The It Girl
by Cecily von Ziegesar
The It Girl is a spin off from the Gossip Girl series. Jenny Humphrey was
put out of Gossip Girl's Constance Billard school because of her disgraceful behavior.
But Jenny is never really disgraceful - she just finds herself in the wrong place at the
wrong time - a lot. She resolves to get a fresh start at an elite boarding school, Waverly
Academy, but it isn't long before she finds herself the target of misunderstanding and
scandalous gossip. But Jenny is not a quitter - she will remake her reputation, and she
will get along with her popular new roommates, or get expelled trying. The character of
Jenny Humphrey is such a delightfully confused mess that she has much more of an "every
teen" feeling than you usually find in these rich-kids-behaving-badly novels. Even her
self-absorbed roommates have believable motivation - in many ways, they're kids trying
to figure out how to be adults. What teen doesn't understand that? Although the characters
are a bit too casual about drugs, alcohol and cigarettes for my prudish sensibilities,
I found the book compelling. Several of the male characters were more three-dimensional
than any found in the Gossip Girl series so it looks like Ziegesar is really growing
as a writer - she can do high fashion, whispery gossip, and characterization. This is
the best of her books that I've seen. If your teen is going to sneak a guilty pleasures
book - this is one of the better ones. |
The Book |
Little, Brown and Company / TimeWarner |
November 2005 |
Trade Paperback |
0316011851 |
Young Adult / Chick Lit |
More at Amazon.com |
Excerpt |
NOTE: |
The Reviewer |
Jan Fields |
Reviewed 2005 |
NOTE: Reviewer Jan
Fields is the editor of Kid Magazine Writers emagazine and has written dozens of
stories and articles for the children's magazine market. |
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