Clémentine Beauvais: Piglettes (Pushkin Children’s Books 2017)
Mireille, Astrid and Hakima have a lot in common: all three are teenagers, lonely, misfits and barely fit into their own clothes, and they have been voted the ugliest girls at Marie Darrieussecq High School in Bourg-en-Bresse. For three years now, a jerk has been organizing voting for Pig Paegant competition on social media among the girls deemed the ugliest. Mireille is already quite “used” to the humiliation, but this is the first time the other two girls have been on the list. That is why they think that instead of crying about it, they should support each other and go on a roadtrip by bike together, with the goal of making it to Paris on the 14th of July, the national holiday, to the president’s garden party.
The book deals with very important and serious topics presented with humor. It talks about the difference between online comments and real encounters, the still-present racism in French society, puberty issues, body image, acceptance, the importance of friendship and feminism. The story shows that even in today’s hypocritical society, selflessness can appear, so we still have a chance for a better world.
Cémentine Beauvais is a French writer and translator. She was born in Paris, but has lived in the United Kingdom since the age of 17. She completed her studies at the University of Cambridge and currently teaches and studies education at the University of York. The Piglettes became an absolute bestseller in France and won several literary awards. Her books are published in both French and English. The writer translated The Ickabog by J.K. Rowling into French.
