Reviewer: Connie Payne
Title: Pretty Face
Author: Mary Hogan
Publisher: Harper Teen
ISBN-13: 9780060841119
Release Date: March 2009 (Paperback)
Genre/Sub-genre: YA Contemporary w/Romance elements
Publisher’s Age/Grade Recommendation: 14 and up
OUAR’s Age/Grade Recommendation: 15/16 and up
Year/Setting: Present day/Santa Monica CA and Italy
Overall rating: 4.0
Sexual Content Rating: Subtle (Lost virginity)
Language (Profanity/Slang) Content Rating: Mild+
Violent Content Rating: None
Mary's Website: www.maryhogan.com
She’s told time and again she has a pretty face…
Sixteen-year old Hayley knows she’s overweight, thank you very much. She knows she has one true friend. It’s painfully obvious no boy wants to date her, let alone kiss her. Sigh. Hayley really wouldn’t mind losing weight, but for one reason and another, she loves to, has to, eat, eat, eat.
It really doesn’t help when her mother gets her a talking scale or takes her to a Waist Watcher meeting or serves tofu in every way possible. Now her parents are sending her to Italy to stay with her mother’s college roommate and her family, with the hopes of Hayley losing weight.
What she loses and what she gains during her summer in Italy is not what Hayley expected. Over time and trial and error she sees herself and life in a new perspective. She feels life…
Ms. Hogan’s written imagery of Italy, through Hayley’s experiences, was vivid enough to be able to picture everything from the village Assisi to the Rocca Maggiore and everything in between. Vivid enough to want to be there.
The initial description of Hayley was vivid as well and could fit many of us: she often feels alone while in the company of many, her sense of humor is sharp (which she often hides behind), she’s smart and intuitive and, unfortunately, her outlook on herself is self-depreciating. Yet as Hayley, albeit reluctantly at first, takes the opportunity afforded her she grows and discovers who she is, who she really is and who she really wants to be.
Mary Hogan walks a fine line while entertaining the reader…she relates to the young adult as well as seemingly recognizing her responsibility both to the YA and parent (something more YA authors should be aware of). She creates a story that is contemporary to what many teens combat and experience daily, but she also entwines a positive message with an edge and wit.
Connie
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