The Uglies
Study Guide
Chapter 1- New Pretty
Town
• What are some details that suggest a time setting
for this story? pg4
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What time setting is being suggested by these
details?
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Who is Peris? pg4
• What two towns does the river divide?pg6
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How does a pretty’s “magic” make uglies feel?
pg8
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What kind of mask does Tally wear? pg10
Chapter 2- Best Friends
Forever
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How does the person falling from the tower not die?pg11
How did Peris change from an ugly into a pretty?pg13
What is one of the functions of Tally’s interface
ring?pg15
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What are some of the features that make someone
pretty?pg16
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What is Tally’s plan for escaping Garbo Mansion?pg19
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“What was worse in New Pretty Town, she
wondered? Your mansion burning down, or an ugly crashing
your party?” What does Tally’s question tell us about how
pretties think?
Chapter Three-Shay
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Why are there sirens going off at the beginning of this chapter? 21, 24
Why did Peris have a scar that matched Tally’s? 25
Why doesn’t Peris have his scar anymore? 25
How might Peris’s scar be a symbol for the relationship between uglies
and pretties?
What are some parts of the operation to make people pretty? 25
Would you have this operation done?
How many levels of being pretty do you definitely know about? 26
How many levels of being pretty do you guess there are? Why?
What is the allusion on page 28 a reference to?
Why is Shay in New Pretty Town? 29
How did Shay get to New Pretty Town? 30
Chapter Four-Wipe Out
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How do the crash bracelets keep Tally from
hurting herself when she falls? 33
What is Tally’s ugly nickname? 36
What surprising information does Shay share
with Tally? 37
According to Tally, why don’t their pretty
friends visit Tally & Shay? 38
What was Peris’s nickname? 38
What is Shay’s nickname? 36
Chapter Five-Facing the
Future
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How many morphos does Shay have? 40
What does “symmetry” mean? 42
What is a morpho? 39-44
On page 44, Shay says, “Everyone judged everyone else on their
appearance. People who were taller got better jobs, and people even voted
for some politicians just because they weren’t quite as ugly as everybody
else.” This is information from an actual study of real people from
2004. Do you agree with Tally that making everyone the same level of
pretty will help get rid of this problem?
What is Shay’s opinion about becoming pretty? Use details from both
Chapter 4 and Chapter 5 to support your answer.
In modern America, advertisements in magazines and on TV feature
beautiful people to help make products sell better. How might this relate
to Shay’s thoughts about making morphos?
Chapter 6- Pretty Boring
To where does Shay want to make a
night trip? 48
Do you agree that “being required to
have fun” is boring? Explain your
answer.
What are two topics Tally doesn’t
know about? 51, 52
Chapter 7-Rapids
Based on the description of the pretty operation on page 50, do you
think this is something you would do? Use details from the book
to support your answer.
On pages 53 and 54, Tally notices that it’s almost like the dorms are
purposely designed to allow uglies to sneak out. What might be a
reason for the government to purposely allow the uglies to sneak
out?
How come Shay and Tally’s hoverboards won’t tell on them when they
go out at night? 54
Shay thinks Peris told Tally to not take risks for what reason? 55
What makes hoverboards hover? 58
What happens if your hoverboard leaves a safe operating area? 59
How can the hoverboards work on the river? 60
Chapter 8-The Rusty
Ruins
Based on the details from the story, who
were the Rusties? 61-63
Do you agree with Shay that the “trick”
she played on Tally by not telling her about
the gap in the rollercoaster was a good
trick? Explain your answer.
Explain the process that allowed some
uglies to discover the rollercoaster. 67
Chapter-9 Waiting for
David
Who is David? 71
Is David real? 73
Explain what Tally means when she
thinks, “Being in the city all the time
made everything fake, in a way” (74).
Chapter 10-Fight
• a. According to Tally, at what age do you
become an ugly? 77
• b. What is the prank Shay and Tally play
on the new uglies? 79-80
• c. Why did Tally and Shay wear
disguises? 79
• d. Why is swimming a “great trick” (81)?
• e. Do you agree with Shay or Tally in
their argument on pages 82-84?
Chapter 11-Last Trick
• a. Do you think 15 year-olds should be allowed to
get plastic surgery? Explain your answer.
• b. What is the “last trick” Shay wants to
perform? 89
• c. What is the name of the place David lives? 91
• d. On page 92, Shay and Tally debate over what
it would mean if everyone was ugly; Shay says that
would mean no one is ugly, but Tally thinks that
means no one is pretty. Who is right?
• e. At what age does the pretty operation no
longer work? 93
Chapter 12-Operation
• a. After reading the description of the
operation on page 97, do you think the
pretties are still human? Explain your
answer.
• b. Why do you think that the place where
late pretties live is called “Crumblyville”?
• c. How do most middle pretties make
Tally feel? 98-99, 101
Chapter 13-Special
Circumstances
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a. What are these new middle pretties like? 103, 104
b. Why are people’s eyes getting flashed? 98, 100, 103
c. What does the fact that Tally has always called everyone,
even adults, by their first names tell us about her society? 104
d. What is the purpose of “Special Circumstances”? 106-107
e. Why would the Special Circumstances building be “designed to
make its occupants vaguely nauseated” (103)?
f. What is your opinion about the structure and functions of the
city as described on pages 106-107?
g. Look back at Chapter 7: “Rapids”, especially the second study
guide question. How does Special Circumstances seem to decide
whether or not an ugly is clever? 108
Chapter 14-Ugly for Life
• a. Why might Tally find it important to
realize that “Special Circumstances could
make mistakes” (113)?
• b. Who are Ellie and Sol? 114
• c. What is their advice to Tally? 115-119
Chapter 15-Peris
• a. What does “bubbly” mean? 124
• b. What does “bogus” mean? 124
• c. “Rationalize” means “to come up with a reason
to do something you want to, even though you
know you shouldn’t do it”. How does Tally
rationalize breaking her promise to Shay?
• d. The sun has risen, and Peris says “It’s almost
past my bedtime” (127). What does that tell us
about how pretties live?
Chapter 16-Infiltrator
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Chapter 16: Infiltrator
• a. Do you agree with Dr. Cable when she says,
“We always have choices” (129)?
• b. What does Dr. Cable expect Tally to do? 132133
• c. How is Special Circumstances going to find
Tally when she gets to the Smoke? 134
• d. What finally convinces Tally to infiltrate the
Smoke? 135