Beautiful Girl

Wildfire #4

by Elisabeth Ogilvie

"Are you a real live person or a doll? Do you have any insides or are you just beautiful outside?"

April's problem has always been her beauty. Of course people find that hard to believe, but April says: "When I'm quiet, they say I think I'm too good for them. When I've got a lot to say, they say I'm conceited."

Then April meets Nick, and nothing is the same! It doesn't matter what the kids in school say about her...until Nick turns out to be like all the others. How can she help it if he thinks too much about her, if his schoolwork is suffering, if his dream of going to the Naval Academy doesn't come true? Is that supposed to be April's fault too?

Genres: Young Adult, Fiction, Romance

203 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published June 1, 1980

About the author

Elisabeth Ogilvie’s striking evocation of the atmosphere of the Maine seacoast that is the background of The Seasons Hereafter is no accident, for she lived in just such an area for many years, and her love for its people and their way of life has influenced all her novels.
Her activities on Gay’s Island, where she spent most of the year, included writing, gardening, and “trying not to suspect that a bear is at the door, a moose lurking in among the alders, or a horned owl hovering overhead about to bear away the cat.”
She contributed a considerable amount of writing of magazine fiction and children’s books, and is the author of several novels, including There May Be Heaven, The Witch Door, Rowan Head, The Dawning of the Day, Storm Tide, and one book of nonfiction, My World Is an Island.

Reviews

[Kerstin · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my cousins fished this out of the discount bin of a Minneapolis bookstore around 1981. It became a scandalous, overnight legend in our tight little family circle because of a scene in which the protagonist, a girl named April who is so breathtakingly beautiful that she is ostracized by everyone (gag), has to fight off the advances of a friend's older brother at a slumber party. April then discovers that the brother paid her friend five dollars to invite her to spend the night because he "couldn't make it with girls his own age." It took place in chapter nine, which I remember with absolute clarity because of the clandestine anticipation of girl-cousin sleepovers when, eventually, an excited whisper would rise from the mass of blankets, pillows and wide-awake little girls. "Hey, Sigrid...let's read CHAPTER NINE."

It's a shame there is no cover image for this one, because it had the greatest cover image in the history of cover images...a blonde, disco-queeny teenager smiling seductively, whilst two mop-topped, Starsky-&-Hutchesque boys in the background stared at her with naked lust. It looked more like a porn still than a cover shot for teen lit.

[Sarah Ford · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book as a pre-teen. I remember it so distinctly because it's one of those with a character whom I tried to copy. April was super-organized, and it made me want to clean my room and get ahead of my homework. Looking back, one incongruous detail stands out- April always wore patchouli. Look at the cover photo-long, curly, blonde ponytails, solid button-down blouse, cheerleader-y. Now that I am older, I know that that's not a patchouli girl. She would have worn Jean Naté splash or SKIN musk from the drug store. She wouldn't be in the Wicca store buying essential oils. I loved this book, with its bullying theme. I was a dorky, gawky adolescent who was picked on and excluded a lot, and I always assumed that the pretty people had a perfect existence. This book taught me that everyone has issues thrown at them. I remember learning the word "epitome" from this book, too, although to which many avid readers will certainly relate, I assumed the incorrect pronunciation because I didn't hear the word. In my life, I've had the same experience with determine, chasm, Chianti, and who knows how many others? I would re-read this book today if I came across it.

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very good book for a preteen to read. It deals with bullying and a little of how April dealt with it. It goes along so well with society today. It shows that even the beautiful girls can be victims of bullies. I plan on sending this to my niece for her birthday. It's a little old for her yet but I think it would be a good tool for her to read and have conversations with her parents about bullying.

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read many, many of the wildfire books as a pre-teen and this, along with "Dreams Can Come True" by Jane Claypool Miner are the only two I remember anything about, ~25 years later.
As a child who was also bullied (albeit not because of my beauty, alas) I really related to this story in my youth and thinking back on it as an adult I like the message it sends, that the lead character never stoops to her bulliers' level.
I'm sure re-reading it now, it would feel very dated but I still think this was one of the better chicklet-lits (ie: books aimed at pre-teen girls) of the period.

[LittleDeadRedGoddessPersephone · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am participating in a ReReadAThon and one of the challenges was to reread an old favorite and this fits perfectly. I am not even sure how this old Wildfire romance novel managed to find it's way to me many, many years ago but it did. I believe the first time I read this I was in sixth grade and it stuck with me... It was my first Wildfire but I have made it my mission to find as many as I can and read them all. This book also fits my personal goal of rereading as many of my childhood books as I can. These Wildfire romances are much better written than many contemporary YA romances are written. They never seem to talk down to the audience which I really liked.

April is a beautiful girl and though you may think it is wonderful to be so beautiful it is actually a burden. April is nice, quiet, studious and sweet but no one pays attention to that for long because inevitably April's beauty gets in the way of any friendship she makes. Adults tend to either favor or dislike her for her looks and kids tend to end up making false judgments about her. In third grade the perfect, golden haired Phyllis moves to town from the exotic Cleveland, Ohio. Everyone flocks to Phyllis and April wants more than anything to be her best friend. A misunderstanding stops that from happening and April becomes the target of Phyllis' bullying for years. April just wants to be liked and to be like everyone else. She is tired of being alone with few friends who really care about her. Will April ever be loved and accepted despite her beauty?

I remember that this book taught me that life isn't isn't for anyone including those that seem to have the perfect life. I am so glad I decided to choose this as my old favorite!

[Lea · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this book in my grandma’s basement which was my mom’s book when she was my age hidden in a bookshelf.
Let’s just say this book made me wanna gag. A girl who is just drop dead gorgeous who wins every man’s heart with her looks and stays out of trouble and is basically perfect. She can’t even keep a friend because of it.
The reason why I gave it at least 3 stars was because the book had a good lesson. People are always trying to look their best and try to look as flawless as possible. April the character in the story shows the downside of that and what would happen if anyone was that perfect looking.
I would recommend this book for people that are insecure about their looks. It will really show that looks don’t matter as much as what is on the inside.

[Mariella Esquivel Tello · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was interesting.

Through the point of view of a girl with good looks, learns the hard way that the cool rebel girl despises her for inane reasons then her friends blame her for things out of her control. The most notorious is the fake friend who tried to sell her out to a sleazy older brother out of unwarranted envy.

The ending surprised me both good and bad, but I suppose that's just the way with these slice of life type books.

[Marianne · Rating 3 out of 5]

For some reason, although I didn't remember the plot clearly at all, this book has stuck with me since reading it back when I was a young teen. It was both better and worse than how I remembered it. It hasn't really held up to the test of time, but it was decently written and enjoyable for nostalgia's sake.

[Hsgray · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this over and over again when I was a kid.

[Crisanta · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this as a preteen years ago. It certainly did feel like scandalous reading material at the time. I don't have a clear memory of everything that happened in the book but I remember it was about a girl who is tormented throughout her youth because of her exceptional beauty. She's betrayed by at least one friend who essentially attempts to sell her for five dollars, and she's even hated by another girl for taking the blame and the punishment for the other girl's actions. That part wasn't terribly dramatic for what the deed itself was, but for the other girl's reaction when miss beautiful girl attempts to help her. I doubt it's something many adults would be interested in reading but it seemed deep when I was 10.

[April · Rating 4 out of 5]

My mom bought me a copy of this book at our local thrift store because the main character is named April, as am I. I just remember falling in love with the story and wanting "almond shaped eyes" as April's are described in the book. Haha. I need to locate a copy so I can see how horrid/excellent it really is.

[Diana · Rating 3 out of 5]

I owned this book when I was 12 years old. I didn't care for it much back then. I think I was looking for a romance book and this book is more about a girl being bullied. I was bullied back then and one of the reasons I read was an escape from the bullying. So I did not want to read about bullying.

[Gaile · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this when I was in my forties as one of my children had gotten this book. It certainly did ring a bell with me!

[Colleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book influenced me as a preteen back in the 80's and not necessarily in a good way. But I sure do remember it and can laugh now about it.

[Reading with Cats · Rating 3 out of 5]

Surprisingly good (even if April was quite the watering pot). Seriously...girl could CRY!