MODELLAND

Author (last name first):
Banks, Tyra
Publisher, Date of Publication: 
Delacorte Press/ 2011
Grade Level/ or Age Level: 
6th and Up
Classification: 
Fiction  

Tookie de la Creme is a forgettable girl. No one sees her; no one cares. People in school walk by her, on top of her and around her without  acknowledging her presence as she prostrates herself in the middle of the school hallway skipping classes. Everyone thinks she is a freak with her mismatched eyes. Her hair is said to have a multiple personality disorder, it is so wild and her forhead is the width of 6 fingers. Even her family feels pressed to remember her existence. Her mother remembers her only when she needs help, while her sister lives only to torment her, and her father no longer believes that she is a child. The only person who may love Tookie is Lizzie and her sanity is questionable at best.

All this changes on The Day of Discovery(T-DOD). This is the day when the yellow smoke clears away and gives the world their rare glimpse of that magnificent place that churns out 7 of the most beautiful and magical girls in the world. They are the Intoxibellas and every girl aims to be one. 

To get chosen all girls must strut their stuff on T-DOD in the hopes of getting picked by a scout. To get the best chances of success you must have a Smise, a strange yellow membrane that covers your eyes and makes you look even more beautiful. Tookie finds one but is forced to give it to her sister. Yet on T-DOD it is Tookie who is chosen by a scout, who then continues on to pick 3 more girls, all of whom are like Tookie, the antitheses of what a Modelland Bella looks like. As it turns out the scout is Ci-L, the most famous of all the Modelland Intozibellas ever to graduate with all the seven abilities. She is on a mission to change Modelland and she sees her chance in the 4 girls. 

The 4 girls become fast friends and learn quickly that they will need each other to survive the tortures of Modelland and their standards of what is acceptable beauty versus unique beauty. They discover that the place has some well hidden secrets and it will take the 4 friends and lots of courage to uncover what they are and free the secrets that have been buried for too long. 

Reviewed By: Nicola Clement (Midwestern State University Student)