I would use this book as a read aloud in fifth through eighth grade. I would use it as a read aloud to teach character development as it relates to the plot of the story. Students could use things like plot lines and venn diagrams as activities with each other to enhance understanding. Because this book has a sensitive subject, death, I would use the read aloud as a tool to introduce students to topics like this in a safe, contained, teacher guided environment. I could also use this book in fifth through eighth grade in a cause and effect and bullying lesson. I might have the students read it on their own, and then have classroom discussions about the plot, what the characters did, what happened as a result, if anything like this had happened to them and if they had any suggestions on how we might solve it in our classroom or community. Letting the students read the book as individuals first gives them time to connect with the story personally and form their own opinions and beliefs before they are shared with everyone else.

For Beauty McElwrath, the first day of sixth grade in small-town Green River, Florida, proves to be exactly the catastrophe she expected. Beauty is acutely shy, and she s sure she s doomed to be a social outcast for yet another school year. It doesn t help that her mother is dating her teacher!

But then she meets Alane Shriver, a new student who suffers from progeria, a rare, rapid aging disorder. At first Beauty is frightened by her fellow outsider s wrinkled skin, shriveled hands, thick glasses, and tiny, frail body. But fear gives way to curiosity, and Beauty discovers that, on the inside, Alane is just like any other twelve-year-old girl. When a life-threatening event puts the two of them in harm s way, Beauty unexpectedly finds the confidence and inner strength to save Alane.

Author Carol Lynch Williams offers a realistic, sensitive look at the trials and challenges of adolescence, while expertly weaving in themes of isolation, illness, and even death. The result is an honest, humorous, unsparing, and ultimately uplifting book that celebrates the power and courage that come from accepting differences and meeting life s uncertainties head on.