Uglies. Wait---Uglies??

Near the top of the list for best young adult novels is a story that tells us we are all ugly. Every one of us. And the only thing we care about; the only thing we want, is to become pretty.

That about accurately describes society, right?

Many of the young adult authors out there have been writing novels about real issues. No longer are the popular books fluffy, fun, no-worries storylines. Now young adult novels deal with matters like sex, eating disorders, defiance and self-image.

The latter is something that is greatly affecting society--particularly the young girls who are reading these novels.

Beth Younger, in her article entitled Pleasure, Pain, and the Power of Being Thin:Female Sexuality in Young Adult Literature said this about recent young adult novels:

"Although these narratives portray an ethnically diverse group of young girls and women, they also reveal the difficulty many young adult fiction authors have been resisting the contemporary hyper-thin European ideal of beauty....The associations of weight...serve a purpose in young adult texts; they reinforce negative ideas about body image."

This idea that thinner is better is not new. The world tells us that to be beautiful is to be better. Their idea of beauty is not even real. The above link proves that.

While the story from the beginning, Uglies, does tell of a society bent on changing everyone into perfect, thin, gorgeous members of the community, the overarching theme of the book is to be who you are.

Wouldn't it be nice if the whole world could just grasp that concept?