5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of the best books I've ever read!!!!, June 27, 1999
By A Customer
I could really feel what Scottie-Anne was going through throughout the entire book. How would you feel if your sister was little miss perfect beauty queen and you were just a regular person? You probably wouldn't feel that special. The whole book is about Scottie-Anne realizing she doesn't have to be like her sister to be special. Or anyone else. She just has to be herself. I absolutely love this book!!! If you like Caroline B. Cooney you'll like this book!
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent!, January 8, 2001
By A Customer
What I liked to most about this one is that Cooney doesn't make Dane, the professional Beauty Queen, out to be the Wicked Witch of the Runway. That would have been very easy to do since Dane is quite self-involved, and wishes to use her sister's first-ever beauty pageant to prove a point. Cooney paints Dane as a very human person: not angelic or sweet (though she can act it), but not evil and mean, either. In her own way, Dane's realism is as unvarnished as Scottie-Anne's. "I've had to listen to more crap than most people endure in a lifetime" she says to Scottie-Anne "No adult would dream about going up to a basketball star or an honor-roll student and saying 'Aren't you ashamed of yourself for doing that?' But people walk right up to me!"
Scottie-Anne, of course is also marvelously portrayed. While she does feel envy for Dane's looks, her struggles to find her own success and to use her own gifts is conveyed with much more humor and irony than self-pity. And her admission to herself that she *wants* to win the pageant is very poignant. For better or for worse, beauty *does* count in our society, and probably most of us gals out there, no matter how smart and talented we are, probably wish we fulfilled the narrow ideals for what female beauty is in America. Scottie Anne sums it up perfectly:
"You must have white teeth. Lots of them. Poise, out of all proportion to what you have actually accomplished on earth. Shiny, thick hair, a lovely dress, a sexy walk, and long, slim legs"
and in her words we can truly see just how narrow the standards are.
This book is truly well-done. Five stars for Cooney!
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
This author must have done pageants???, December 29, 1997
As a mother of a pre-teen pageant contestant I was amazed by the amount of truth found in this book. While browsing a local book store during free time at a pageant, my daughter stumbled upon "Twenty Pageants Later". My first impression of the book was that it would be immature and silly pre-teen reading material. Much to my delight I found just the opposite. Not only was I intrigued and amused by much of the content of the book, my daughters, and even grandma enjoyed it immensely. We enjoyed it so much that I actually read the whole book aloud in a matter of two hours. We laughed and cried and basically identified with the characters in the book. There is much truth in this book, as anyone involved in pageant life will immediately see. I'd be extremely surprised if the author did not have some type of background in pageantry. I would recommend this book to anyone, not only pageant participants, as it shows both sides of the pageant issue. It presents both sides in a comprehensive and non confrontational way.
Nancy Berka MBerka@naspa.net
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
