My critique partners and I thoroughly enjoyed Beauty Queens, by Libba Bray, and have joined together to do a Beauty Queens extravaganza! Be sure to stop by Lisa Green's and Leslie Rose's blogs for fun facts about them, and for another chance to win a signed copy of this awesome book.First, the writing lessons I learned from Beauty Queens (I had total writer envy while reading this book, but that's a subject for another post--or a therapist):
- Brilliant covers help sell books. Seriously, look at that cover. A bathing suit criss-crossed with a sash and a lipstick bandolier? Totally awesome.
- Crazy, seemingly unrelated storylines intersect to create a unique and clever plot. Beauty queens crash land on a deserted island. Pirates arrive. The girls uncover a conspiracy involving an Elvis-loving dictator. Bray's mind must be a fun, scary, brilliant, intimidating place to visit.
- Fun footnotes are a cool diversion. John Green did it in An Abundance of Katherines, and Bray did it with Beauty Queens. For me, the footnotes didn't slow down the story. They added more hilarity, and again I marveled at the author's cleverness.
- Campy, fun books can have teeth. Sure, this book might seem like it's only about self-centered beauty queens, but it carried strong messages about self-esteem, tolerance, and inner beauty.
Throughout the book, readers were treated to the contestants' Miss Teen Dream Fun Facts Pages. In an effort to either entertain you or embarrass ourselves, Lisa, Leslie and I are sharing our own fun facts pages. Here we go!
Miss Teen Dream Fun Facts Page
Name: Julie Musil (although if you visited my home, you'd think it's "Mom, do you know where my ___ is?")
State: California, where you're never too rich or too thin, and everyone has an agent or sells real estate.
Age: Are you trying to be funny? Is The Corporation selling anti-aging pills or something? I should totally sue them. *checks wrinkles in mirror*
Height: I haven't grown an inch since middle school. What does that tell ya?
Weight: See answer to "age". *checks rear view in mirror*
Hair: Are we talking roots? Or after I've seen the colorist? Just checking.
Eyes: Fine--like Elizabeth Bennett's (Mr. Darcy, call me!)
Best Feature: It depends on the day--either my positive attitude or my well-shaped feet.
Fun Facts About Me
- At a whopping 5' 1", I'm the tallest female in my family. Seriously. One sister is 4' 9", another is 4' 11", and our mom is just under 5' 1". At least we never had to worry about wearing high heels around guys (Sorry, Nicole Kidman. That had to be rough)
- I won't eat meat off the bone, and won't touch any seafood. Like, never. I'm actually squirming right now just thinking about it.
- I forget serious, important information, and yet I remember useless stuff. Like Seinfeld-isms (yada yada yada, soup nazi, close talker), the Gilligan's Island theme song (Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale...), and commercials (Remember this chant? Big Mac, filet-of-fish, quarter pounder, french fries. Icy Cokes, thick shakes, sundaes, and apple pies).
Ok guys, it's your turn. We're giving away a SIGNED copy of Beauty Queens! Please tell us at least one fun fact about yourself in order to be entered into our book giveaway. U.S. addresses only, and the deadline is Monday, October 24th, at midnight EST. Good luck!