"Uglies" Book Talk

Description:
Uglies is the first in a series of dystopian novels by accomplished writer, Scott Westerfeld. This is a science fiction text that follows a young girl, Tally. As the story begins, Tally explains that when she turns 16 in a few weeks, she will undergo a surgery to make her look "perfect". This is true with all people in her world. Normal or average are seen as ugly and only an extreme cosmetic surgery(required by all) can fix that. Once teens have the surgery, they go to another town with all other "pretties" to party and live lavish lives. Tally is generally okay with all of this until she meets Shay and David. They challange her initially thoughts and she is forced to recognize that after the surgery, people are different in their personalities.Still, Tally wants to be Pretty. When Shay runs away to the rebel camp, "The Smoke" Tally is told that she must infiltrate the camp for the special forces and bring back Shay or never be allowed the surgery she so desperately wants. When Tally finds her friends, she falls in love with David and his parents confirm that the surgery really does give people brain lesions to dumb them down. Tally is horrified by all of this and decides to fully join the rebellion. From there, she faces many risks and nothing really seems to go as planned. 
Rationale:
I am interested in having a lot of social justice presented in my classroom. This book has a lot of difficult themes for Tally to considers and make choices on and I think these are questions students are beginning to ask themselves as well. At the forefront of this novel is Tally making the choice between conforming and having an easy life and doing what is ultimately right. This text will require students to think critically about their own place in the world. Uglies is rated for grades 8-12, I would definitely teach it to a freshman class. The mixture of the lower reading level with the content would be most effective with this group. I think an average freshman group would be interested in the story as it involves action and love, would be able to understand the material, and could effectively work with the important themes. 
Teaching Ideas:
1. Have students write a 2-3 page dystopian story in which they chose one thing from society to change and be the premise of their short story. 
2. Teach this in lit circles where each group reads a different dystopian novel.
3. Students imagine they are in this world and write 5 journal entries from the point of view of a teen from before and after the surgery and then write a reflection on how they feel about being forced to change.
4. Have students create an Uglies Guide that breaks down all of the language used in the novel, there is a whole set of invented vocabulary.
Obstacles: 
Parents and adminstration could potentially have an issue with the fact that all normal people are referred to as ugly and that they only way to get away from that is to undergo surgery. The terms seem crass at first and parents may think this puts a bad message in front of students. Ultimately, however, the books message is that being content with oneself is important and healthy.
Parents and administraion may also be concerned with alcohol presented in the book. After the surgery, all teens participate in underage drinking. This is sanctioned by the government and glorified in a sense. I would need to make it clear that underage drinking is not something I am promoting by teaching this book.
This book does not have foul language or sexual content and any issues with the theme of physical beauty being of utmost importance can be dealt with by explaining that this is a character breaking out of that.
Sources:
https://www.commonsensemedia.org/book-reviews/uglies-uglies-quartet-book-1/user-reviews/child
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uglies