facebook.com/people/Robin-Friedman/508415693

Uglies, By Scott Westerfeld

By: Scott Westerfeld

Publisher: Simon Pulse

Publish Date: February 8, 2005

ISBN: 0689865384

Page #: 448

Classification: Fiction

Genre: Science-Fiction

Age Level: Older Teen

Subjects:

Plastic Surgery, Fitting In, Beauty, Adventure, Dystopia

Series Title: The Uglies Series: Uglies, Pretties, Specials, Extras

Reader's Annotation: Tally Youngblood is 15 and can't wait to be pretty like her best friend Peris. While waiting to become "Pretty," she meets and befriends another another "Ugly" named Shay and together they wait to become 16 when everything we become perfect, or will it?

Synopsis: In all the books I read over the past year, this series sticks out the most. Why? Although it's simply written, the ideas are penetrating. The notion that most of us feel on display, varying degrees of ugly, and/or constantly striving to be like someone else, can not possibly be new to any of you. Today's society is obsessive with beauty and face forward. Meet Tally Youngblood, a teenage girl in a not so distant, dystopian future where everyone gets a "pretty" operation when they turn 16. They grind, shave, replace, and manipulate your body until you wake up a new, beautiful, perfect you. In the Uglies, after you complete the change, you are officially a "Pretty." You then get to move into a new world where being pretty is your new and only job. Partying, having everything you need, being popular is the perfect existence right? But, what if comes with a price? Does anyone ever NOT want to become a pretty?

Notes: Books Two and Three follow Tally and the Crims through their twisted fates against the powers that be. All three a mindful feast, but a simple, zippy read. You just can't not read these books. Cut out a day or two. It might make you re-think that rhinoplasty.

Stars: 5

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Extras: Westerfeld Heaven (Are you a bubble head?)

• The Extras, an unexpected fourth book in the series. Meet Aya and find out what her world is like post-Tally. In her world it's all about fame and nobody wants to be the "extra!"

• There is currently a guidebook called From Bogus to Bubbly available. This companion is a spoiler if you have yet to finish the series.

• Mind-Rain:Your Favorite Authors on Scott Westerfeld's Uglies Series (Paperback) DUE JUNE 1st!

• Westerblog: http://scottwesterfeld.com/blog

• Uglies discussion questions for your book group: http://scottwesterfeld.com/blog/?page_id=172

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Below are some Fan Made Youtubes that caught my attention as being rather well done! Enjoy!

Specials (Uglies Trilogy, Bk.3), By Scott Westerfeld

By: Scott Westerfeld

• Reading level: Young Adult
  
• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Simon Pulse 
• Publishing Date: September 11, 2007
• ISBN-10: 0439025664

Classification: Fiction
Genre: Science Fiction
Series Title: The Uglies Trilogy

Uglies

Pretties

Specials

Extras 

Subjects: beauty, dystopian society, fitting in, super-heros, body image, love

Reader's Annotation: In book three of the Uglies Trilogy Tally Youngblood returns with a special new purpose. But is this just another doomed twist in her journey for truth or is she finally on top of the game?

Synopsis: After being betrayed in a heartbreaking twist at the end of the Pretties, Tally Youngblood seems to have come out on top. The intended finale to the trilogy, Westerfeld explores the darkest nature of body image and supremacy in this final installment of the adventures of Tally Youngblood. Finally she is the one in charge, and it is clear that her skills are closer to a super hero then the ugly young girl we met in Uglies. But Tally can't let go of the past, even if everything has been rewired for her. Once again Tally follows her inner instinct to take on the powers that be and to reclaim the life that has been stolen from her. And who knows, maybe in the end, she may have some say in the way her world is run. 

Notes: Do not read this book if you haven't read the first two books. This is not a stand alone story. That being said, it is a powerful ending to the Uglies and the Pretties! The issues being raised leave great room for poignant discussion, as all Westerfeld's books do. I think the series as a whole is a strong choice (in line with Little Brother, By Doctorow) for YA in the classroom.

Stars: 5

Pretties (Uglies Trilogy, Book 2), By Scott Westerfeld

By: Scott Westerfeld

• Reading level: Young Adult
  
• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Simon Pulse
• Publishing Date: November 1, 2005
• ISBN-10: 0439891612

Classification: Fiction

Genre: Science-Fiction
Series Title: Uglies Trilogy

Series Title: The Uglies Series: Uglies, Pretties, Specials, Extras
Subjects: beauty, dystopian society, fitting in, science-fiction, love, friendship

Reader's Annotation: Tally Youngblood is finally Pretty but nothing is what she thought it would be. Now she has a new adventure ahead of her.

Synopsis: In the sequel to Uglies, Tally Youngblood is finally a "Pretty" although she can't fully remember how it all happened. New Pretty Town is her new home and she is raging and popular. Accepted into her new clique The Crims (short for criminal), she meets Zane and her world is exploded once again! As memories of the events in the first book, Uglies start to come back to her she begins to realize what being a Pretty really means. Now its up to her to figure out how to deal with her new world and everything that happened in the past.

Notes: By far my favorite of the series, Pretties explores many of the same themes that began in the Uglies but never fully came to light. As an outsider in Uglies, now Tally is on the inside. Dealing with issues of love, betrayal, beauty, and authority, Pretties is the finest example of what great Young Adult Literature is all about.

Stars: 5

Extras: