Revenge of the Girl With the Great Personality

January 14, 2013
Since her parents’ divorce, Lexi’s main role in her family has been to support Mackenzie, her seven-year-old “beauty queen” sister. Fed up with Mackenzie always being in the limelight (not to mention the money their mother spends on pageants), 16-year-old Lexi decides it’s her turn to shine. Following a friend’s advice to stop hiding behind “messy hair and no makeup,” Lexi undergoes a transformation. Wearing longer lashes, makeup, and skirts, Lexi starts turning heads. Although she enjoys her newfound popularity and the attentions of a football player, she wonders whether her new friends, who appear to only like her for her looks, are worth having. This novel has its share of funny moments and will particularly appeal to girls who, like the heroine, see beauty contests as exploitative. However, there’s an acrid edge to the story, as well, which surfaces in Lexi’s bitterness toward her mother and means that some of the points Eulberg (Take a Bow) makes about the pressure to be pretty land heavily. Ages 12–up. Agent: Rosemary Stimola, Stimola Literary Studio.

January 1, 2013
Comedy yields to an affecting drama when a witty but plain girl decides to get glamorous, with unexpected results. Lexi finds herself trapped in a seriously dysfunctional family as her morbidly obese mother pushes her little sister into the child-beauty-pageant circuit. At 7, Mackenzie appears to love it, but Lexi suspects it's her mom who's addicted to the pageants, spending thousands every weekend despite the family's near-poverty. Lexi works and saves diligently to fund her dream of moving to New York. She pays no attention to boys despite a secret crush on Logan, the boyfriend of a teen-pageant beauty. Finally, her two best friends goad her into dolling up for school with the help of a pageant hairstylist and makeup artist, resulting in her immediate rise in popularity, and top dog Taylor, Logan's best friend, asks her out on a date. Popularity proves double-edged; Lexi has difficulty with both her longtime friends and her feelings for Taylor and Logan. Eulberg writes what starts as a witty, fast-moving comedy and morphs it into an affecting drama, drawing cogent parallels between the pageant circuit and Lexi's Dallas high school. In the final pages the author drives her message home with the subtlety of a sledgehammer, an indulgence that is easily overlooked. Excellent comedy and drama. (Fiction. 12-16)

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April 1, 2013

Gr 7 Up-Lexi is never the center of attention, and she's totally okay with that. Ever since her younger sister, Mackenzie, was born, her mother has dragged her to pageants all over Texas so that Mackenzie can get dolled up to win a prize that never seems to come. Lexi's mom has spent so much money on Mac's pageants that the family is running out. Still, Lexi has her job at a clothing store in the mall and her two best friends, Cam and Benny. After one especially awful day, Lexi and Benny dream up a scheme that involves both of them going outside their comfort zones. Lexi will start trying to emulate the popular girls at school and Benny will finally talk to his crush, Chris. As things start changing, Lexi wonders if she didn't like her old self better than the new one. Eulberg's message about self-acceptance doesn't come across as preachy, and Lexi is a good narrator. She's funny and spunky and readers will not only enjoy her story, but also will appreciate the glimpses into the pageant lifestyle. Although it seems as though this is a lighthearted romp through the Little Miss scene, it does have serious tones underneath. Lexi's mom is extremely unlikable and challenging, and her dad is pretty flaky, too. Readers will root for Lexi to not only get what she wants, but also for her to realize that she was pretty awesome to begin with. References to drinking are littered throughout, but this is all-in-all a pretty tame read.-Traci Glass, Eugene Public Library, OR

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