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Pageant #1
The Southern Girls
What girl wouldn't want to be the first Miss Teen Spirit? "Teen Spirit" magazine wants a real girl to wear the crown, and thousands of real girls will compete for the scholarship, prizes, cash and fame that could launch their future. It's sweethearts and broken hearts, friendship and romance, cheers and tears, as we follow the contestants in the first of four regional pageants on the road to the national pageant.
- GenresYoung Adult
Mass Market Paperback
First published June 1, 1998
17 people want to read
About the author
Cherie Bennett
136 books155 followersA popular novelist, playwright, and newspaper columnist, Cherie moves effortlessly from genre to genre, writing powerful and entertaining work, whether in literary hardcover teen fiction, mass market paperback fiction, for the stage, film and television, and for her nationally-syndicated teen advice column.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
February 5, 2011
How I Came To Read This Book: Oh yes. This happened. My family held a big garage sale in 2010, and I 'rescued' a few books from the pile - among them, classics like Wizard of Oz, and well, this one. I have no clue where I got it from, but as I read it, I realized I did remember elements of the plot that had long been dormant in my mind. Crazy.
The Plot: Pretty straightforward. There's several Miss Teen Spirit Regional pageants being held, and six finalists from each regional will move onto the national pageant. This is a look at the Southern Regional pageant which features your typical 'state' winners alongside your 'Miss Southern Fitness' or 'Southern Beauty' winners. Mkay then. The book follows about half a dozen girls and their stories, before finishing off with the girls moving forward or not.
The Good & The Bad: I mean, what is there to say? I've read sh*ttier YA books in the last couple of years than this one, which was actually surprisingly free of TERRIBLE superlatives. The girls were all relatively painfully archetypal, but it sort of lent itself well to its love/hate relationship with pageants that all of the girls seemed to have. There was nothing mind-blowing about the predictable plot or pedestrian writing, but it was entertaining and actually made me mildly wish I had the rest of the series so I could who won the overall pageant. I imagine it must have been an interesting challenge for the author to create a main sympathetic protagonist or two (in this case, Dawn, a wheelchair-bound cynic and Katie, a self-described piece of trailer trash) per novel and then have to pit them against one another in the end...along with full-on psychopath Allison, the so-called 'Virus'. I'd also be curious to see whether she lets her sweethearts always make their way through - not all of the protagonists in this book are semi-finalists or even finalists by the book's end, so kudos there.
The Bottom Line: Ridiculously fluffy fun.
Anything Memorable?: Oh man, the 90s fashions were AWESOME in this book. Part of why I love reading old YA fiction.
50-Book Challenge?: Book #5 in 2011.
The Plot: Pretty straightforward. There's several Miss Teen Spirit Regional pageants being held, and six finalists from each regional will move onto the national pageant. This is a look at the Southern Regional pageant which features your typical 'state' winners alongside your 'Miss Southern Fitness' or 'Southern Beauty' winners. Mkay then. The book follows about half a dozen girls and their stories, before finishing off with the girls moving forward or not.
The Good & The Bad: I mean, what is there to say? I've read sh*ttier YA books in the last couple of years than this one, which was actually surprisingly free of TERRIBLE superlatives. The girls were all relatively painfully archetypal, but it sort of lent itself well to its love/hate relationship with pageants that all of the girls seemed to have. There was nothing mind-blowing about the predictable plot or pedestrian writing, but it was entertaining and actually made me mildly wish I had the rest of the series so I could who won the overall pageant. I imagine it must have been an interesting challenge for the author to create a main sympathetic protagonist or two (in this case, Dawn, a wheelchair-bound cynic and Katie, a self-described piece of trailer trash) per novel and then have to pit them against one another in the end...along with full-on psychopath Allison, the so-called 'Virus'. I'd also be curious to see whether she lets her sweethearts always make their way through - not all of the protagonists in this book are semi-finalists or even finalists by the book's end, so kudos there.
The Bottom Line: Ridiculously fluffy fun.
Anything Memorable?: Oh man, the 90s fashions were AWESOME in this book. Part of why I love reading old YA fiction.
50-Book Challenge?: Book #5 in 2011.
November 28, 2019
In my quest to reread my way through my childhood, I picked up a book called The Southern Girls (Pageant, #1) by Cherie Bennett. I have always been hesitant to read fiction books on the topic of beauty pageants because I use to compete in them from the age of eight to the age of nineteen, and so many books on this topic seem to be completely off base. Or, the author doesn't like pageants and tends to demonize them. However, Cherie Bennett does a fair job of portraying beauty pageants.
This particular book series was one of my favorites by this particular author . . . second to Bennett's Sunset Island book series. The characters are extremely relatable and for the most part, likable. The only exception was Allison "The Virus" Gaylord, who will do anything to win. Of course, there always has to be a bad guy. At one point, Allison blackmails Willow over something in the past that was covered up by her parents. Willow's parents just happen to be big shots in a particular political party.
What I didn't like about the cover up was that Willow's parents were part of a particular party, and it appears that Cherie Bennett doesn't like that political party, so that was a negative thing for me. It would have been better to leave it up to the reader's imagination to determine the political party. One other thing that bothered me was that one of the characters was an alcoholic. I know that teens will party and drink alcohol, but I found that a teenager being an alcoholic wasn't very believable. Or, maybe I've just been living in a bubble my whole life.
One of the positive story lines was that of the character Katie Laramie, who always tried to make the best out of a bad situation. She is considered "trailer trash" by the people in her community because she lives in a trailer park, and the rent and other bills are always late. Her mother works at a pharmacy and struggles to make ends meet. Especially since Katie's father is in and out of mental institutions due to his PTSD from the Vietnam War. Katie is trying to rise above being poor and desperately wants to be able to go to college. However, to do so, she needs the money and scholarship that the winner of the national pageant receives. I love the fact that this character tries to not let her situation bother her and keeps her head held high.
Despite some of my negative comments about The Southern Girls (Pageant, #1), this book was entertaining and does a decent job portraying beauty pageants and the girls in them. This book is appropriate for kids and teens between the ages of eleven and eighteen, and I think kids today would still find it very relevant. I gave it four out of five stars.
Synopsis of The Southern Girls (Pageant, #1) by Cherie Bennett: Teen Spirit magazine is holding their first ever beauty pageant for girls that are seventeen years old. The first regional pageant is for local title holders in the south, and there are over thirty girls competing to win the southern regional pageant. Six girls will be chosen as a winner and move on to the national pageant.
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This particular book series was one of my favorites by this particular author . . . second to Bennett's Sunset Island book series. The characters are extremely relatable and for the most part, likable. The only exception was Allison "The Virus" Gaylord, who will do anything to win. Of course, there always has to be a bad guy. At one point, Allison blackmails Willow over something in the past that was covered up by her parents. Willow's parents just happen to be big shots in a particular political party.
What I didn't like about the cover up was that Willow's parents were part of a particular party, and it appears that Cherie Bennett doesn't like that political party, so that was a negative thing for me. It would have been better to leave it up to the reader's imagination to determine the political party. One other thing that bothered me was that one of the characters was an alcoholic. I know that teens will party and drink alcohol, but I found that a teenager being an alcoholic wasn't very believable. Or, maybe I've just been living in a bubble my whole life.
One of the positive story lines was that of the character Katie Laramie, who always tried to make the best out of a bad situation. She is considered "trailer trash" by the people in her community because she lives in a trailer park, and the rent and other bills are always late. Her mother works at a pharmacy and struggles to make ends meet. Especially since Katie's father is in and out of mental institutions due to his PTSD from the Vietnam War. Katie is trying to rise above being poor and desperately wants to be able to go to college. However, to do so, she needs the money and scholarship that the winner of the national pageant receives. I love the fact that this character tries to not let her situation bother her and keeps her head held high.
Despite some of my negative comments about The Southern Girls (Pageant, #1), this book was entertaining and does a decent job portraying beauty pageants and the girls in them. This book is appropriate for kids and teens between the ages of eleven and eighteen, and I think kids today would still find it very relevant. I gave it four out of five stars.
Synopsis of The Southern Girls (Pageant, #1) by Cherie Bennett: Teen Spirit magazine is holding their first ever beauty pageant for girls that are seventeen years old. The first regional pageant is for local title holders in the south, and there are over thirty girls competing to win the southern regional pageant. Six girls will be chosen as a winner and move on to the national pageant.
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June 22, 2025
One of my favorite childhood YA series. So sad I can’t find books 2, 3, and 4 for sale.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews