Review: Prettiest Doll by Gina Willner-Pardo

Prettiest Doll by Gina Willner-Pardo.

Clarion Books
Publication Date: November 2012
List Price: $16.99
ISBN-13: 9780547681702

Review: Do you like stories that are adventurous and that action-packed? Do you like reading books that are hard to put down and that are extremely fascinating? Well, I think that Prettiest Doll is the book for you! From the author Gina Willner-Pardo comes a magnificent new book that is a really great and exciting read for many different ages!

The protagonist, Olivia, age 13, has been competing in pageants since she was three years old. Liv, as Olivia is called, is often referred to as ÒprettyÓ by many different people. Now, she is getting ready for a huge pageant called ÒThe Prettiest Doll Pageant.Ó With the help of her mother, her coach Miss Denise, and another coach Mrs. Drucker, she might be able to win this tough competition. However, Liv is afraid. She is fearful that ÒprettyÓ won't cut it, and she wants to be more than pretty. On schedule, Liv goes to Miss Denise's house to prepare and practice for the competition, but she takes a quick break to go to Turner's General Store, her favorite place to buy fudge. There, she meets a boy named Danny, and he is the first one to ever say that she seems Òsmart.Ó Liv thinks that being intelligent might help her win the pageant, but when she goes to Miss Denise's, Denise is disappointed in her walking, smiling and singing. Liv is not performing well, and there are only three weeks until the pageant---three weeks to practice her pageant and interview skills. Miss Denise tells Liv that she plans to send her to Mrs. Drucker's house for additional coaching. Mrs. Drucker is very stern, and Liv is certainly not ready to go there. Later on, Liv connects with Danny, and they set off on a journey of discovery about each other and life!

In my opinion, Prettiest Doll is a great read for both girls and boys in grades four to seven. There are some dull parts of the book, but don't all books have slow parts? I love Prettiest Doll because of its humor and adventure, and I believe that you will agree that it is an awesome book. Also, I enjoyed learning about the nature of beauty pageants, the behind the scenes preparation and happenings. What an amazing adventure can begin with a beauty pageant! Most people have no idea how much preparation and practice is required for a person to compete in a beauty pageant. Once I started reading, I could not put it down!! So if you are interested in a book that is a fascinating and exciting, I would strongly suggest that you check out the novel titled Prettiest Doll!

Review written by Caroline (6th grade student).

We would like to thank Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for providing a copy of Prettiest Doll for this review.

Have you read Prettiest Doll? How would you rate it?