The Pretties by Scott Westerfeld (Part 1) *SOME PARTS SPOILED*

This Blog Is a Summary of the book.
If you have not read "The Uglies" please read my summary for clarification on this post!

"The Pretties" starts off with Tally Wanting to Join the Crims.  The Crims is a group of pretties that are very spontaneous.  They often pull off funny pranks to keep themselves "Bubbly", which means that their "pretty minds" are not in order and they feel as if they the city rules are crazy.  All Pretties have a "Pretty Mind."  It is when a lesions is placed inside you head what makes you think that you are perfect and so is you're life. It makes it so you never want to rebel.
  Eveyone knows Tally will get into the Crims because of her incident with the smoke.  And of course, she is.  She instantly is one of the leaders of the Crims along with Zane.  Their is a celebrations for the new Crims, and at that party she receives a note from a stranger.  She doesn't decide to open that note until her first date with Zane in the park.  The note is from when she was an ugly and was in the smoke.  The note told her about a cure for the lesions and how she promised she would test them out.  So her and Zane go for it.   They go to the place the note instructs them. Valentino 317. When they go to search for the room, the only find 316 and 317. They figure out that the room was replaced with an elevator s they climb to the top where they find an old rusty do with 317 engraved into it.  they going to find a small bottle with 2 pilsl sitting on the floor. They close the door so no one can see them. Tallia is debating on taking the pill she doesn't know she wants to because it could possibly kill her. Then they hear footsteps of the above them. They know it is special circumstance so Zane and Tally each take one pill to cure their "pretty minds" just before the door flies open.  Since they both took off their inference rings, which are trackers they are suppose to wear all the time, they both get bracelets put on that they are not able to take off.
  A month goes by and Zane was getting very bad headaches which they think are from the pill, but they ignore it because he can't go to the doctors or they will know something is wrong with his brain. And the crims get ready to pull off their biggest prank yet.  Right before a soccer game, they are going to go to the floating ice rink above the field, and dump alcohol on it so it will crack under their feet, and send them free falling through the air.  They all prepare with their bungee jackets. They go on the ice and drop the alcohol. All the crims are sent flying down. The audience is in shock and don't know what to do. The crims fall and once they get close to the ground their bungee jackets send them springing back up, braking their fall. After everyone has landed, The crims are instantly famous around uglyville and all the pretty towns. And Zane and Tally are the most famous of them all.
     After this tremendous prank, Zane and Tally knew the pills worked because they never stops feeling bubbly and they thought the city rules were crazy. They knew they had to get out of the city and start a new smoke with all the crims. They talk to the crims about it and for weeks they plan their escape. The one major problem is Zane and Tally's bracelets. They can't take them off like the others can with the inference rings. After weeks of trying to become skinny enough to get them off Zane has an idea. They sneak out to machines that are suppose to be to cup metal, and Zane sticks in his hand and tells Tally to pull the Buttons that make the machines chomp what ever is inside. But Tally can't. She is to worried that the machine will crush Zane's hand along with the bracelet. However, rigt when Tally is about to take the risk and hit the buttons, she sees fire restance gloves. She stops and grabs then for the escape. Right away Zane and Tally notify all the crims to get into hot air ballons and to float away. They all do as told and Zane and tally slide on the heat restance gloves under their bracelets. They float away and Zane and Tally stick their hands into the fire lifting the balloon, hoping that the heat will expand the braclets enough to slide off of ther wrists.  Tally's gets hers off easy but Zane's won't and they are reaching the city borders. At the last second it slips off and everyone jumps with their hoverboards to stop their fall and to bring them to the new smoke. Tally is about to Jump when she's that Peris did not jump. She tries to convince him but it won't work. She then realizes that she has gone over city limits and that their is no metal in the ground to stop her hoverboard and her fall. She doesn't know what to do, UNTILL she sees a river. She knows that all rivers have metal in them so she jumps landing dead center over the water.  However, it was to deep so her hoverboard could not stop her fall. She is sent tumbling into the water.  When she is finally able to get out she realize her hoverboard is gone and she is going to have to walk by foot.
     She begins her journey and is suddenly attacked by Old man who were still uglies, they call themselves "The Outsiders." Right before they're about to hit her, they realize  she is a pretty.  And to them pretties were gods. They apologize and take her back to their camp. There she tells them all about her plan of the new somke. They all plan to help her. The next day she wakes up and is given lots of food and things to help survive. All she can think about is if Zane is okay and if they are all at the smoke and are scared about her. As they leave, their leader, Andrew, says he will go with her to protect her from the other people in the wild that would kill her and from to make sure she is always safe. Will Tally make it back to the new smoke, or will she be killed by the wilderness?  Does Zane survive? Will they ever see each other again? Read the phenominal book "The Pretties" by Scott Westerfeld to find out how the stunning story unfolds at the end.

The Pretties by Scott Westerfeld *SPOILER*(Part 2)

Read Above (The summary) before reading this for clarification.

"The Pretties" by Scott Westerfeld is a phenomenal book that is just as intriguing and suspenseful as the first book in this series, "The Ugilies." I enjoyed the whole book, from the first page to the last. Although, their are some parts that I thought were to long, but everything else was a stunning jaw dropper with surprising turn outs.

         However, one of the moments in "The Pretties " that I thought was too long was when Tally was brought back to the camp of the outsiders she met after she fell into the river. I felt that during that chapter it was repetitive and some of was its confusing because it was all over the place. But other then that, I though the rest of the book was stunning. 

    Through all the stunning moments their was one part that I thought was the most intriguing part of the book.  It was when the crims were trying to escape. It all started when Zane and Tally had to get their bracelets off so they would not be tracked.  Mr. Westerfeld used his amazing talent of description to scare you because you makes you think Zane and Tally are going to risk having their hands flattened to attempt to get of the bracelets.  He continues to convince you until that last second, when Tally finds the heat resistance gloves. Then, when the crims fly away on the hot air balloons, they use the  heat from the fire holding up the balloon to expand the bracelet and slide it off.  Mr. Westerfeld keeps you on the edge of your seat when Tally slides hers off but Zane's wont come off and they are reaching the city borders.  Zane finally gets his off and all the crims jump with their hoverboard which will catch them.  However, Peris does not jump, Tally stops to talk to him.  But she realized that the small talk would be just enough time to go out of the city limits so Tallys hover board wont work anymore.  Will she jump with the risk of dying? Will she go back to the city with Peris? or is their a safe way down? Mr. Westerfelds leaves you with many questions which urges you to read on even more! 

I highly recommend this book this book and series to any mid-teens and young adults.  It is a fantastic read that you will never want to put down.   I hope you enjoy "The Pretties" just as much as I did!

The Wall by Peter Sís

      "The Wall" is a memoir about a boy growing up in Czechoslovakia during the middle of the Cold war between the Soviet Union and the USA and their allies.  Peter Sís did not right many words to go with the story, but he did use a lot of photos.  However, the amount of words does make the book any worse, because a photo is worth a thousand words. He also uses colors in the book to symbolize what his life is like.
      Sís uses his drawings in the picture book to show how the boys life was changing.  When he was little he could draw anything, so he drew flowers and simple drawings.  However, as he got older he knew more about what was happening and drew his feelings.  Eventually he had no freedom at all.  The picture that touched me the most of the one where the boy had to hide underground his paintings cause he didn't have the freedom to paint what he wanted to.  This got to me because it shows how the Soviet Union didn't give you much freedom.  They wouldn't even let you express you're self so he would have to hid his feelings from the world.
     Throughout the book, the two main colors he uses are red and gray.  He uses those two colors to symbolize his life and how plain.  Gray because gray tends to be a more boring color and his life is plain, and it symbolizes that he does not have much freedom.   Red symbolizes the very little excitement in his life, and the Soviet Union because they had to follow what ever they said and they wanted everyone to think that it they were good.
      The small amount of words in the book are also very important. They describe how he felt at the time and how he had no freedom at home.  How his own drawings were being used against him.  Also, how he was eventually only allowed to dream, he could not draw anywhere with freedom. For years he was trapped in that word and all it did was get worse. All he could dream of was being free. Eventually, he was able to make it over the wall to freedom. Next thing he knew, his dream came true and the wall feel and finally the war was over.  His dreams came true and he was once again free.