Diversify Yourself: There is nothing better than some drama and diversity

Serena Bettis • November 17, 2015

20151115_192347-1 — Tiny Pretty Things by Sona Charaipotra and Dhonielle Clayton. Photo Credit: Serena Bettis

“Perfection comes at a price” in Tiny Pretty Things, the debut novel from Sona Charaipotra and Dhonielle Clayton about the deep, dark secrets found in the heads of up and coming prima ballerinas. Following three girls, Gigi, Bette, and June, around their cutthroat ballet conservatory, the novel explores a world of jealousy, soloist parts, slight insanity, and everything else that comes with trying to be the best of the best. The new girl that no one likes gets the lead role in the fall ballet when everyone thought it would be little miss perfect Bette and then steals Bette’s boyfriend as if the part just isn’t enough, while invisible but ambitious June struggles to achieve perfection. An air of mystery is present right alongside of all of the drama, as fellow ballerinas try to sabotage the new girl, Gigi, but shifting points of view and opinions make the reader question who did the terrible deed each time.

Personally, I ate this book up. There definitely were some parts where I just wanted the drama to stop because it felt a little ridiculous and others that made me put the book down and go “Oh my god, Gigi why did you do that?!” but for the most part it is a very well-written piece of literature. The mystery behind different events kept me constantly guessing, but the answers found on the next page forced me to start over again on a new train of thought. Not only is the book a major page-turner, it sucks the reader into the drama and events and leaves them rooting for a single character, just like any modern-day soap opera. It definitely makes a person realize that compared to the characters in this novel, the drama in their lives is like a cakewalk.

Anyone and everyone should give this book a shot. Here are some reasons:

Diversity. Not only are two of the three main characters people of color (one of them is black and the other is half-Korean, half-white), but both authors are racially diverse as well. The book also has a girl who is possibly a lesbian, and a main character who is gay.

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It deals with serious, real-world problems. Going along with the aforementioned diversity, it hits racism head-on. The main characters constantly worry about whether or not they will or will not get a part because one is black in the other is not exactly white but not exactly Asian, either, and they people who judge them the most are dancers from Russia, a place and business that values pale, white skin. Bullying and harassment are major issues as well, and many girls are anorexic or bulimic. The characters also constantly deal with pressure from themselves, their peers, and, most of all, their parents.

Drama, confessions, and confrontations. Not only is Tiny Pretty Things chock-full of delicious, juicy drama, confessions from the characters to either themselves or their friends about the terrible things they did to another girl and the reasons why mark nearly every new chapter. Moreover, when one girl believes someone else did something to her, she will not let it go and ignore it, but rather very loudly accuse the other in front of many a spectator. It is very exciting.

While the book may be full of petty drama us teens should not be supporting, I believe that it is a book many people would unknowingly enjoy, similar to the way we all love a silly reality TV show. It’s exciting, it’s enticing, and it’s entirely worth-while.

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About the Contributor

Serena Bettis, Editor-in-Chief

Serena Bettis, senior, is entering into her third year on the Etched in Stone staff as this year’s Editor-in-Chief. A four year journalism student, she has high hopes for Etched in Stone this school year, and wants to be able to guide the staff in achieving their goals as much as possible. While Bettis has become a much more outspoken person than she was when she started at Fossil Ridge High School, she still finds discomfort speaking in front of large groups of people (“large” being defined anywhere from 6 to 30), but is more than ready to grow in that aspect of leadership over the course of the year. Most of her journalistic goals for the year are not personal, but rather involve the entire program. She aims to further improve upon the look of the Etched in Stone website, which she spent countless hours on her junior year, enough for it to win awards before she graduates.

Aside from Etched in Stone, Bettis takes part in the school marching, jazz, and concert bands as a flute player, volunteers with Key Club, and is the Historian for the National Honor Society. She has also held a part-time job at TCBY for over a year, and now knows more than she needs to about the sugar content in frozen yogurt. In her spare time, which is often hard to come by, Bettis can be found reading for fun, lamenting about how none of the new Young Adult romance novels she used to love so much are good anymore, working on making the perfect French macaron, or binge watching her recent addiction, Game of Thrones. Music is a large part of her life, and her favorite genre is difficult to describe because she listens to many different bands. Some of her favorites include twenty one pilots, All Time Low, and Halsey, more alternative bands such as Issues and SWMRS, pop artists including Carly Rae Jepsen (“she’s so much more than “Call Me Maybe””), and Little Mix, and various songs by Spanish singers.

She is more than ready for graduation, and aspires to be attending college in Chicago by this time next year. Bettis knows that she wants to double major in journalism and foreign languages, with a potential minor in music, though she is undecided on what specific occupation she wants after college. Her best advice to someone who does not know what they are interested in is to simply join different activities and see what happens from there. “Eventually, sometime during sophomore year, journalism became the only class I wanted to go to, and even now I love it more than I used to love band, so that’s when it hit me that this was what I wanted to be involved in for most of my life,” she said. Another somewhat undecided goal of hers is to join the Peace Corps either during or after college, and she hopes that an experience in a different country with complete strangers might help her figure out what exactly she wants to do with her life.