Children can be cruel. They can wound with words better than anybody, and only those who have felt this can say how deep the gashes are and how long they affect our life. Sometimes I think that children and teenagers are worse than adults, who have the good sense to hold back their words. Some people can deal with cruel words; they don't pay them any mind. Sometimes, words only ruin one's mood, but they can also motivate us and lead to life changes. Sometimes, the light scars stay for a long time and are opened up again with any scrape and don't let you function normally.

Santa Claus got my daughter the book "Pasztety do boju" ("Piglettes") by Clementine Beauvais. In a light-hearted way, this book shows the problems of modern teenagers. Three teenage girls are the main characters. They are the winners of an internet competition to find the ugliest girl. Each of them tries to deal with the stigma in their own way. Initially, they treat the final result of the competition as a disaster. Fortunately, only at the beginning, because the combined efforts of the Piglettes ends with success. With the whole world against them, the girls go on a bike trip to Paris. Together they beat the odds, arrange, prepare and realize their plan, but above all they become friends and support each other.

The blurb says that it is a funny story about adolescence and accepting yourself. I agree with what the book is about, but I have doubts about its comic value. I understood it somewhat differently. After all, it is book for teenagers. But for me it was laughter mixed with tears.

The modern world is a beauty and youth cult. It is important to have an impeccable body, soft skin and thick hair. Colourful magazines tell us two things at once. They devote one half of a page to self acceptance, and the other half to how to lose 20kg in two weeks or how to improve beauty flaws. Everything is interspersed with advertisements in which 20-year-old models promote anti-wrinkle cream. Young people are bombarded with this. They grow up in a beauty cult, but nature is sometimes cruel. A lot of women struggle with acne, being overweight and damaged hair, and even though they do their best, they can't deal with it. Children and teenagers are rarely empathetic or tolerant, and using the anonymity of the Internet they can drive the less than perfect to desperation or one step further.

I think that this book should be prescribed reading for every teenager. For those less beautiful it may show the way and prove that even though life is an uphill struggle, it may lead to success. Even if it sounds trite, it is worth taking life into your own hands, finding a passion and realising it. It might teach the beautiful cover stars empathy and show them the other side of the coin. Even if after reading only a few people will be more tolerant and will see something more in their mouseburger classmates than fat thighs, pimples and glasses, it will be a giant step forward.

I recommend it!

Read also
If I could go back in time ...? "Harry Potter and the cursed child"
„Zapach domów innych ludzi" ("The smell of other people's houses") Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock
"The Book thief"