Pretty Monsters

There’s nothing more monstrous than perfection in J. S. Lemon’s masterful and haunting work of middle grade speculative fiction, a cautionary tale about the commodification of beauty.

Beauty queens don’t eat candy.

Ruby Driscoll became a beauty queen at the age of four. Since then, she’s worked hard to be a flawless pageant girl—a toxic goal that takes on a sinister truth when Ruby’s arms start moving strangely at her latest competition. Less like a human girl’s and more like . . . a Barbie ...