The It Girl: Cecily von Ziegesar

I am pretty far away from high school popularity. I attended high school in a very small town were popularity was incredibly relative. I don't recall any one particular girl whom everyone wanted to be or be with, and if that girl existed, she certainly wasn't me. My high school experience was such a unique one that I'm intrigued by girls who are willing to do and say and wear things outside their comfort zone for the sake of popularity. I suppose that curiousity is what led me to The It Girl.

Jenny --a spin-off character from the Gossip Girl series--has transferred to Waverly Boarding School where she hopes to shed her good-girl image, and earn some popularity with her new risk-taking attitude. Thanks to a series of mishaps and little white lies, Jenny fast becomes the most talked about girl on campus. The best-looking guys are all vying for her attention, and her pretty, popular roommates Brett and Callie are fawning over her. Mission....accomplished?

The It Girl is one of those books that I couldn't put down, but I couldn't tell you why. This isn't a page turner, full of adventure and action, nor is it a breathless romance. Truth be told, it's a droll little tale of drivel about unreal characters. So I suppose that's a testament to von Ziegesar's writing that she can keep my attention even when the subject is as trivial as high school popularity. The characters are flat and uninteresting, the plot is thin at best, and my interest in the outcome steadily waned from the very beginning. And yet, I couldn't put it down!

Rating: $.5

This Girl Is Different: JJ Johnson

I requested This Girl Is Different from Peachtree Publishers because the storyline caught my attention. A home-schooled girl transitions to public high school for her senior year, and confronts the "normal" firsts all at once--romance, friendship, responsibility. I'm always fascinated by stories that reflect our culture back at us, which is exactly what JJ Johnson does in this novel.

Evie isn't like other girls. This girl is different. She has been home-schooled by a counter-culture hippie mom--Martha-- who has dedicated Evie's education to challenging the social standards. Evie decides that for her final year of high school, she wants to enter into the public high school as a kind of social experiment. With plans of going to Cornell to study urban design, Evie is curious to know how the reality of high school will live up to the movies she's seen. However, Evie is still just a teenage girl, and after her run-in with Rajas and Jacinda she is swept up in what it means to be an average teenager, with a boyfriend and a best friend. In the first weeks of school, Jacinda and Rajas are by her side, helping her adjust to a whole new set of rules. It doesn't take long for Evie to recognize that injustices are rampant at the Institution of School. The trio of friends devise a plan to give students a voice to speak out against their oppressive teachers, citing their First Amendment right to free speech. As you can probably guess, things quickly spiral out of control and Evie is soon faced with possibly the largest lesson she never would have learned without her high school experience; free speech has no value if the speaker doesn't take responsibility for the things they say.

My favorite thing about this novel was the use of quotes at the heading of every chapter. Emma Goldman, Mahatma Gandhi, Bill Bryson, and many many more lend thoughtful statements to help guide the reader to ideals and theories highlighted in Johnson's novel. This Girl Is Different focuses on very relevant issues regarding American freedoms and how our educational system exposes our young citizens to their rights. In a time when bullying has become deadly, Johnson has written a novel about how harshly the First Amendment can hurt our peers.

My second favorite thing is Evie. Evie is a wonderful character. She is so smart, independent, and caring that I want to be her friend. I love that she's this brilliant home-schooled kid who goes through the transition to become a (somewhat) typical high school teen with raging hormones and a sense of righteousness. She isn't perfect, and that's what makes her so great. Evie makes mistakes and she learns life lessons so that the reader can actually watch her grow as an individual. The characters of Rajas and Jacinda aren't quite as developed, but this isn't their story, so it's kind of okay. The story isn't even really about Evie; she's an illustration of millions of people all over the world. Because aside from just being a story about a smart teenager, angry about the enforced authority of high school, This Girl Is Different also takes on the very heavy topic of bullying. Johnson dates this novel with references to Glee and Avatar, but the theme of high school bullying is--unfortunately-- timeless.

Rating: $$.5

Best Friends Forever: Jennifer Weiner

There’s a saying that goes, “A friend helps you move, a best friend helps you move a body.” That is the kind of friendship that Jennifer Weiner writes about in Best Friends Forever. Despite the distance of years, best friends Addie and Valerie are reunited under suspicious circumstances and are willing to revisit their friendship and save each other.

Addie Downs is a fat little girl with a strong inclination to stay at home with her family. She’s not much interested in doing the things that other little girls like to do, and she thinks her family is the best. She’s an outcast at school, but she doesn’t mind, or even really seem to notice. When Valerie Addler moves in next door, Addie’s mother forces her to make friends with the new girl. Val is everything that Addie is not--namely, social. They become best friends, inseparable. Val’s mother is a little flaky, but she is adventurous and exciting in ways that Addie’s mother could never be. While Addie is  envious of Val’s eccentric, boozy mom, Val is hateful jealous of Addie’s four person family, with a dad  who comes home every day, a mom  who loves with her whole heart, and a brother who seems just about perfect in every way. However, things change over time, as they are apt to do, and Valerie grows out of her awkwardness and blossoms into a beautiful blond bombshell, joining the cheerleading team, and partying with the popular high school kids. Addie misses her friend more than anything, but isn’t willing to endure the social pressures of her peers. As Addie becomes ridiculed by the very people Valerie now hangs out with, their friendship becomes strained. Then one night at a party, Valerie is raped by one of the school’s most popular jocks, and confiding in Addie, begs her not to tell. When Addie does expose the truth, Valerie denies it and the entire school turns again Fat Addie. The rest of her high school years are spent in misery.

Fast forward fifteen years, and Valerie has become a weather girl, still a blond bombshell. Addie has become an artist, and has lost all of her extra weight. She’s not exactly successful by societal standards, but she’s happy in her life. The night of the fifteen year high school reunion comes around and Addie chooses to go on a date rather than face the kids who hated her in high school. After the terrible date finally ends, Addie heads home and soon finds Val on her doorstep, claiming she has run over and possibly killed the boy who raped her in high school. Addie, ever desperate to have her best friend back, goes along with Val’s plan to find the body and cover up the mess. When no body shows up, the only logical thing to do is run.

Weiner is a very likable author. She creates characters who are very relatable and puts them in situations that are like a more Technicolor real life—aka, more exaggerated. I enjoyed the characters of Addie and Val, maybe because they remind me so much of me and my best friend in high school. Except that I was never that shy; I was far more social than Addie Downs was. However, it’s not hard to believe that best friends could be ripped apart by the social pressures of high school. It’s also not hard to believe that once you’ve been best friends with a person and shared with them the deepest secrets of yourself, you’re linked forever.

Despite having some fairly heavy elements, this book was a really fun read. It was playful and funny, and a trademark chick lit volume from Jennifer Weiner.

Overall Rating: $$