Miss Meteor

Description: "There hasn't been a winner of the Miss Meteor beauty pageant who looks like Lita Perez or Chicky Quintanilla in all its history. But that's not the only reason Lita wants to enter the contest, or her ex-best friend Chicky wants to help her. The road to becoming Miss Meteor isn't about being perfect; it's about sharing who you are with the world, and loving the parts of yourself no one else understands. So to pull off the unlikeliest underdog story in pageant history, Lita and Chicky are going to have to forget the past and imagine a future where girls like them are more than enough--they are everything."--

Brief description:

Anna-Marie McLemore (they/them) was born in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains and taught by their family to hear la llorona in the Santa Ana winds. Anna-Marie is the author of The Weight of Feathers, a finalist for the 2016 William C. Morris Debut Award; 2017 Stonewall Honor Book When the Moon Was Ours, which was longlisted for the National Book Award in Young People's Literature and winner of the James Tiptree Jr. Award; Wild Beauty, a Kirkus Best Book of 2017; and Blanca & Roja, a New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice. Dark and Deepest Red, a reimagining of "The Red Shoes" based on true medieval events, will be released in January 2020

Review Quotes:

"McLemore and Mejia tell a warmly inclusive story rooted in the bonds of family and in female friendship. For anyone who's ever felt like an outsider, this joyful #OwnVoices tale will fill a void." - Booklist

"Teaming these two YA powerhouse writers up on a super-fun, super-queer underdog story is brilliant! Readers will be rooting for the protagonists to win the Miss Meteor pageant the whole way through." - Ms. magazine

"A genre-bending friendship story complete with aliens and beauty pageants...filled with humor and fresh dialogue." - Shelf Awareness

"...Readers will be drawn into this story of an unlikely beauty queen." - The Horn Book

"A luminous romp of a book that is both hilarious and tender. Mejia and McLemore have gifted us with a story that celebrates the eternal power of friendship." - Abdi Nazemian, author of the Stonewall Honor-winning Like a Love Story

"Some books you read with your heart--and this is one of them. Written with compassion, honesty, and humor, Miss Meteor is magical." - Shaun David Hutchinson, award-winning author of We Are the Ants, The State of Us, and Brave Face: A Memoir

"A hilarious and heartfelt love letter in sparkling stardust prose to the outcasts who feel like they're from another planet." - Lily Anderson, author of Undead Girl Gang

"A love letter to the misfits who have been scared to let their stardust shine." - Kirkus Reviews

"This complex tale packs a lot into its space, and while the novel is sure to resonate with any kid who feels like an outcast and any reader who loved Murphy's Dumplin', it's especially salient for those in the Latinx, queer, and economically disadvantaged communities." - Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

"A unique and beautifully penned story, Miss Meteor belongs to the dreamers and the outsiders in this world who will find that they will always have a safe haven with the right people and that they can change the world, one beauty pageant at a time." - The Nerd Daily