Uglies

Uglies by Scott Westerfeld is the second book I read for the Books on the Nightstand reading challenge.  Fifteen year old Tally lives in a world where people are separated by whether they are ugly or pretty.  In this world, every person starts off as an Ugly.  On their sixteenth birthday, they receive an operation that turns them into a Pretty.  At this point, they're able to move over to New Pretty Town and begin of a life of fun and partying.  Tally can't wait for the day she gets to become a Pretty.

However, Tally's new friend, Shay, isn't quite so ready to be made "pretty."  She likes her face as it is. Shay runs away just before hers and Tally's sixteenth birthday.  Tally is then forced to choose between turning her friend in or never turning pretty. 

This book is a very easy read and it's a good story. It's well written and manages to be entertaining and thought provoking at the same time.  It challenges our ideas of how we define pretty.  Through Tally, we also see what it means to be a person that challenges society's conventions and beliefs.  I am curious to see how Westerfield continues his ideas through the remaining books.