Uglies
- reading group guide
- 22awards
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Tally’s adventures begin in Uglies, where she learns the truth about what life as a Pretty really means. She rebels against the surgery that will make her a Pretty, but ultimately succumbs. In Pretties, Tally has forgotten all about her Ugly life, and when she’s reminded, she has a hard time listening. And what little’s left of the old Tally is further compromised in Specials, because Tally has been transformed into a fierce fighting machine. But when she’s offered a chance to forever improve civilization, will she be able to overcome her brainwashing? The answer is evident years later in Extras, after the Pretty regime has ended. Boundless human creativity, new technologies, and old dangers have been unleashed upon the world. But fame and popularity can be just as dangerous as extreme beauty….
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Buy from us:
- Simon Pulse |
- 432 pages |
- ISBN 9781442419810 |
- May 2011 |
- Grades 7 and up |
- Lexile 770L
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Book Reviews
Reading Group Guide
Uglies/Pretties/Specials/Extras
by Scott Westerfeld
About the Books
Living in a future where sixteen-year-olds are surgically transformed from "uglies" to "pretties," Tally Youngblood struggles with a choice: to become beautiful and content forever living in a high-tech paradise, or to leave the world she knows and keep her own identity. Tally's decisions lead her on an incredible journey, which forces her to grow, change, and learn.
Set a few years after the end of Specials, Extras follows a new girl, Aya Fuse, in a new town. As Tally did, Aya has some problems being a fifteen-year-old ugly, but this new world is filled with new technologies and new challenges as well. Now the focus of society is on fame. The world is like a gigantic game of American Idol. Whoever is getting the most buzz gets the most votes and the highest rank. Popularity rules. Everyone wants to be famous, and Aya is prepared to do almost anything to bring her face rank up from 451,369, a number so low, she’s a total nobody. An extra. She has no idea what kind of fame she can achieve propelling her into a world of fame, celebrity, and extreme danger.
Discussion Topics
1. On your sixteenth birthday, how would you feel about being forced to have the surgery to become pretty? Would you feel like Tally—looking forward to being beautiful and bubbly—or lik see more

Scott Westerfeld's UGLIES








