Gossip Girl

Gossip Girl by Cecily von Ziegesar

The first novel in the Gossip Girl series by Cecily von Ziegesar was intentionally meant for a young adult audience but became huge and popular amongst preteen girls in middle school. A series that focuses on teen drama, the first novel titled Gossip Girl, inspired a hit television show that hit an audience that ranged from middle school to college aged girls. The first book focuses on the lives of privileged teenagers at an elite prep school for girls on the Upper East Side in Manhattan. While the story focuses on a group of best friends, the story is from the perspective of an anonymous gossip blogger. The structure of the story revolves around friendship, revenge and exploiting each other’s love lives. Being a part of the popular group, they can’t help but indulge in visiting the “Gossip Girl” site, where an anonymous blogger spreads rumors and gossip about the elite group of girls.

        Released in early 2002, the Gossip Girl franchise took off when the hit and popular show was created in 2007 staring Blake Lively and Leighton Meester among other famous actors. While self promotion seems to play a big theme in the books and television show, this is another story that focuses on fame, egotism and being the prettiest girl in school. Not exactly books we encourage our young girls to read, we can’t help but wonder why this style of young adult (and ‘tween’) fiction is so popular. Do we want our youth to be influenced by rich kids parading around and sleeping with each other’s boyfriends, exploring with drugs and alcohol. It’s the question of innocence, do we want to preserve the idea of ‘child innocence’ or is it time for them to learn about the reality of our culture and society? Is fame really that imperative to being successful in life? Is it healthy for our kids to fill their mind with the idea of fame, sex and self promotion?