Piglettes by Clementine Beauvais

Piglettes

by Clementine Beauvais

A wickedly funny and life-affirming coming-of-age roadtrip story - winner of France's biggest prize for teen and YA fiction

Mireille, Astrid and Hakima have just been voted the three ugliest girls in school by their classmates on Facebook. But does that mean they're going to sit around crying about it?...

Well, maybe a little, but not for long! Climbing onto their bikes, the friends set off on a summer roadtrip to Paris. The girls will find fame, friendship and happiness on their journey, and still have time to eat a mountain of food (and drink the odd glass of wine) along the way. But will they really be able to leave all their troubles behind?

Piglettes is a hilarious, beautiful and uplifting story of three girls who are determined not to let online bullying get them down.

Reviewed by Sam@WLABB on

4 of 5 stars

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This was a rather random pick for me. I was thinking I needed to read more books that take place outside the US, and what better than a book set in France written by a French author. I must say, I am very pleased I chose this book.
"I don't understand why you insist on calling yourselves the Three Little Piglettes," Mum groans. "It's a horrible name."
"We'll make it beautiful, you'll see. Or better, we'll make it powerful."

I have heard people talk about this reclaiming. Taking back something that was meant to hurt you, and turning it into something empowering. That is what Mireille did. When she medaled in the Pig Pageant for the third year in a row, she banded together with the gold and silver medalists to take back the term "piglet" and make it into something powerful. I was all onboard this girl-power trip, and loved the message.

I also really loved Mireille. She was witty, amusing, and a little snarky. She loved poking the bear when it came to her mom, but when it came down to it, she had nothing but love for her. In fact, she just wanted more for her. Mireille had a lot of growth during this story, and I always expect that in a good YA book.

Both Astrid and Hikima added to the fun. The three could not have been more different from each other, but I love that this wonderful friendship came from something so awful. I also thought it was so sweet the way Astrid and Mireille took on the roles of big sister to Hikima. Mireille was not quite as warm and fuzzy as Astrid, but she had a heart of gold underneath it all, and there were many decisions she made which support this.

I kind of loved the way Beauvais tied things up at the end. She gave a little something to all the main players - Mireille, Astrid, Hikima, Kader, Mireille's mother and step-father. I am a sucker for a happy ending and I got that plus a great deal of closure.

Overall: A delightful coming-of-age road trip, which made me laugh and warmed my heart.

**I would like to thank the publisher for the review copy.

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 2 July, 2017: Finished reading
  • 2 July, 2017: Reviewed