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Pretty Ugly

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David Sedaris and Ian Falconer make a spectacular splash with this tale of a monster turned ugly—stuck with a human face!

In this beautifully gross picture book, Anna Van Ogre’s lovely monster face turns into that of a sickeningly adorable, rosy-cheeked little girl—and it’s not switching back! Can she find a way to stop looking like an ugly human and regain her gorgeous monstrosity of a face? The dynamic duo of nationally acclaimed comedian David Sedaris and renowned children's book author Ian Falconer comes together to ponder the perpetually relevant is true beauty really on the inside?

32 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2001

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About the author

David Sedaris

120 books28.6k followers
David Raymond Sedaris is an American humorist, comedian, author, and radio contributor. He was publicly recognized in 1992 when National Public Radio broadcast his essay "Santaland Diaries". He published his first collection of essays and short stories, Barrel Fever, in 1994. His next book, Naked (1997), became his first of a series of New York Times Bestsellers, and his 2000 collection Me Talk Pretty One Day won the Thurber Prize for American Humor.
Much of Sedaris's humor is autobiographical and self-deprecating and often concerns his family life, his middle-class upbringing in the suburbs of Raleigh, North Carolina, his Greek heritage, homosexuality, jobs, education, drug use, and obsessive behaviors, as well as his life in France, London, New York, and the South Downs in England. He is the brother and writing collaborator of actress Amy Sedaris.
In 2019, Sedaris was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

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Displaying 1 - 30 of 307 reviews
Profile Image for Betsy.
Author 11 books3,312 followers
January 9, 2024
If we are to embark on this review together, I think it only right and proper that I be clear with you from the start. And if that means revealing to your my own personal flaws and foibles, well then so be it. The fact of the matter is that sometimes a reviewer can only be candid in a professional review if they are candid with their readers. We are, to be frank, no better than the average reader. Our greatest advantage lies in the sheer quantity (rather than quality) of titles we imbibe. I read, on average, more than a thousand picture books in a given year. Just the act of doing that is bound to give a person opinions. You wouldn’t expect it otherwise. And one of those opinions I’ve acquired, after reading picture books from everyone from Donald Barthelme and Ted Hughes to Margaret Atwood and Jane Smiley, is that adult authors would do well to stay in their own lanes. I don’t care how many National Book Awards you hoist under your belt. The simple fact of the matter is that not everyone is cut out to be a children’s book author. Oh sure, you get the rare exceptions like a Neil Gaiman or a Toni Morrison sometimes, but by and large it’s the exception that proves the rule. So when they handed me a David Sedaris picture book, I was unimpressed. It has art by Ian Falconer? Well, that’s perfectly nice but quite frankly the bigger the illustrator the greater the literary flaws they must smooth over with their fame, that’s my motto. It seemed fairly clear to me that the man that produced Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk wasn’t going to be churning out any children’s literary masterpieces anytime soon.

Reader. I was wrong.

I hate being wrong. No, literally, I despise it. I really and truly enjoy basking in the delight of my own I Told You Sos, and this book, Pretty Ugly, wasn’t giving me any indication that I’d have to change my proverbial tune. What was the last Ian Falconer picture you read that made you sit up and take notice? As for Sedaris, nothing about him leads you to believe that he’ll be the next Maurice Sendak. Has he studied the history of children’s literature in any capacity? Is he aware of subversive picture books, their long and storied past, or the meaning behind a great number of those Grimm Brothers tales we’re all so very fond of? You can’t look me in the eye and tell me he owns a copy of Bruno Bettelheim’s The Uses of Enchantment, you just can’t. And yet after reading Pretty Ugly, does it matter? It’s been a long time since a picture book shocked me. Since it made me wake up and look around frantically and say aloud, “What just happened?!?” My guess is that the book banners won’t even notice this book until it becomes a hit. But whether it does or not relies entirely on you, the gatekeepers, and your children. And please believe me when I tell you that you have never, in all your live long days, experienced anything like this book before.

I’m sure you’ve heard the old adage, “Don’t make that face or it’s liable to stick that way.” Anna Van Ogre is every ogre parent's dream. She stomps flowers, throws dirt, in the house, eats with her mouth full, and more. Her family positively dotes on her, but she does have this one habit they’re not crazy about. It turns out that Anna has the ability to make “terrible faces”, like a cute little bunny. Her mom warns her to be careful or her face will stick like that one day and, to her horror, the day comes when it’s true. After making the face of a veritable kewpie doll, Anna is thoroughly stuck. The solution? It’s simpler (and much grosser) than you think. Truly, beauty comes from within.

What kind of a picture book creator was Ian Falconer? The trouble is that he was one of those creators (now deceased) that had a lot of irons in a great many fires. A victim of his own talent, he created Olivia and instantly it became a wild success. So much so that for years he would do the other work that he was passionate about (set design, costumes, etc) and simply stoke the Olivia fire with the occasional sequel or two. Really, until he produced the picture book Two Dogs in 2022, I was under the distinct impression that he was bored to death with the whole idea of making picture books altogether. There’d been such a delightfully sly subversion to those early Olivia stories, though. It seemed a shame that he’d never thought to try new things. And while Two Dogs was nice, it certainly wasn’t his best work. So it seems particularly cruel that with the publication of Pretty Ugly we’re getting a glimpse of where he might have gone. This book upsets expectations in such a raw, jaw-dropping way that I find myself daydreaming over what else he might have been capable of. If he could do this much with a text from another author then it’s a crime that this second coming of Falconer was cut quite so short.

And what about David Sedaris? Again, I’ve read many an essay from the man and at no point have I ever read his opinions on the random children he sometimes encounters and thought, “Now there’s a guy with his finger pressed firmly to the pulse of the youth of today.” By all rights, this book should be awful. Not that Sedaris has ever been inclined towards the inherent saccharine attitudes his fellow adult authors seem unable to avoid. But by all logic he should have pivoted 180 degrees in the opposite direction and written something that thought it was being subversive but was just nasty. I acknowledge that I am giving voice to the very words that people are bound to lob against Pretty Ugly, but I would also maintain that this book is NOT merely nasty. It is nasty in all the best ways. This is the nastiness we used to get from the best works of Tomi Ungerer and (when he was feeling up to it) Maurice Sendak. This is a book with hints of William Steig and Quentin Blake and Roald Dahl. Sedaris has given us a joke at the end of this book that’s going to make the kids you read this story to (and make sure it’s a group of kids for maximum effective) scream and laugh all at the same time. It’s gonna blow their little freakin’ minds and they will LOVE YOU for grossing them out in this way. But who knew it was Sedaris that would give us that level of emotion? Not I, said the fly.

In the great pantheon of children’s literature, where do we set Pretty Ugly? It’s almost an aberration. A book that should have come out during the glorious heyday of Victoria Chess (I’m thinking of her work with David T. Greenberg on 1983’s Slugs). It seems ridiculous to see it arrive at a time when your average Barnes & Nobles is only interested in “classics”, sequels, and picture books with plots the consistency of sparkly goo. My greatest wish is that with its matinee headlining author/illustrator pairing, maybe there will be a Barnes & Nobles somewhere in this great country of ours that doesn’t bother to read through this book and will display it prominently. I can imagine kids flipping vacantly through dull book after dull book until they randomly pick this one up, read it through, and burst into surprised laughter (or, equally possible, horrified tears) at the ending. A picture book that unexpectedly incurs an unexpected emotion! What a notion! The equivalent of what you'd get if Edward Gorey and Tim Burton had a baby together (our heroine does resemble an alien from Mars Attacks at the end, you gotta admit).

What will happen if Pretty Ugly becomes a massive hit? I suspect author David Sedaris would be unpleasantly surprised. Perhaps he has not realized what a gamechanger he had on his hands when he submitted this manuscript. Over the years, Ian Falconer designed sets and costumes for some of Sedaris’s theatrical productions. It is the only reason anyone would have thought to pair the two of them together on a book like this. Yet as it turns out, this bit of professional kismet was precisely what this book needed. Sedaris needed Falconer to go to the visual extremes that he did with this text. And Falconer needed a text written by someone else to give him the push he so desperately needed out of his own comfort zone. They fit together, Sedaris and Falconer. We’re lucky we got them together like this when we did. The world would be a poorer place if we didn’t get to see one little girl pull her insides out for us, in all their slimy, gutsy glory. Be grateful that we were all at the right place in the right time for a book like Pretty Ugly to exist.
Profile Image for Rachel Hanes.
702 reviews1,126 followers
December 23, 2024
If you’re wondering 🤔 Yes, I wanted to hurry up and complete my Reading Challenge- and I thought “why not?”

This book is obviously a children’s book, and it is geared for ages 5-7. Now, maybe if I was much, much younger I would appreciate this book. However, I found it to be a bit weird. And if I was five years old, the last picture at the end might scare me (she was definitely pretty ugly 😬).

Also, I read this book on my Libby app through my library which I am grateful for. I was able to see the detailed illustrations, but this book was extremely short. In fact, the whole thing took me less than two minutes to read (yes, a child would take much longer). My point being, I don’t think it would be worth the full price at the bookstore.

This book has a cute cover and cute title, but I’ve definitely read better and cuter children’s books than this. I can’t say that I would recommend this to a family member or a friend with a young child.

Profile Image for Jessica.
Author 32 books5,948 followers
March 20, 2024
I was handed this at The King's English by a children's bookseller who then eagerly watched me read it. When I burst out laughing at the last page, she laughed with me. Then we turned around and handed it to a couple of women we had been talking to, and watched them read it, giddy with anticipation when they reached the ended, and shrieked and laughed as I had. This book is creepy, it's clever, it's funny, it's a surprise, it's everything you could want from the creator of Olivia and the guy who brought the world "Six to Eight Black Men."
21 reviews2 followers
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March 1, 2024
If only there were a negative rating scale, then I'd rate this book.
Profile Image for Kaye.
4,470 reviews73 followers
August 21, 2023
David Sedaris writes a simple, funny, creepy, picture book that will delight kids and adults too. The main character is an Ogre who doesn’t heed her mother's warning about making faces. This book is a quick read with a delightful twist. I can easily envision reading this to children in my library and am sure it would be welcome on any shelf. The illustrations are simple and yet enhance the story. I was sad to read the illustrator, Ian Falconer (he drew my beloved Olivia books) has now passed away. Thank you to Astra Publishing House, Toon Books and NetGalley for the ARC and I am leaving voluntary review.
Profile Image for Elizabeth.
981 reviews
January 17, 2024
Thanks to NetGalley and ToonBooks for my ARC in exchange, for my honest review. This book will be published February 27, 2024.

This is the 10th book I’ve read by David Sedaris, but I believe it’s his first children’s book. The illustrations by Ian Falconet are great; he’s the same illustrator of the popular Olivia series.

A monster makes a funny face and gets stuck with a human face! Oh no! Can she get her face back?
👹▶️👩‍🦰▶️😈

Cute for young kids. Takeaways could include “don’t make faces or you’ll get stuck that way” and beauty comes from the inside out.
Profile Image for Kristine .
1,023 reviews330 followers
May 13, 2024
I Liked this Picture book. David Sedaris’ Sister, Amy always used to make funny faces and I do remember hearing, if you keep your faces like that, it will stay that way. It made me laugh and love Ian Falconer’s Illustrations.

I don’t think most kids would be scared by this book. The theme is “Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder” and “Beauty is on the Inside”, which is used in an interesting way. I think it will make both Kids and Adults Smile and Chuckle at this.

Sad, that Ian Falconer died in March, just after the book was published. Love his illustrations and most famous for Olivia Series. So Wonderful 💕
Profile Image for Sarah.
171 reviews2 followers
April 3, 2024
If I could un-read a book, this would be it.
Profile Image for Ms. B.
3,749 reviews86 followers
November 20, 2024
Published posthumously, illustrator and Caldecott Honor winner Ian Falconer passed away in 2023. This one gave me a The Very Worst Monster vibe. A little ogre discovers real beauty .
If you like absurd or dark humor, you'll enjoy this. Or if you know a child or tween who likes twisted tales, have them give this try.
Profile Image for Tina Panik.
2,559 reviews58 followers
January 9, 2024
Not suitable for children—unless those children are really grownups (over the age of 18) who still eat their boogers.
Profile Image for Olivia Loccke.
131 reviews1 follower
March 6, 2024
This was a let down. One of my favorite authors and favorite illustrators collide and I’m disappointed in the result.
Profile Image for Greg.
1,647 reviews24 followers
March 24, 2024
Even though you know what’s going to happen, I still felt suspense as I was reading. The illustrations are perfectly hideous and terrifying. Exactly what you’d expect from Sedaris.
Profile Image for Ivonne Rovira.
2,641 reviews261 followers
January 19, 2024
I have been a huge fan of David Sedaris going back to The Santaland Diaries days. The best way to enjoy his adult books is to listen to the author himself read it; however, I’m happy to make an exception when it comes to a picture book this unforgettable. Ian Falconer has provided the perfect illustrations for this hilarious tale.

Pity poor unfortunate Anna Van Ogre! Ignoring the warning from her grandmother to not make faces because they might freeze that way, Anna’s face actually does freeze that way. Worst of all, her face is frozen as that of a human girl! What could be uglier than that? Why she had turned into a monster!

How can Anna regain her beautiful ogre self? Read to find out her imaginative solution. Touchingly, the book is dedicated to Sedaris’ late sister, Tiffany.

In the interest of full disclosure, I received this book from NetGalley and TOON Books in exchange for an honest review.
Profile Image for Lisa.
2,720 reviews19 followers
February 2, 2024
Anna Van Ogre does all the things good little ogres do. She stomps on flowers, and talks with her mouth full, but her favorite thing to do is make scary faces (which for an ogre are cute faces like a bunny). Her mother hates these faces and warns her to be careful or she might get stuck that way. One day, she makes the scariest face of them all - that of a little human girl - and it gets stuck. Now she's pretty ugly.

Pretty Ugly is a great concept. Anna lives in a community of ogres and everyone, even the doctor is horrified by her new ugly face. However, her solution is pretty gruesome. I found the final illustrations of Anna rather disturbing - I'm sure they were meant to be funny, but I don't want to share this book with my granddaughter. Take a look before you buy.
Profile Image for Victor The Reader.
1,945 reviews26 followers
March 12, 2024
Sedaris and Falconer’s picture book about an ugly ogre girl changing into a human girl is a silly handful of giggles that kids will enjoy for sure. It definitely reminded me of the “Stinky Cheese Man”. Also, it gives “inner beauty” a strange surprise. B+ (83%/Very Good)
Profile Image for Heather.
875 reviews
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March 22, 2024
I had to read a David Sedaris picture book. This reminded me a bit of an old Twilight Zone episode which I love.
Profile Image for Elizabeth A.
2,175 reviews119 followers
March 31, 2024
Funny, creepy picture book with a classic Sedaris twist. The illustrations are wonderful. Would make a fun read aloud with wee ones.
Profile Image for Jenny.
278 reviews81 followers
December 4, 2024
For me personally, this collaboration between two of my favorite creators was a miss (rest in peace Ian Falconer, long live David Sedaris). But.....kids might like it? They might even love it? I honestly have no idea, but I can admit that this is a case of a picture book that was not for me.
Profile Image for Rachel.
421 reviews14 followers
March 27, 2024
Anna Van Ogre is a monster who stomps on all beautiful things and eats nail sandwiches. Much like other parents, when she makes faces (cute ones), her family tells her that her face will stay like that, if she isn’t careful. Well, one day it does and she’s forced to have a “pretty face.” It’s what she decides to do about it is the surprising thing.

Honestly, I know David Sedaris is hilarious and snarky and clever, but this book does not do it for me. The end, which is a visually terrifying result, isn’t fit for most kids. If I were to turn this loose on a kindergarten or even first grade class, they would have nightmares. And that’s not the part about it that bugs me the most. It isn’t that clever. The storyline is just a swapped what we think is beautiful vs. what others think is beautiful trope, and her “funny” decision at the end is kind of a gross-out cop-out of an ending. I can’t believe that it is being talked about in Caldecott circles. I know there are a few kids, most of them older, who would see this book and think it’s sooooooo funny, but I just can’t use it. I like weird books, dry sense-of-humor books, off-kilter and even macabre, but this one is just kind of gross and not that original in storyline/theme/dialogue. Sorry, hard pass.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 307 reviews