It Girl (It Girl Series #1)

by Cecily von Ziegesar

Overview

Popular Gossip Girl character Jenny Humphrey is leaving Constance Billard to attend Waverly Academy, an elite boarding school in New York horse country where glamorous rich kids don't let the rules get in the way of an excellent time.

Determined to leave her Manhattan past behind her, Jenny sets off to Waverly with big plans of reinventing herself. She'll be a goddess--she's a sophisticated city girl, after all!--and will find a boy who can properly worship her. But that's going to be a little tricky since her self-absorbed new roommates, Callie Vernon and Brett Messerschmidt, aren't exactly there to help--unless there's something in it for them.

Hot guys, new intrigue, and more delicious gossip all add up to more trouble than ever for Jenny. But if getting caught with boys and going up against the Disciplinary Committee is what it takes, Jenny's ready. She'll do all that and more to be The It Girl.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780316041973
Publisher:	Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication date:	08/01/2008
Series:	It Girl , #1
Sold by:	Hachette Digital, Inc.
Format:	eBook
Sales rank:	384,282
File size:	492 KB
Age Range:	15 - 18 Years

About the Author

Cecily von Ziegesar is the creator of the #1 bestselling Gossip Girl and #1 bestselling It Girl novels. She has always lived in New York City.

Editorial Reviews

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. (Nov.) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

Jenny Humphrey from The Gossip Girls books stars in this spin-off series about the elite boarding school, Waverly Academy, and its A-crowd. New at Waverly, Jenny wants to reinvent herself; her roommate Callie wants a closer relationship-or at least sex-with her boyfriend, Easy; and Jenny's other roommate, Brett, pants Lolita-style for a teacher. Jenny's decision to rat out Callie for a tryst with Easy will mean expulsion for someone. It is a boarding-school soap opera, with sequels to follow. A quick read, the book is junk food that does not even taste good going down. The revelations of Callie losing Easy, Brett's phone-sex attempt, and Jenny's crush on Easy maintain the book's breezy, salacious tone. The characters aren't distinguished, however, and their collective wisdom is "I did so much E this summer, my brain is fried!" The author spends the majority of the book assigning a brand name to every object. The book is a deliberate shocker, portraying monied teens as eternally drunk and motivated by the bodily urges of the moment, entirely missing the complicated reality of actual teens. Like her rebellious teenage characters, von Ziegesar sees gratuitous mentions of sex, drugs, and consumerism as legitimizing agents, but both fall flat as empty, adolescent posturing. Now to the unhappy truth: Legions of Gossip Girl readers will want this book. Young adult librarians will have to make their peace with it, and hope that there is an SAT word or two to redeem it. How about lascivious? VOYA CODES: 2Q 4P S (Better editing or work by the author might have warranted a 3Q; Broad general YA appeal; Senior High, defined as grades 10 to 12). 2005, Alloy Entertainment/Little Brown, 265p., Tradepb. Ages 15 to 18.
—Caitlin Augusta

VOYA

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 Reed Business Information.

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