TWO EX-BEST FRIENDS. TWO ENORMOUS SECRETS. ONE BEAUTY PAGEANT.
Everyone knows that Meteor, New Mexico, got its name from the space rock that crashed into the desert nearby. No one knows that Lita Perez came with it—or that she’s starting to turn back into stardust. She’ll never get a chance to graduate high school or kids the boy of her dreams — not unless she can find a way to make Meteor hold onto her and never let go. Not unless she achieve her wildest childhood dream and win the annual Miss Meteor beauty pageant. But if she’s going to have a chance, she’ll need her ex-best friend Chicky Quintanilla.
Chicky knows Lita has no chance of becoming Miss Meteor. Every year, the pageant queen is skinny, poised, and white—three things that Lita definitely is not. But Chicky also knows that if Lita wins, it will show this whole backward town that there’s more to beauty than being blonde and popular. If Lita can find a way to overcome the odds, then maybe Chicky can find a way to come out of the closet. Maybe she can finally stand up to the people who look down on her for not fitting in and stop pushing away the people who make her feel seen. To pull off the unlikeliest underdog story in pageant history, Lita and Chicky are going to have to forget the past and imagine a future where girls like them are more than enough—they are everything.
Your older teen readers will appreciate the 12 selections in this category, a diverse mix of fiction and nonfiction covering complex issues and more mature content, from crushes and body changes to friendships and sibling rivalry.
