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Spot the Difference
Avery has always suffered at the hands of bullies, so when she's given a seemingly-miraculous opportunity to join the 'A-list' she grabs at it with both hands. But appearances can be deceiving, and soon Avery's not so sure she likes this new version of herself. And it's only by overcoming her fears that she can learn the true meaning of being comfortable in your own skin.
85 pages, Paperback
First published March 3, 2016
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 97 reviews
March 12, 2016
Avery has always suffered from severe acne and everyone seems to hate her for it, except her close family and best friend, who have always been supportive. But when Avery manages to persuade her parents to let her try a miracle cure, it changes more than her skin. Suddenly part of the A-List, the most popular teenagers in school, she's not sure whether is the best place for her. Spot the Difference is another fun contemporary story from Juno Dawson, full of teenagers with attitude, amazing best friends, and messages about being yourself.
I also reviewed this book over on Pretty Books.
I also reviewed this book over on Pretty Books.
March 12, 2016
This was THE BEST. Avery was such a brilliant character, and really inspirational. I've never read a book that talks about acne before, which is weird because so many people are affected by it. I loved how the story progressed, and that Avery did everything I wanted her to. She was grounded and really aware that popularity isn't all it's cracked up to be. I couldn't recommend this one more, it just made me want to go out and read more Juno Dawson! YA at its best!
February 17, 2016
As an acne sufferer in my teens and 20s .I was pleased to see a book tackling this dreadful, confidence draining problem. Acne is always seen by the media as a funny thing-a teen 'disease' with a sufferer labelled as 'a spotty youth'.No other skin condition would be so flippantly dealt with, such as psoriasis and eczema but the effects of severe acne are no less debilitating. Getting up each day was a huge struggle, desperately trying to cover the spots-effectively creating a mask was exhausting! Avoiding any mirrors /reflections in windows became an obsession. I can recall taking huge detours in shops to avoid face height mirrors -thanks C&A Middlesbrough for all your mirrored walls! So yes, any book that can help in some way to highlight acne, especially one aimed at Secondary School age -the age when your confidence is tested to the very limits. As the book says 'school is about survival' ,so to have anything that sets you apart from the norm makes life even harder. I'm middle aged but can appreciate this book as someone who wasn't 'A-list' as as young person. As this book suggests it's having these problems that makes you ultimately a better person. It's true but it's so hard getting there!
May 15, 2016
Okay, so this book is book is a World Book Day Book, it cost me a grand total of 20p and is not even 90 pages long, so, on balance, I really don't feel like i can complain about it too much. But I did feel it had some pretty huge flaws.
I'll start with the good.
The subject of bullying is always going to be a tough and sensitive one to tackle and I am so glad that Juno took this opportunity to highlight it during World Book Day. I hope this leads to the subject matter being discussed in schools and hopefully helping someone. Anyone. One person and it will be worth it.
Those early pages, describing the bullying felt very real and hit very close to home. Really painful for me to read even a decade after leaving school. So Kudos are clearly due there.
The openness of the otherwise predictable ending is also a good point.
What I disliked.
This is a huge, painful, life destroying subject. And I'm not a hundred percent sure that a less than 90 page book could ever do it justice. Maybe this will act as an introduction to it, a way to get the conversation going. But as just a book, I felt it fell kind of flat and made the whole subject seem a little blasé. Which it isn't.
The reaction of Avery's 'friend' was pretty diabolical. But, speaking as a former teenage girl, teenage girls can be rather petty. But this just felt really unnecessary. As was Avery's choice of words while campaigning of course. It made the moral of the story feel more like "it's okay to be a two faced abilist bitch as long as you learn a lesson in two pages or less".
It all just felt like a poor man's Mean Girls - less funny, less enjoyable, more stereotypical and underdeveloped. but at less than 90 pages, maybe I am asking for a little too much.
I'll start with the good.
The subject of bullying is always going to be a tough and sensitive one to tackle and I am so glad that Juno took this opportunity to highlight it during World Book Day. I hope this leads to the subject matter being discussed in schools and hopefully helping someone. Anyone. One person and it will be worth it.
Those early pages, describing the bullying felt very real and hit very close to home. Really painful for me to read even a decade after leaving school. So Kudos are clearly due there.
The openness of the otherwise predictable ending is also a good point.
What I disliked.
This is a huge, painful, life destroying subject. And I'm not a hundred percent sure that a less than 90 page book could ever do it justice. Maybe this will act as an introduction to it, a way to get the conversation going. But as just a book, I felt it fell kind of flat and made the whole subject seem a little blasé. Which it isn't.
The reaction of Avery's 'friend' was pretty diabolical. But, speaking as a former teenage girl, teenage girls can be rather petty. But this just felt really unnecessary. As was Avery's choice of words while campaigning of course. It made the moral of the story feel more like "it's okay to be a two faced abilist bitch as long as you learn a lesson in two pages or less".
It all just felt like a poor man's Mean Girls - less funny, less enjoyable, more stereotypical and underdeveloped. but at less than 90 pages, maybe I am asking for a little too much.
February 19, 2019
From page 2 to page 85 - finished the book in two hours.
Avery speech at the end is worth it, its worth reading this book.
Best parts for me was:
Page 31-32 when Seth and Tyler were talking about how pretty Avery is when she was standing right behind them and they were embarrassed.
Page 42 when the A list girls gave Avery a makeover and the guys were staring at her and Avery said: "Stop staring".
Page 82 when Avery asked Scarlett 'if being beautiful makes her happy and Scarlett said of course it does but Avery replied back 'So why don't you ever smile?'.
Page 83-85 when Avery walked on stage with a paper bag over her head and started her speech saying people judge people and assume what they are like by what they wear or what they have on their face. They don't listen to what they are saying or standing up for. School shouldn't be a competition but its a place for survivors going through different problems.
Avery's last two sentences said everything: 'But even if I don't win this election, at least I can say I stood here as myself, the person I always was. Imperfect, but content in my skin'. If I went to their school Avery would have gotten my vote from the beginning because she wasn't afraid to put herself forward. Yes she may have changed and became one of the popular girls but reality hit her and she remembered that's not who she was and she should be happy with who she really is: imperfect like everyone else is.
Avery speech at the end is worth it, its worth reading this book.
Best parts for me was:
Page 31-32 when Seth and Tyler were talking about how pretty Avery is when she was standing right behind them and they were embarrassed.
Page 42 when the A list girls gave Avery a makeover and the guys were staring at her and Avery said: "Stop staring".
Page 82 when Avery asked Scarlett 'if being beautiful makes her happy and Scarlett said of course it does but Avery replied back 'So why don't you ever smile?'.
Page 83-85 when Avery walked on stage with a paper bag over her head and started her speech saying people judge people and assume what they are like by what they wear or what they have on their face. They don't listen to what they are saying or standing up for. School shouldn't be a competition but its a place for survivors going through different problems.
Avery's last two sentences said everything: 'But even if I don't win this election, at least I can say I stood here as myself, the person I always was. Imperfect, but content in my skin'. If I went to their school Avery would have gotten my vote from the beginning because she wasn't afraid to put herself forward. Yes she may have changed and became one of the popular girls but reality hit her and she remembered that's not who she was and she should be happy with who she really is: imperfect like everyone else is.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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June 1, 2022Okay so I'm writing this after the third or fourth time reading this book. This is one of my FAVOURITE books and it means the world to me. It was one of the shortest books I've read but it taught me so much. It taught me to love myself and coming from an extremely relatable character rather than a person who says it without much feeling, it means so much more and sticks with you for a long time. I don't want to ruin too much but it taught me that we all like to feel like outsiders and people who pretend they aren't different are the people who think they're perfect. It was an amazing read and I would definitely recommend it because this is the type of story that you read over and over again and you learn something new every time.
February 3, 2017
RATING - 3.5: Avery suffers from severe acne and constant bullying because of it. Now, as she undergoes a new treatment, she finds herself hanging out with the A-listers. A nice, fun, quick easy read about finding confidence in yourself.
April 3, 2019
I bought this mostly as "Clean" by the same author was the most important book for me to read last year.
This is short story about a girl with acne. How it affects her relationship with her peers as well as how others see her. She gets a "miracle cure" and that changes her life. (That much is in the blurb so it is not a spoiler.) How it changes her life and her is what matters.
The fact is that too many people are too focused on appearance and the media makes this worse. Changing your appearance can make a difference to how you feel inside and that should be applauded if it makes them happier. People can change everything about themselves externally and still be the same person internally. Others need the external change to be happy and that should be applauded too.
This is my message but not necessarily the one in the book.
The book has some interesting character choices. Some are stereotypical but some do break the norm. The ending is left open but it has hope for the future in it. The journey of the main character is one that has been read and seen before but the author adds touches to it that make it stand out.
I enjoyed the short read and I will just recommend "Clean" again.
This is short story about a girl with acne. How it affects her relationship with her peers as well as how others see her. She gets a "miracle cure" and that changes her life. (That much is in the blurb so it is not a spoiler.) How it changes her life and her is what matters.
The fact is that too many people are too focused on appearance and the media makes this worse. Changing your appearance can make a difference to how you feel inside and that should be applauded if it makes them happier. People can change everything about themselves externally and still be the same person internally. Others need the external change to be happy and that should be applauded too.
This is my message but not necessarily the one in the book.
The book has some interesting character choices. Some are stereotypical but some do break the norm. The ending is left open but it has hope for the future in it. The journey of the main character is one that has been read and seen before but the author adds touches to it that make it stand out.
I enjoyed the short read and I will just recommend "Clean" again.
May 27, 2016
I don't even know how to properly review this novella. It's not bad but it's not very good, really.
It's kinda like Mean Girls in UK.
The characters are not developed enough for my liking. And I have a very big problem that this book shows that you can be a total bitch to your friend if you learn a lesson out of in a page or two. That's not cool.
I liked the ending, .
I don't usually like open endings, but this one served its purpose.
I would recommend it, but it's not like you'll miss awfully lot if you won't read it.
Yeah, go and watch Mean Girls instead!
You go, Glen Coco!
It's kinda like Mean Girls in UK.
The characters are not developed enough for my liking. And I have a very big problem that this book shows that you can be a total bitch to your friend if you learn a lesson out of in a page or two. That's not cool.
I liked the ending, .
I don't usually like open endings, but this one served its purpose.
I would recommend it, but it's not like you'll miss awfully lot if you won't read it.
Yeah, go and watch Mean Girls instead!
You go, Glen Coco!
April 2, 2016
Spot the Difference is about an important subject for teens that often gets overlooked in fiction; acne. It’s something that so many of us go through yet characters in books have great skin, the most they get seems to be an odd spot. Avery has severe acne, so much so that she’s been seeing a specialist about it for years. Her mum’s been holding out putting her on medication due to side effects, but there’s a new drug trial on the horizon. What happens when Avery is freed from her skin?
It’s not as shallow as it seems because, of course, Avery learns an important lesson. But your appearance is something that affects you a whole lot, even if deep down we know it shouldn’t. Plus Juno gives you a great World Book Day costume for future years in the finale!
It’s not as shallow as it seems because, of course, Avery learns an important lesson. But your appearance is something that affects you a whole lot, even if deep down we know it shouldn’t. Plus Juno gives you a great World Book Day costume for future years in the finale!
March 16, 2017
O livro tem uma clássica história adolescente da menina que olha torto pra galera da "A-list", mas sempre quis ser um deles. Imaginem Meninas Malvadas sem o constante alívio cômico e ótimo elenco. Apesar de não passar nem perto de fugir do clichê, conversa muito bem com o ~os jovens de hoje em dia~ e tem mensagens diretas e claras (e boas!) É uma história adolescente realmente pra adolescentes
June 26, 2016
Fab little read which has a really poignant message.
February 16, 2016
Read it in a day!
August 19, 2017
I love Juno Dawsons Work! This is a story that promotes a good message about being confident in who you are and that popularity isn't everything. Great Read.
February 26, 2016
"Anyone can be gorgeous. It just takes hard work and self-discipline."
Juno Dawson's short story for World Book Day tells the story of Avery, a year 10 girl who suffers horrendously with acne. The A-list in her school have cleverly branded her "Pizzaface", making her life a misery and causing her inescapable dread every time she has to go to school in the morning. So when she has the choice to take trial drug Sebavectum, she jumps at the chance.
This is the first part of the short story that annoyed me - I just really hate fake drugs. Apparently it's based on a real type of medication, but I think it would have been much better to not give it a name.
Anyway, Avery starts taking this medication, and her skin clears up. She's ecstatic - the bullying will stop! - and soon enough the popular crowd are trying to absorb her into the A-list and make her one of their best friends. Avery gets the guy she's always daydreamed about, and everyone is happy - apart from her best friend, Lois, who is shoved to the sidelines.
Then the campaign for Head Girl begins, and Avery decides to run against the school's Queen of Mean, Scarlett, to end her reign of terror.
As you can tell, there's a lot going on in this short story - perhaps too much, because I didn't feel connected to the characters and I didn't really care about what happened. It was all a little predictable: unpopular girl becomes popular and tries to dismantle the hierarchy from inside, while losing herself the whole time. I've read books like it before (off the top of my head, 'Stella' by Helen Eve is a close comparison) but without the factor of acne being involved - I actually really appreciated such a frank and straight-talking approach to the problem, because a heck of a lot of teenagers suffer with their spots but they aren't often mentioned in books because they aren't glamorous.
I think this could have worked better as a full novel rather than a short story because - with the character development, the burgeoning relationship between Avery and Seth, the rivalry between her and Scarlett and the knowledge that the Sebavectum trial had been cancelled - there was a lot more that could have been expanded upon, and a lot more potential. The ending is rather preachy, but if it had been set in the greater context of a novel it would have been more effective: the moral of the story could have been spread throughout, rather than forced in quickly at the end.
I didn't hate this short story, I just felt as though there was a lot more that could have been done with it, so I'm on the fence about it.
Juno Dawson's short story for World Book Day tells the story of Avery, a year 10 girl who suffers horrendously with acne. The A-list in her school have cleverly branded her "Pizzaface", making her life a misery and causing her inescapable dread every time she has to go to school in the morning. So when she has the choice to take trial drug Sebavectum, she jumps at the chance.
This is the first part of the short story that annoyed me - I just really hate fake drugs. Apparently it's based on a real type of medication, but I think it would have been much better to not give it a name.
Anyway, Avery starts taking this medication, and her skin clears up. She's ecstatic - the bullying will stop! - and soon enough the popular crowd are trying to absorb her into the A-list and make her one of their best friends. Avery gets the guy she's always daydreamed about, and everyone is happy - apart from her best friend, Lois, who is shoved to the sidelines.
Then the campaign for Head Girl begins, and Avery decides to run against the school's Queen of Mean, Scarlett, to end her reign of terror.
As you can tell, there's a lot going on in this short story - perhaps too much, because I didn't feel connected to the characters and I didn't really care about what happened. It was all a little predictable: unpopular girl becomes popular and tries to dismantle the hierarchy from inside, while losing herself the whole time. I've read books like it before (off the top of my head, 'Stella' by Helen Eve is a close comparison) but without the factor of acne being involved - I actually really appreciated such a frank and straight-talking approach to the problem, because a heck of a lot of teenagers suffer with their spots but they aren't often mentioned in books because they aren't glamorous.
I think this could have worked better as a full novel rather than a short story because - with the character development, the burgeoning relationship between Avery and Seth, the rivalry between her and Scarlett and the knowledge that the Sebavectum trial had been cancelled - there was a lot more that could have been expanded upon, and a lot more potential. The ending is rather preachy, but if it had been set in the greater context of a novel it would have been more effective: the moral of the story could have been spread throughout, rather than forced in quickly at the end.
I didn't hate this short story, I just felt as though there was a lot more that could have been done with it, so I'm on the fence about it.
May 2, 2016
Originally published at http://solittletimeforbooks.blogspot....
It didn’t take long for this to become one of my favourite things that I’ve read from Juno. Of the three World Book Day books I picked up, it was the one that I felt the most connected to and involved in.
Avery has severe acne – it’s painful, obvious and she’s ridiculed at school for it. It occurred to me that I couldn’t recall ever reading about a protagonist in a YA novel with acne before and that’s really ridiculous – acne is one of the biggest worries for teenagers, why isn’t it represented?
Spot the Difference has something of Mean Girls about it as a miracle drug trial cleared up Avery’s skin and she was suddenly seen as pretty by the A-list girls and become embroiled in their world. I always hate to see the effects this has on the friendships that withstood all of the horrible days and the picking up the pieces after a particularly nasty comment, but I really loved Lois and Avery – they just worked so well together that I could only hope Avery would come to her senses.
With Avery’s newfound confidence, she decides to run for Head Girl and I was cheering her along all the way! The speech she made to her school at the end of the story was particularly poignant. But I was so frustrated by the fact that we didn’t get to see if she was actually chosen or not that I had to knock a star rating off the book. I know that wasn’t the point of the story at all, but man, it was annoying!
This is an important, powerful little story and I really hope that teens take the message from it: you are more than your appearance, but you still don’t deserve to be bullied or ridiculed for anything about yourself. Ever.
It didn’t take long for this to become one of my favourite things that I’ve read from Juno. Of the three World Book Day books I picked up, it was the one that I felt the most connected to and involved in.
Avery has severe acne – it’s painful, obvious and she’s ridiculed at school for it. It occurred to me that I couldn’t recall ever reading about a protagonist in a YA novel with acne before and that’s really ridiculous – acne is one of the biggest worries for teenagers, why isn’t it represented?
Spot the Difference has something of Mean Girls about it as a miracle drug trial cleared up Avery’s skin and she was suddenly seen as pretty by the A-list girls and become embroiled in their world. I always hate to see the effects this has on the friendships that withstood all of the horrible days and the picking up the pieces after a particularly nasty comment, but I really loved Lois and Avery – they just worked so well together that I could only hope Avery would come to her senses.
With Avery’s newfound confidence, she decides to run for Head Girl and I was cheering her along all the way! The speech she made to her school at the end of the story was particularly poignant. But I was so frustrated by the fact that we didn’t get to see if she was actually chosen or not that I had to knock a star rating off the book. I know that wasn’t the point of the story at all, but man, it was annoying!
This is an important, powerful little story and I really hope that teens take the message from it: you are more than your appearance, but you still don’t deserve to be bullied or ridiculed for anything about yourself. Ever.
November 29, 2020
Another novella read today. This one preaches about how beauty is only skin deep and how changing your appearance to become popular will backfire on you. It had a very strong resemblance to Mean Girls in some of the ways it was worded. A cute little book for teen girls that would have been worth the £1 voucher at world book day in my opinion.
July 24, 2017
Reading this made me viscerally remember how it felt to be a teenager, how hard getting through the school days can be and the terrible cruelty of classmates. Such a good short read to show young adults that they're not alone with these feelings.
August 17, 2017
I don't think this story works as novelle and I didn't care for the main character. Her life lesson is dumb and dramatic sentences from...parents. I wrote a properreview on my blog.
March 4, 2016
juno is still one of my favourite authors, but I didn't really enjoy this book. if you like the premise, Id recommend the Manifesto on how to be Interesting by Holly Bourne :)
March 13, 2016
A really lovely story but towards the end it felt a bit rushed. Other than that, it seemed to be like a British Mean Girls and was very inspiring!
May 27, 2016
3.5 stars was a pretty good story, don't think I'd read it again, it was very predictable
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August 7, 2022My nan bought me this when i was younger and it was short and would just sit on my shelf but its one of those strange books that every time i read it, it felt like the first time. At times it was like a battle cry and others it was like a place of retreat.
I havent read it in a while. But there was a time when i would constantly reach for it and there was something strangely comforting in the character. I think i realised that i didnt feel sympathy for the charcter nor did i empathise with her because i dont feel she wanted these things. I saw subtle nuances of her i could relate to, maybe regarding her school. But i enjoyed it and i would reccomend it to mature natured readers of a younger age. Maybe 13ish.
I havent read it in a while. But there was a time when i would constantly reach for it and there was something strangely comforting in the character. I think i realised that i didnt feel sympathy for the charcter nor did i empathise with her because i dont feel she wanted these things. I saw subtle nuances of her i could relate to, maybe regarding her school. But i enjoyed it and i would reccomend it to mature natured readers of a younger age. Maybe 13ish.
October 15, 2022
I haven't yet read a book by Juno Dawson that I haven't liked. The writing style is so clean and easy that I fly through the pages. This book was a bit more bland, I missed the intensity that are in her other books, but it is a short book for book day so it can be passed.
October 25, 2022
A very relevant and timely read for young adults and teenagers who can surely see themselves in any number of the characters in this book. A hard hitting read with a strong message at the core of it.
August 12, 2022
I read this because it was in my local library. I knew it wasn’t going to be amazing and it was alright to be honest just kinda… predictable and cringe
November 12, 2022
A good for teenagers
August 2, 2023
A fab short WBD read; an uplifting but not cheesy message about self confidence by Juno, and surprisingly great character development in just 80 pages. Would recommend to young people of any age!
December 27, 2023
Just wasn't really my type of book
Displaying 1 - 30 of 97 reviews