Fairest of Them All

Fairest of Them All
by Jan Blazanin

FAIREST OF THEM ALL by

Category:

Contemporary

Age Recommendation:

Grades 9+

Release Date: 4/21/09

Publisher: MTV Books

Reviewed by:

Rating:

5 Stars

Oribella Bettencourt has it all. At least looking outside in, everyone

assumes

she’s got it all.

Ever since she was a toddler, she’s been groomed to be a star. She has taken dance and modeling classes. She’s

gorgeous, and her crowning glory (literally her Crowning Glory, as she won the title in a pageant) is her long golden

tresses. Her lovely hair has even landed her a supporting actress role in a Razzi’s Tale. Her hair was so important in

landing her the role that there is a clause in her contract prohibiting her to do anything to her hair. She’s going to be a

star - and all of her mother’s sacrifices will have been worth it.

When Oribella notices a few small clumps of hair have fallen out, at first she panics. But she reads up on hair loss and

chalks it up to stress and poor nutrition. She pampers her hair even more, putting as little pressure on it as possible,

and renews her efforts to reduce stress and eat better. After all, models have to stay thin and are known to constantly

be dieting.

But when Gypsy, a rival at her dance class, makes a comment about a bald spot on Oribella’s scalp, her nightmare

just begins. When Oribella finally confesses to her mother, months after the initial hair loss, they embark on rounds of

treatments to reverse her alopecia (hair loss.)

Just as her hair is unraveling from her head, Oribella’s dreams are coming apart at the seams. Her bright future was

within her grasp, only to be ripped apart at the finish line.

With her future changed, Oribella and her mother begin

dance around each other. Neither knows where they fit

into each other’s world, with the life of pageants and acting now gone. But for Oribella, the loss of her dreams isn’t

the

total end

. She realizes she is lonely and longs for a real teenage life. She is thrust into a world she’s unfamiliar

with…high school. Previously, she attended school simply to keep the authorities happy. But she was unconcerned

with fitting in or achieving good grades. After all, if she was going to be a star, why would she need it?

Ms. Blazanin writes an amazing book looking at the true meaning of beauty. Oribella struggles to rewire her thought

processes to get beyond the outer beauty of everything. She was brought up to look for imperfections. But when she

becomes friends with the most unlikely group of girls, Oribella has to learn the hard way what it means to a friend and

be a team player.

Ms. Blazanin takes a horrific event in Oribella’s life and educates the reader on a little known condition, alopecia

areata. It takes a lot of guts

for Oribella to

embrace her new situation and become an entirely different person. The

reader gets to watch Oribella grow and blossom into a true beauty by the end of the story.