A well written coming of age novel, that is light hearted enough to be seen as a “witty and upbeat” novel, whilst hitting some tougher subject matter. After the girls are voted in by their peers as the three ugliest girls in their school, they decide to take a stand by attending an event in Paris - to make their voices heard.

All in all this book is articulated nicely and has an ending that ties together. I will say there are some parts that were a little ridiculous considering the premise, but all in all this is a novel that girls should read before continuing onto high school.

Not a very good translation. The story was confusing and not nearly gripping enough in the beginning. Perhaps it was a translation issue but it felt a little regressive in describing the characters as ugly. Overall, I wish it was handled better.

This is a lovely YA about the power of changing the supposed "fate". Throw in some teenage dark humour, some friendship and some maturing, and you have a formidable book for any teenager in heart (and we all can remember the feelings from these formative years, when all was strong and new).
Mireille, Hakima and Astrid have been elected the three ugliest (read: fattest) girls in their school. Which will not stop thewm from having goals and dreams. Armed with their passions and with Hakima's older brother Kadir, young handicapped war hero, as their protector, the girls set off on a bike roadtrip to Paris. To meet justice, recognition and love.
Love has many (gentle) facets here, like the love amongst friends or maybe the tender first feelings towards the good guy). But what is the true satisfaction here is the growing love towards themselves.

I have enjoyed this book. The girls start as a bit rough creatures, but as they evolve and grow, I have started to love them for theselves, the true gems hidden under the facade of rudeness, fangirling and tears. And the ending is one of the maturest things I have read this year.

Piglettes is funny, intelligently written and incredibly important in this day and age. It tells the story of online abuse, issues with body images and the strength it takes to be able to stand up for yourself after such an event. I enjoyed the writing style and the characters.

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If more books like ‘Piglettes’ existed in the world then maybe I would have had more of chance as the gawky, dork of a teenager that I was. It’ has taken a very, very long time for me to feel comfortable with myself as I am. And even though I feel a sense of pride and appreciation for the person I have become, every single day there is one thought or another that threatens to ruin everything.

It is no exaggeration when I say that it all started in my teens. I was 14. I was in a very unhealthy relationship. I didn’t understand mascara like other girls my age. A good fitting bra was a mystery to me. I had big teeth, big glasses, a bum chin and a fringe in front of my face that split in the middle like curtains.

I just didn’t understand why “me” didn’t look like or fit in with “them”. Even my best efforts (including secretly stealing my mum’s Venus razor to shave my legs and arms and toes because I was too embarrassed to ask for one of my own) did nothing to elevate me above my “ugly” geek status.

‘Piglettes’ is the book I wish I had back then. When 3 girls are named the ugliest in the school they could have let it define them in a negative way. But instead they take on a different challenge, together, cycling from their little town in France, all the way to Paris. They each have their own reasons for that destination, but it really is about the journey.

Each character is beautifully flawed, but all beautiful and I was jealous of their adventure and of their friendship that was bringing them closer and closer.

Sure, proving the idiots who created such an “accolade” that it’s worthless, but more importantly that there are bigger things in the world to experience and to concern yourself with. Also that just because they’ve been labelled as “less than” it doesn’t stop them from achieving. That with hard work and determination you can do something truly amazing.

There is life outside of that microcosm of intense emotion and nightmares that is school.

Now, in my twenties, I still very rarely bother with make-up because, well, effort. I’d rather sit in my Harry Potter pjs reading a book or watching Netflix than go out at the weekend. I seldom straighten my hair. Instead I’m happy in my own skin, and the only standards I worry about are the ones I set for myself. Mostly, personal hygiene and positivity. Everything else is an additional extra. But it’s taken such a long time to reach this acceptance of myself.

‘Piglettes’ touched me. Poignant, clever writing that never forgets its humour nor does it lose its heart. Plus, sausages. Who DOESN’T like sausages?

This book is a cute, fluffy read and I do suggest people checking it out. It's nothing special, but it's a perfect summer read that you can knock out in one sitting. I think you should give this one a go!

It’s a very unique story. I hadn’t read anything like it.

It was interesting to me that the main characters of this novel didn’t fit our modern beauty standards. In fact, they created their own standards, and that was awesome.

This is a perfect example of people using something awful to actually move forward, and the incredible power we all have available through social media to make our voices heard.

I’ll be honest and say that Mireille wasn’t my favorite, but I believe it was because I’m not used to people as rude and sarcastic as her. However, the very fact that I found her annoying sometimes means the author did a great developing job her personality. It’s almost tangible.

I absolutely loved Kader, though. He was amazing with the girls. I think he should have been the leader of the group, instead of just acting as the “protector”, always following Mireille’s guide no matter what.

Anyway, I admit there were moments that I lost interest in the story, but, overall, I can say I had a good time while reading.

This book seems a lot like a movie, I mean, it could be easily adapted to the big screen, but I’m not sure if it would get enough attention.

**I received a copy of this book from Pushkin Children's Books through NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. All opinions expressed are my own*

Road trip books are my thing but this book was a little weird. Still cute though.

Piglettes by Clementine Beauvais is one of the most funny and most charming books that I have read this year.
It centres round the lives of three girls: Astrid, Hakima and protagonist Mireille have all been the victim of a cruel high school prank. They have been named the three ugliest girls in the school. Whilst two of the girls are devastated by this, seasoned Piglet Mireille takes it in her stride. She befriends the other girls to make them feel better about themselves. Together (along with Hakima’s older brother Kadar) the girls travel by bike across France to get to Paris.

So, Piglettes is many things. It is a YA novel, it is a coming of age drama and it is an affirmative book about finding the good things and loving them. It is a brilliant novel.

Beauvais characters are wonderful. Mireille is a tonic. She reminded me of Georgia Nicholson from the Louise Rennison Angus Thongs series. So sure of herself and completely banging to the beat of her own drummer. She is a heroine for the 21st century. I loved her.

Piglettes by Clementine Beauvais is available now.

For more information regarding Pushkin Press (@PushkinPress) please visit www.pushkinpress.com.

A very strange little book, but that didn't stop me from enjoying. Obviously, anytime you are reading a translation, you have to wonder how different what you are reading is from the original prose. Things do sometimes get literally "lost in translation" but I think Piglettes had a good rhythym to it in English and I really enjoyed getting to go on this empowerment adventure with Mireille, Astrid, and Hakima. They're strong girls, that's for sure, which is something I definitely feel we need more of in our literature. Don't you?

Thank you very much for allowing me to read this title; I am trying to read as widely as possible ahead of the Carnegie/Greenaway nominations and awards for 2018 and your help is much appreciated.
As a Carnegie/Greenaway judge, I'm not allowed to comment about my opinions on specific titles so I can't offer an individual review on any title as I stated on my profile.
Netgalley now requires a star rating so I am giving all titles 5 stars so as not to disadvantage any title but this does not imply any recommendation of the book above any other.

Piglettes is about a group of girls in a provincial French town who find themselves the winners of a rather nasty little contest run by a boy at their school. They are voted as the winners of the ‘Pig Pageant’ – the ugliest girls in school. This is, obviously, out-and-out bullying but our main heroine, Mireille, isn’t going to give the bully the reaction he wants. She just laughs it off – although her internal monologue seems to show that she is not quite as happy with her life as she professes to be – but somehow, when she meets up with and talks to the two other ‘lucky’ winners, she decides that they will cycle across the country to Paris, selling sausages from a trailer, and gatecrash the President’s Bastille Day garden party. Like you do. The three girls, Mireille, Astrid and Hakima, are accompanied by Hakima’s brother (a disabled ex-soldier) and a wonderful friendship develops between them. Mireille is very much in charge initially – she is certainly the fiestiest of the three – but the others all come into their own as time goes by. There is a hint of love interest as Mireille has an instant crush on Kader (Hakima’s brother) but it is all very innocent – the main story is about the girls, how they learn to love themselves, to realise that they don’t need to change in order to fit in with other people’s ideals, and their refusal to accept that they are worthy of being bullied.

I really loved these girls and Mireille in particular. She is a girl who loves her food and doesn’t see why she shouldn’t – she loves cheese even more than I do (which I didn’t think was possible…) – but she also has her problems. As well as her body-image and developing feminism we are shown the complicated relationship she has with her mother and step-father. In the teenage mind, at least, the unknown father is preferable to the known mother but, in the end, Mireille is able to understand all the adults in her life a little better as she becomes a little closer to adulthood herself (but while never losing her ‘sass’. Who says you should?).

Piglettes is about three girls who are voted as the ugliest in their school. To prove to everyone there's more to them than an ugly face they decided to ride their bikes to Paris selling sausages along the way. Their stunt gets them National news attention and things spiral from there!

It's quirky, with entertaining voices, and a lot of hidden depth! #the3piglettes are a phenomenon.

Piglettes is a fun and comedic story about three young girls who over the course of a summer, find friendship, adventure, and courage. It both follows the recent trend in ‘feminist’ YA whilst also feeling more light-hearted and warm than many others. The novel has been translated from French, and as you can probably tell from the cover art, it is a feel-good summer read.

Piglettes is about Mireille, Astrid, and Hakima, three teenage girls who are awarded the prizes for three ugliest girls in their school in a competition hosted by their classmates. Whilst Mireille has experienced this before and wears an armour of sarcastic pride, she takes the two younger newcomers to the gang under her wing. The girls are all very different, and they discover that they are all seeking different things. Mireille wants to find her biological father. Astrid wants to follow her favourite band wherever they go. Hakima want a chance to avenge her brother’s trauma in war. When the girls discover that there is a chance for all of them to achieve these goals in Paris, they set out on a journey to do so, and prove a point while they’re at it. They cycle to Paris selling homemade sausages along the way, and amass a loyal following, but more importantly, build strong bonds between themselves.

I loved the light-hearted comedy of this novel. Mireille is a brilliant narrator, and she genuinely made me laugh at times. Clementine Beauvais did a really good job at creating a unique voice for Mireille and it really brought the rest of the novel to life. It was easy to get to know Mireille as a character, whether through her witty jokes to the other girls or her sarky backchat with her mother and step-father, or even just reading her thoughts. I was also impressed at the breadth of issues that the novel explores despite keeping this light-hearted and funny tone. For example, the story of Hakima’s brother who suffered life-changing injuring serving in the army and is traumatised by what he sees as a failure on his part to save his friends.

This novel toed quite a thin line between being a ‘message’ book and being a light-hearted comedy. It was refreshing to read about three empowered young girls in an exciting story about proving others wrong and achieving their dreams without feeling like the author was waving a banner in your face. On the other hand, there were parts of the novel that seemed to drag on and without Mireille’s humorous narration, the novel would just have felt boring. Particularly, a sequence where the girls attend a party hosted by university students felt unnecessary and pointless. Further, there was little action or drama in the form of plot twists, and any tension or problems was quite low-level and so easy to ‘overcome’ for the characters.

Overall I still feel like the book as a whole works well enough. It is not particularly deep or serious, but not all books have to be. The characters set a goal and worked to achieve it. By the end of the novel, they had learned a great deal. I appreciated that the culmination of their stories is not necessarily what they were expecting at the beginning of the novel, and they came to terms with these new circumstances.

Piglettes is an adorable and inspiring novel. I would love to share this one with my younger self.

Mireille is angry that she got bronze on the schools yearly Ugly list. For the past two years she's won gold, and this year someone took away her #1 spot and now she's in third. Marielle knows how to deal with being called names, and she doesn't let that affect her. But when she confronts the first and second place winners, she realizes that they are not as easy going as her. The three girls band together, and against all odds they plan a bike trip to Paris, proving everyone who said they couldn't do it wrong, the three girls embark on their trip, each for a different reason.

I am a huge supporter of books written in other languages being translated to English. We definitely need more of that, and I was stoked to be able to review this book. I instantly fell in love with the characters, the story and the message this book was sending. It has such beautiful writing, but its done in a way where the reader can laugh along with the main characters.

I love that this book had diversity in it, and dealt with some really important issues, such as bullying, family problems, and wounded soldiers. This book was meant for early highschoolers and the 15 years of age group, but some of the things the author talked about were very mature and I am so glad she did it in a gentle way where its easy for people to understand.

While I really did love the message of the story and the characters. There were parts of the story that seemed to drag on quite a bit, and there wasn't a lot of action or excitement, the book is mainly focused on character development of all three girls and their chaperone.

I definitely recommend giving this book a read, it will make you laugh and your heart swell with joy. Best of luck to the author, I hope to see more books like this in the future.

I loved this book!

So funny, real and authentic! Having the story take place in France gives is more appeal to the average reader. The main character's complete sense of humor really gives her some depth. With a moral that is far beyond the "don't make fun of kids" this book has a lot of fun teaching a lesson while showing how "ugly girls" are fun too.

A breakthrough in YA reading! One of the summer's best reads!

The results are in – and for the first time in three years Mireille has not been voted ugliest girl in school, but only the third ugliest. When her replacement at that exalted low position comes calling for sympathy, Mireille is at first too hard-hearted to give a damn, for angry self-defence is her default mode. But soon all three medallists in the unwanted competition form a trio, and all three see a reason to go and gatecrash the 14th July Presidential Garden Party – one girl because her favourite band are playing there; another as her brother has been ignored for a major military honour in favour of his ex-superior, who should instead be getting hauled over the coals and not applauded; and for Mireille, the reason is that the President's husband is her natural birth father, and has never acknowledged her…

This unlikely and awkward situation for Mireille is, thankfully, only a small part of the book, but it is an important one, for as we see the whole story played out in her first-person narration it's what we first learn. That, and the fact that Mireille is gripey, snide, angry and very unlikeable, however quick-witted she may be. I really didn't like her at the beginning, her with her consummate attitude of being against everything to do with her step-father and mother. Luckily, however, she has an intelligence about her, and the three girls – all lumpen, mis-shapen, rheumy-eyed and bad-hair-year they allegedly are – have a great and worthy determination that makes for much more enjoyable reading when they're away from adults. It's a determination to make the journey to Paris, which it turns out is the entire other end of France, and to make it by the three being on pushbikes, towing a small stand whereby they can sell deluxe sausages to passing picnickers.

So, if the birth father status is only a small section of the plot, what else is there? Well, a pleasing amount, and a pleasing variety, all approached in pretty pleasing manner. There's Mireille's crush on the aforementioned soldier, even if he's a double-amputee. There's a lot that will resonate with a lot of teens about Internet trolling, and the whole ugly nature of the online vote that crowned the girls in the first place. The online aspects also include the way in which their notoriety and popularity – jagged always by trolling comments about their size and looks (and hygiene at the sausage grill) – gain momentum, with only us readers and the young women themselves knowing their final motives. There's even a bit about female teenager biology, which does go some to point out that this is going to win over the girl reader more than the lad, but not exclusively so.

I found this a rich and intelligent read, able to get away from the straightforward diary-of-the-journey format, willing to surprise us, and at least able to make us all (even me) fall in love with Mireille. It also has a story behind it to make one sit up and take note, for this was first published in 2015 in French, but this is the author's own translation and adaptation. You so seldom get anyone with the ability to present books in two different languages so fluently and fluidly as this example, and while it's asking too much of our author for her to bring her other books across the Channel herself (she is a lecturer as well, don't'cha know), it is certainly something to be encouraged that books this firmly clever, warm and freshly current give us what they have to say. Its life-affirming message is quite a distinctive one.

I'd rate this a PG, but still a teen read from mood, character and narrative topic – I certainly wouldn't want under-twelves to imitate the early Mireille.

Piglettes is a charming and hilarious book that deals with a pretty serious issue. Bullying has always been a problem in schools, of course, but now with the anonymity and immediacy of the internet, it's easier than ever for those bullies to hit their mark and, as the headteacher at Mireille's school points out, it's very difficult for schools to deal with bullying that takes place online.

Mireille, however, has the perfect way of dealing with her tormentors. She just doesn't see them that way. Mireille has a wicked sense of humour that at times genuinely made me laugh out loud, and even she admits that it's a coping mechanism. She tries to teach the other girls that this is how they must deal with Malo and the others too, that they have to just laugh and make jokes and not let it get to them because it really doesn't mean anything. Hakima understands this, at least. When Mireille and Astrid meet her for the first time, she is the one who tells them there are more important things in the world, like the fact that the general who sent Hakima's brother into the mission that caused him to lose his legs, is about to be awarded the Legion of Honour.

So when they come up with their plan to cycle to Paris and sell sausages along the way, it really isn't about revenge, although that's what Malo assumes. It isn't about him or the pageant. It isn't really even about the fact that now, far from ignoring the three girls, the local paper is desperate to cover every leg of their journey. It's about these three girls becoming friends, having an adventure, helping each other to achieve their goals, and learning to really, truly, not care if other people think they're ugly. This is an uplifting story, guaranteed to make you giggle.

Beauvais handles the issues in this book with a light hand and an excellent sense of humour and I would definitely recommend it to all teenage girls and anyone else who wants a truly fun and funny read about friendship, growing up, and selling sausages in the French countryside.

Piglettes was a thoroughly enjoyable novel that shared a deep message. You don't have to be pretty to be happy. You find happiness in accepting yourself. Throughout the book, Mireille reminded herself and her other piglettes that they were more than ugly. Several times throughout the book, I caught myself almost cheering for the girls to become pretty. It seemed almost like it would be the Disney ending for them to suddenly become physically beautiful as well as emotionally beautiful. Beauvais revealed this prejudice of mine and corrected it. The girls are ugly, yes, but that is their life and not mine and it is their choices and life that they have to live with, not me. It is not my place, like Malo (the obnoxious teenage creator of the Pig Pageant) to judge them. It is my place to support and empower people who are different. This book revealed many hidden prejudices I had and corrected them, with its witty humor and honest tone. This is a beautiful novel of embracing who you are and learning to laugh through struggles and refusing to be put down by others. Also, the setting, from Bourg-en-Bresse to Paris is gorgeous to read about and the Piglettes biking adventure is not one you want to miss.