The Prettiest

I remember struggling with body image when I was the age of these characters. (Actually, if we’re being totally honest, I still do.) The main characters in this novel, however, triumph over the physical expectations placed upon young women by finding kinship and support from one another. The characters themselves are diverse, realistic, and smart. It’s difficult not to see yourself or the young people in your life in them.

You’re pretty pretty, but not that into sports. Decades later, I still remember these words of rejection from my seventh-grade crush. The Prettiest brought up all my middle school emotions during the first chapter when someone creates and spreads a list of the top 50 prettiest girls in the school. The pain and humiliation the main characters experience as they struggle with their relationship to the list—on it, off it, pretty but not the prettiest—was painfully realistic. Thankfully, author Brigit Young fills the story with humor and moments of sweet friendship and leaves the reader ready to change the… show more.