The List by Siobhan Vivian (Fiction)

This book has about eight main characters and their names are Abby, Danielle, Candace, Lauren, Sarah, Bridget, Jennifer and Margo. The book "The List" takes place at a high school and there is a lot of drama involved. A list comes out every year soon before homecoming and it has two girl's names from each grade posted on it. In each grade one girl is named the ugliest, and one the prettiest. Everyone knows about the list, but no one knows who created it. After the list comes out, some people are happy, and some not so much. Each of the girls takes this a different way, some rebelling because they got named the ugliest, and others thrilled they got named the prettiest. It affects everyone, not just the girls that were on it. All eight girls are demanded to work together with their principle to figure out who could have made the list. This further teaches them, or at least most of them, how to work together. The actual list in the book is the antagonist of the story, even though it's not human, it's just as influential. Without the list, the book would have no story because there would not be a main source of dispute. "The List" has many chapters with each one a different girl's view of what's going on.

I really liked this book. It was very interesting and had a lot of plot twists. I'm not a big fan of reading, but this book was really good. People who enjoy books with drama would definitely like this book. I would recommend it to people 12 and older though, because it is in a high school setting and there are some inappropriate parts. I love the style that the author wrote in, and I would like to read more of her books. This book is something I expect to be in a movie, so I'm surprised there isn't one. The whole plot makes me think of bullying because there were some situations in the book related to that, plus the list was certainly a form of bullying. I believe that is a good topic to bring into a book because it shows how bullying can negatively affect someone and that you never know someone's backstory. This book also shows how people are very different and take things differently. The book ended on a kind of weird note though. I think the author should have made it into a series because by the time I finished the book many of my questions were unanswered. I hope anyone who reads this does read the book because it was very entertaining.

A quote I liked that the author included in the book:

“Sometimes, when you get something new, you trick yourself into believing it has the power to change absolutely everything about you.”

Reviewed by Savannah D. 8th Grade