Driven by expectations, all five teens feel disempowered and fear not living up to expectations. Andre Kane, Jenna’s rich boyfriend, does not escape perfectionism-his mother is a plastic surgeon who turns image dreams into reality, and he himself, interested in becoming a professional dancer, fears sharing his passion with his parents because they believe a perfect life includes a financially rewarding career. Jenna, wounded by living in the shadows of her “perfect” sister, pops pills, drinks, and flaunts her sexuality. Kendra, Conner’s former girlfriend, will do anything to become a supermodel, including starving her 5'10' frame down to a size 2, having rhinoplasty and a breast augmentation, and having sex with older men in the modeling world who promise to take her to the top. Paralleling their relationship is the story of two sisters, Kendra and Jenna Mathieson. Sean O’Connell, a baseball star resolute on earning a scholarship to Stanford to be near Cara, pumps iron and takes steroids to become the perfect hitting machine, but the steroids send him into a spiral of rage. Her admission will destroy the perfect image her parents have impressed upon her. She has the seemingly ideal circumstance however, unreal parental expectations have already sent her twin brother, Conner, to a psychiatric hospital for attempted suicide, and Cara herself, confused over her sexual identity, is afraid to admit that she is not sexually drawn to her boyfriend, Sean, but rather to Danielle, a girl she meets snowboarding. Cara Sykes is beautiful, rich, and destined for Stanford. Reading Group GuideĪ Reading Group Guide to Perfect by Ellen HopkinsĮveryone dreams about the perfect life, but an obsession with perfection can be crippling. And Andre realizes that to follow his heart and achieve his perfect performance, he’ll be living a life his ancestors would never understand.Ī riveting and startling companion to the bestselling Impulse, Ellen Hopkins’s Perfect exposes the harsh truths about what it takes to grow up and grow into our own skins, our own selves. To score his perfect home run-on the field and off-Sean will sacrifice more than he can ever win back. Kendra covets the perfect face and body-no matter what surgeries and drugs she needs to get there. For her, perfect means rejecting their ideals to take a chance on a new kind of love. For four high school seniors, their goals of perfection are just as different as the paths they take to get there.Ĭara’s parents’ unrealistic expectations have already sent her twin brother Conner spiraling toward suicide.

What would you give up to be perfect? Four teens find out in the New York Times bestselling companion to Impulse.Įveryone has something, someone, somewhere else that they’d rather be.

Ellen hopkins impulse series in order