Schraff, Ann. The Fairest

Schraff, Ann The Fairest
Saddleback 2011 179 8.99
978-1-61651-007-2 ms/hs VG Urban Underground (Saddleback)

One of the newer teachers at Tubman High suggests a Princess of the Fair contest in the hopes it will create school spirit. In fact, it does the opposite by creating a nasty popularity contest and pitting students against other students. One of the newer teachers at Tubman High School,Ms McDowell, suggests a Princess of the Fair contest to select the girl who most embodies the qualities of the school’s namesake. She does this in hopes it will create school spirit. However, it does the opposite by creating a nasty popularity contest that pits student against student and brings out the worst in some of the students. The various factions of teens inhabit this novel in the Urban Underground series: mean girls, bullies, nice kids, abused students, etc. All of the personalities come into play as they team up to support or to harass those vying for the position. The guys start making lists of girls, mostly unflattering and sexist. One of the students, Jasmine, goes way overboard in trying to get others to vote for her. She has been known to be a mean girl but now is trying to show that she isn’t really that way. Of course, it’s a sham and her projects to show her change go against school rules and also causes some revenge behavior in the students she has snubbed in the past. However, all ends well when the nicest, most comforting girl in the school wins because she actually does have the virtues similar to Harriet Tubman. This title in the Urban Underground series is reminiscent of the Bluford High series and the author of this book also wrote a few titles for them. This would be a very good, useful book for those middle and high school libraries looking for high interest titles for reluctant readers. Realistic Fiction Weinraub, Tina