TeenLit Book Reviews


January 2005

Gossip Girl

Cecily von Ziegesar

Gossip Girl Review The first three books in the Gossip Girl series are Gossip Girl, You Know you Love Me, and All I Want is Everything, by Cecily von Ziegesar. They are "light" fiction, not meant to betaken seriously for plot or deeper meaning. I would rate these three books as a 2 on a scale of 1 to 4. These books should only be read by a mature teen who knows that irresponsible behavior, drugs, alcohol, eating disorders, and bad values do not make one popular or cool. With that in mind, the first book starts with the beautiful, popular, rich girl, Serena returning to the Upper East Side of Manhattan from boarding school. Her best friend, Blair, has turned against her and has turned her other friends against Serena too; but that shouldn't be a problem for Serena. The second book is full of applying to colleges, that is Ivy League Colleges. Most of the girls do not try hard in school, but with all of the money in their families, they think daddy could easily make a big donation and secure his daughter's spot. The third book takes a different tone. Serena and Blair become best friends again and start planning awesome parties and getting into all sorts of trouble; after all, it is winter vacation. The strengths of these books are that they are fun to read, and once you start to read them, they are hard to put down. The weakness are that nothing meaningful actually happens in them. They are full of obnoxious teenagers who do obnoxious things, but they are well written. If the reader can understand that the characters are not doing the right thing, they may end up enjoying these books. By Julia, Menlo Park, CA
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