Sixteen is the age that every girl impatiently waits for. Tally is almost sixteen and she’s excited to get her present. No, her present isn’t a car or a huge surprise birthday party with all her friends. In fact, it’s an operation that will turn her pretty. Tally lives in a world where everybody turns pretty only at the age of sixteen. Before that, you are known as an ugly. She can’t wait to turn pretty and move on to the other side of the river where the only job people have is to have fun. Although everything seems perfect, there is one thing stopping her from turning pretty. Her new friend Shay decides that she doesn’t want to turn pretty and runs away. Now, the doctors have given Tally two choices: either she finds Shay and turns her in, or she never turns pretty at all. While trying to bring back Shay, she learns the secrets of turning pretty that might make Tally change her mind forever. What will she choose to do? I won’t tell you. But I recommend you read this book if you would like to know what happens in a world where anyone that we classify as normal is classified as ugly. - Reviewed by Ani M., grade 9.
