The It Girl

October 31, 2005
In this launch of a new series, a character from von Ziegesar's Gossip Girl series transfers from her New York City girls' school to Waverly, a co-ed boarding school upstate, where more scandals await. Jenny Humphrey gets to room with "supercool" Brett and Callie, whose former roommate was expelled last year. But rumors about Jenny quickly spread through campus, including one that she was a stripper (not entirely unfounded—at one of the schools she considered, for instance, Jenny was "offered Ecstacy and had taken her top off"). When Callie's cute boyfriend is caught nearly naked in their room, Callie pressures Jenny to take the blame, even though Jenny faces expulsion. As with the Gossip Girl books, the perspective rotates through several Waverly characters, and readers glimpse not only what they are thinking on the inside, but what labels they are wearing on the outside (readers even learn where to buy the outfit featured on the cover). Unfortunately, the zinger-filled Gossip Girl commentary that separated the chapters in the original series is here replaced by rather dull emails sent from students and staff. Still, the author serves up plenty of juicy plotting, and Gossip Girl fans will likely go for this, too. Ages 15-up.

April 1, 2006
Gr 9 Up -Jenny Humphrey, kicked out of Constance Ballard prep school for being a bad influence, decides she'll do anything to become one of the popular girls at Waverly Academy. Like the author's -Gossip Girls - series, the story is full of underage drinking, smoking, foul language, snarkiness, and label dropping. Sleeping around is casually accepted. Jenny rooms with two almost interchangeable big names on campus: Brett, who falls for the uber-rich newbie teacher, and Callie, who manipulates both Jenny and her boyfriend, Easy. The two girls are barely speaking because each one blames the other for their friend Tinsley's expulsion. Fearing that she will also be kicked out, Callie talks vulnerable Jenny into taking the blame when Easy gets caught nearly naked in their room. But Jenny is as attracted to Easy as he is to her. The school's dirty little secret is that you can get away with almost anything as long as you are from a -legacy - family of donors, which may explain why Tinsley is being reinstated at the books' end -just in time for a sequel. Jenny's references to -Old - and -New - Jenny are more confusing than illuminating as is the starry-eyed innocence that uncharacteristically peeks out of her persona at convenient times. Pass on this paean to possessions, perkiness, and ample breasts for something more substantial, unless you have insatiable -Gossip Girl - fans." -Tina Zubak, Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, PA"

Copyright 2006 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2006
Gr. 9-12. This first title in the It Girl series, a spin-off of the Gossip Girl books, follows sophomore Jenny Humphrey to Waverly Academy, an exclusive boarding school in upstate New York. As new girl on campus, Jenny relishes the idea that she can leave behind her somewhat tarnished reputation, earned during her freshman year in New York City. She is put in the same room as the school's queen bees, Callie and Brett, and soon finds herself caught up in a scandal that involves Callie's nearly naked boyfriend on Jenny's bed. Although this contains many of the elements that make the Gossip Girl series such addictive reading, the writing lacks punch. In the Gossip Girl books, an anonymous narrator contributes e-mails that bind the story together with deliciously catty previews and overviews of the plot. Here, e-mails from different characters further splinter the multivoiced narrative. Still, that won't stop fans from happily digging into a new adventure in conspicuous consumption and name-dropping.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2006, American Library Association.)