SCHOOL OF CHARM By: Lisa Ann Scot

SCHOOL OF CHARM  By: Lisa Ann Scott                                                                                    Chip faces may sad events in her life. Because her father died, the family must move in with her grandmother in North Carolina. Her grandmother does not accept Chip because she is not beautiful like her two sisters. Chip loves nature and is a "'tomboy." Luckily, Chip discovers a school of charms run by Miss Vernie and decides to try to be in a beauty pageant with her sisters. Miss Vernie helps Chip learn to be herself and to get along with the two other girls at the school--on is African American at a time when blacks have not been accepted in beauty pageants (around 1977) and one feels bad about herself because she is overweight and her stepfather always reminds her of it.  Many times throughout the book Chip wants her dead father to send her a sign to show her how to get along with her family since she feels she is so different from them. This book deals with many problems middle-schoolers face, being beautiful, diversity, death of loved ones, and getting along with their family and peers. Most of all, the characters learn to communicate with each other and to see that being beautiful is being true to yourself. Ages 8-12 Katherine Tegen Books Review written by: Julie Hoch