Pretty Face

Publishers Weekly

Overweight Hayley is tired-of Southern California, "where there are more gym memberships than library cards," of her mother's nagging about her diet and, especially, of being told she has a pretty face, a "veiled insult" if ever there was one. When her parents send her to spend the summer with friends in Italy, hoping to help her escape the pressure over body image, she is thrilled. Hayley does discover a healthier, happier way of life in Umbria; however, Hogan (Perfect Girl ) casts a rose-colored lens on the experience (in addition to having her own beautiful cottage and easy-going chaperones, Hayley falls in love with a turquoise-eyed boy who says things like, "I can't look at you without knowing you will soon leave me"). Even so, Hayley commands a sharp wit and delivers smart insights. Like Hayley, readers will question an American culture that is both thin-obsessed and dependent on fast food and cars, but this novel is not so much issues-oriented as a conduit of vicarious pleasure. Ages 14-up. (Apr.)

Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Children's Literature - Kathleen Foucart

Haylee has a pretty face, but living in Santa Monica, California, a pretty face does not seem to be enough. Her mother is always telling her to work out and eat better, even purchasing a talking scale in the hopes that hearing her weight aloud every morning will somehow help. Finally, in an attempt to let Haylee grow up and figure out her own issues, her parents allow her to spend the summer in Italy with her mother's college friend, Patrice and her family. Haylee finds Italy beautiful and soon falls in love with her new surroundings and her summer family, but will the ghosts of Haylee's problems follow her across the ocean, or will she really turn her life around? Packed with stories about learning to love life and yourself, Haylee's journey to acceptance is one many teenage girls will recognize and welcome. This book does contain some non-gratuitous sexuality, and is recommended for a slightly older teen audience. Reviewer: Kathleen Foucart

VOYA - C. J. Bott

Sixteen-year-old Hayley is a girl with curves who lives in Santa Monica where thin is not only in, it rules. Her mother is a compulsive dieter and tofu pusher, so life is not easy for Hayley. Food is her drug of choice, and her extreme bingeing is always linked to a boy. Following a suggestion from her mother's therapist, Hayley's parents decide she needs an escape from the pressures and send her to Italy for the summer where she will stay with her mother's college friend. Hogan provides humorous scenes with Hayley sliding the scale around the bathroom floor to find the most weight friendly spot; painful scenes when she orders pizza for a party and then eats it alone in her car parked near a dumpster to get rid of the evidence; and escape scenes in Italy that will make any teen want to google Assisi, Italy, and fantasize about living in a tower and sharing the tower bed with a nice Italian boy. But the writing is uneven, and when Italy enters the story, it becomes the main character. The novel is an escape-chick lit for teens who fantasize about leaving their lives and finding romance-something teens need as much as adults. Hayley has her escape but she does not learn any coping skills to help her deal with her dependence on food or boys. Reviewer: C. J. Bott

KLIATT

AGERANGE: Ages 15 to 18.

High school junior Hayley struggles with her weight. She wants to be thin, but she can’t quite summon up the discipline to exercise and stick to good nutrition. Her mother is no help; she nags and pesters Hayley until Hayley takes refuge in a large pepperoni pizza. Then there is Drew, the boy Hayley definitely wants to know better. She and Drew become friends and Hayley is convinced that he really likes her for who she is, not what she looks like. The truth that Drew would like to date her best friend Jackie is devastating. Realizing that her daughter is in need of more than just a good diet, Hayley’s mom arranges for her to spend the summer in Umbria, Italy with a former college friend who lives in the hills outside of the ancient city of Assissi. The heat, the lack of American fast food and the reliance on her own feet start to make a difference for Hayley physically; the opportunity to be independent helps her emotionally. Hayley becomes friends with Enzo, a young man who works in his mother’s café. He shows her the real Italy and helps Hayley build a true self-image, one that includes her budding sexuality. Hayley has a witty voice and high school readers will connect with her longing to be more than who she is. Her journey to accept herself is true to life, but the sexual encounter, while not graphic, nonetheless adds a very adult dimension to the novel. Reviewer: Janis Flint-Ferguson
March 2008 (Vol. 42, No.2)

School Library Journal

Gr 9 Up- Hayley is an overweight junior with a "pretty face" and a good story to tell. She feels the pressure to have a beautiful body in her Santa Monica high school and at home, with a mother who has recently lost weight and now insists that the whole family eat mass amounts of tofu. The bright spot in the teen's life is her upcoming date with Drew, but then he expresses an interest in Jackie. Worried that her life in Santa Monica is too stressful, her parents suggest a 10-week visit with family friends living in Italy, and Hayley jumps at the idea. As soon as school lets out, she is on her way, with a plan to lose 30 pounds and make over her life. Once she settles into life in Umbria, though, she indulges in the local cuisine and the local tendency to walk or bike everywhere. Over the course of the summer, Hayley does lose a bit of weight, but, more importantly, she gains a sense of self and has a little romance along the way. Told with a more realistic voice than the weight-obsessed fat camp participants in Sasha Paley's Huge (S & S, 2007), Pretty Face offers a positive example of a teen who simply needs to get away from her old routines and view her life from a new perspective.-Sarah Krygier, Solano County Library, Fairfield, CA

Kirkus Reviews

Stuck in body-conscious southern California, hanging out with a perfectly proportioned best friend and living with a mom obsessed with slimming down, the overweight Hayley's chances at happiness are as slim as she wants to be. However, when her concerned parents generously offer to send her to Italy for the summer to live with her mom's college roommate, Hayley's luck seems to be changing. Determined to shed pounds, Haley arrives in Umbria prepared to count calories; however, she almost immediately falls into the slow-paced rhythm of her host family that relies heavily on Italy's rich food culture. At first guiltily giving into chewy breads and salty cheeses, Hayley soon learns that food isn't the enemy and with determination naturally and healthily balances her weight. Beautifully written descriptions of the Italian countryside contrast with gritty details of California, highlighting Hayley's transformation and adding depth to her character to make her much more than a pretty face. (Fiction. YA)