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Summary
Summary
Everybody has two eyes and a nose and a mouth. What makes some people beautiful and some people not?
Nikki never imagined that this offhand thought would change the course of her senior year forever. But when she poses the question to her best friends, Alicia and Sam, Alicia is suddenly inspired, and the three unexpectedly find themselves launching a "human experiment." It seems like the perfect way to make a difference in their last few weeks of high school: they will each pick a student who needs a little improving and take that person to the prom.
Harmless, right?
When Nikki, Alicia, and Sam quickly become entrenched in their projects, each has to face difficult realizations about the people they have chosen -- and themselves. Before long their own close friendship feels fragile. Will they make it to graduation without hurting one another -- or anybody else?
Acclaimed author Kristen D. Randle has woven an intriguing, insightful, and suspenseful story about three friends who set out to transform others, with unforeseen consequences.
Reviews (5)
Publisher's Weekly Review
High school seniors Nikki, Alicia and Sam (two girls and a guy) embark on a Pygmalion-like plan. They will each choose a person (who is "obviously untapped, and we will try to open him up, set him free, give him life"), take the chosen three to the prom and, afterward, decide which has wrought the biggest change. Predictably, after picking, respectively, a nerd, a rebel and a misfit, each of the friends, all Mormons, learns that the "untapped" person isn't what they imagined-and that they need to face their own problems. Randle (The Only Alien on the Planet) rotates through the three narrators' perspectives with mixed success; while dreamy Alicia's belief that the school bad boy is simply misunderstood seems realistic, the intense family problems that Sam unearths from black-lipstick-wearing Tia read as extreme (her stepfather threatens to stop paying for her retarded brother's care unless "his other needs were looked after"). Readers may be disappointed that the premise all but disappears after the set-up, and the book's point, that "there are lots of wonderful normals out there," seems obvious. While there are some tender moments, especially when the narrators deal with their own families (Alicia buys her sister new Sunday shoes after their mother leaves them; loudmouth Nikki breaks down when she overhears her parents fighting), the novel frequently feels formulaic. Ages 12-up. (July) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Horn Book Review
(High School) ""There's something about traveling to another country: you can never see your own home quite the same way again."" Nikki provides this neat metaphor for the ""project"" she and her two best friends take on at the end of senior year: she, Sam, and Alicia will each choose someone with untapped potential and remake that someone--and then they'll take their creations to the prom. The story quickly leaves the territory of teen-Pygmalion romance, however, as their travels into other lives result in the alteration of their own instead. Popular Nikki bestows her attentions on ""classic nerd"" Brian Camarga, but instead of transforming him into a handsome prince, she learns how to write HTML. Alicia is drawn to mysterious bad boy Morgan Weiss, convinced she'll uncover the ""dark angel"" within, but discovers less mystery and more darkness. Sam takes the furthest journey, into the hidden world of TiaTerraletto (whom Nikki has dubbed ""Girl Most Likely to Beat You with Chains""), revealing a situation so horrifying it makes him vomit--and changing both their lives in unexpected ways. Certainly we expect the unexpected from a good book, and Randle delivers this and then some, creating layers of complexity in all the characters' lives. The three friends have grown up together in the Mormon church, and their beliefs color many of their choices (Sam is powerfully attracted to Tia but has decided to abstain from sex until marriage--hardly a typical portrayal of a popular athlete). The first-person narratives are skillfully interwoven, and the interchange is especially taut when all three relate the events of a single scene, jumping from one perspective to the next. The variety of viewpoints supports the book's theme, succinctly put by Nikki's mother: ""There are a lot of...normals out there."" Such wisdom is undidactically and smoothly integrated into this fresh, energetic novel. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
Booklist Review
Gr. 8-11. In the last several weeks of their senior year, three friends, the only Mormon students in their class, launch an ill-advised project that leads each to a better, if painful, understanding of the world. The plan is for each to befriend a fellow student--someone who seems to need a friend--and then ask that person to the prom. Alicia, Nikki, and Sam choose differently, with different results. Each student narrates short sections within each chapter, creating a distinct personality through voice and thought. The results of Alicia's efforts are a bit too predictable, and her character isn't as strong as that of her friends. But Sam convincingly deals with difficult ethical and emotional issues, and Nikki discovers new aspects of herself in an entertaining way. The fact that these friends are drawn together by religion, which is an integral part of their lives, is particularly refreshing. --Kathleen Odean Copyright 2003 Booklist
School Library Journal Review
Gr 9 Up-Seniors Nikki, Sam, and Alicia cook up a "Great Idea." Each of them is to choose a person "who is obviously untapped" and through friendship, kindness, and support release that individual's potential. For Nikki, the class nerd Brian is the ideal choice. With a little help she knows that she could turn him into the perfect prom date. Sam chooses Tia with the black lipstick, eyebrow ring, and Nazi shoes. Alicia decides to change Morgan, the school rebel and all-around bad guy. The story, told in alternating voices, veers immediately from the typical Pygmalion scenario. All three teens leave their comfort zone to enter the world of their proteges. For Nikki, it requires working on a school project with Brian and his superbrainy buddy on their turf, but Sam and Alicia both enter worlds in which they are ill prepared to cope. Tia allows Sam into her dark world of abuse where he sees firsthand the extent to which she will go to protect her brother. Alicia insinuates herself into Morgan's life and quickly sees how far apart their worlds are. The alternating narratives personalize the story and show individual character growth. The premise of trying to impose one's ideals and values on others without knowing their circumstances is a life lesson that gives teens much to think about without ever letting the message dominate the storytelling.-Sharon Morrison, Southeastern Oklahoma State University, Durant, OK (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
In this Pygmalion story with a twist, three provincial high-school seniors, all Mormons with conventional values, bet that each can befriend a classmate with untapped potential, change him or her for the better, then take that person to the prom. But the chosen students, who have their own agendas, are more resistant than flattered, and it's the triad of heroes--two girls and guy--who end up having their eyes opened. Alternately narrated in the first person by the three protagonists, there are a lot of characters and stories to keep track of and it takes a while to key into their various situations. The tales, one that involves the long-term sexual abuse of a minor, one that ends in an ugly hazing and humiliation, and one about a centered geek, don't entirely fit together. Still, a thoughtful work about the nature of doing good. (Fiction. YA) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.