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Book Summary and Reviews of The List by Siobhan Vivian

The List by Siobhan Vivian

The List

by Siobhan Vivian

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  • Published:
  • Apr 2012, 336 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

It happens every year. A list is posted, and one girl from each grade is chosen as the prettiest, and another is chosen as the ugliest. Nobody knows who makes the list. It almost doesn't matter. The damage is done the minute it goes up.

This is the story of eight girls, freshman to senior, "pretty" and "ugly." And it's also the story of how we see ourselves, and how other people see us, and the tangled connection of the two.

Ages 12+

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"Every girl who has ever felt the pressures of trying to fit in will find herself in the pages of this book." - Children's Literature

"Starred Review. This riveting exploration of physical appearance and the status it confers opens a cultural conversation that's needed to happen for a long time." - Kirkus Reviews

"Starred Review. Offering a well-differentiated cast of complex characters and a thoughtful focus on femininity, sisterhood, relationships, eating disorders, and what it means to be singled out, Vivian proves that beauty and ugliness aren't always a matter of appearance." - Publishers Weekly

This information about The List was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

Reader Reviews

Write your own reviewwrite your own review

Unicorn

The List
This was a really good suspenseful book!

Hannah

Excellent and Mature
This is one of the best books I've read during summer break. It was so good, I read it again just last week! I've been trying to look for a good, long book thats not cheesy or childish.

Joy

Disappointing
It's a great book. It was just disappointing to me because all my friends said it was this amazing thing when really, it's pretty average. It has a great message, don't get me wrong, but the whole story seemed kind of forced to me. Especially the ending, I'm still hoping I got a ripped book because to end the book saying, "It's plastic." isn't that great.

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Author Information

Siobhan Vivian Author Biography

Photograph: Janelle Bendycki

Siobhan Vivian was born in New York City on January 12, 1979. She attended The University of the Arts, where she graduated with a degree in Writing for Film and Television. She received her MFA in Creative Writing: Children's Literature from The New School University.

Siobhan has worked as an editor of several New York Times best-selling novels at Alloy Entertainment, and as a scriptwriter for The Disney Channel. She is the author of the young adult novel The List, as well as Not That Kind of Girl, Same Difference, and A Little Friendly Advice, and the Burn for Burn trilogy, cowritten with Jenny Han.

Siobhan she currently teaches Writing Youth Literature at the University of Pittsburgh.

Link to Siobhan Vivian's Website

Other books by Siobhan Vivian at BookBrowse
  • The Last Boy and Girl in the World jacket
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