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Perfect by Ellen Hopkins
A Beauty pageant contestant willingly suffers from Bulimia. An aspiring baseball jock that has to make sure his timing is down and I am not talking about his ability to hit a pitched baseball. I am referring to the timing of his team’s drug testing. A girl who is discovers what it means to be in love. She loves her perfect jock boyfriend, but is in love with a vibrant, full of life, rescuer who saved her on the ski slopes after a minor accident that could have been major when she was skiing alone; or so she thought she was. An African American rich kid who wants to buck the Ivy League future his upwardly mobile parents envisioned for him for a chance to dance.
Four high school seniors; you would think by this time they would know the meaning of the word perfect. But, as the first few pages of this novel by Ellen Hopkins suggest “when did creating a flawless facade become a more vital goal then learning to love the person who lives inside your skin? The outside belongs to others; only you should decide for you what is perfect.”
Ellen Hopkins is a New York Times best-selling author. She has become a master at penning novels that speak to the important issues this generation of teenagers face with empathy and respect for that fact that all anyone want is love. Perfect is the perfect read for people who want to gain a better understanding or perhaps a new perspective on how our self-images are affected by others and the extent one may endure for the sake of achieving perceived perfection.
Review by Andrea – CLP Hill District
