Gossip Girl (novel)

Infobox Book |
name = Gossip Girl
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption = Gossip Girl Cover
author = Cecily von Ziegesar
cover_artist = Jennifer Blanc
country = United States
language = English
series = Gossip Girl
genre = Young adult novel
publisher = Little, Brown, Bloomsbury Publishing
release_date = 2002
media_type = Print (Paperback) & AudioBook (MP3 CD)
pages = 208 pp
isbn = ISBN 978-0316910330
preceded_by = none
followed_by = You Know You Love Me

"Gossip Girl" is the first book in the bestselling Gossip Girl series by Cecily von Ziegesar. It was released by Little, Brown and Bloomsbury in 2002.

In this book we get introduced to Blair Waldorf, Serena van der Woodsen, Nate Archibald, Dan Humphrey, Jenny Humphrey and Vanessa Abrams whose lives make up Gossip Girl's popular gossip blog.

Plot summary

The story begins with Blair Waldorf at a party at her house with her friends Kati Farkas, Isabel Coates, Chuck Bass, and boyfriend Nate Archibald. Soon after, Blair Waldorf sneaks away from the party to her room in order to have sex with Nate. However, they are interrupted by the arrival of Serena van der Woodsen, Blair's old friend who left one year ago to attend boarding school. When Serena was around, Blair was always left in her shadow, so when she returned Blair was not particularly thrilled to see her, especially when Blair finds out that Serena and Nate had sex the summer before Serena left. She tries to keep Serena out of loop such as not inviting her to the Kiss On the Lips party, a benefit of two peregrine falcons living in Central Park. Serena does not understand why she is being ignored by all of her friends so she decides to branch out and try new things, especially since she does not have any extracurricular activities on her record. She tries to join the school play, a terrible modernized, musical version of War and Peace but decides to try out for her classmate, Vanessa Abrams' short film in Central Park.

Serena performs very well at her tryout but Vanessa is jealous of how her best friend and secret crush, Dan Humphrey, acted lovesick around her so she decides to pick a sophomore, Marjorie instead. Undeterred, Serena decides to make her own film and enlists the help of Jenny Humphrey, Dan's younger sister. Also all throughout the book, Gossip Girl, a popular blog site, which many visit, spreads around rumors, or gossip, about this group.

The Constance Billard School for Girls is based on the Nightingale-Bamford School, the author's prep school: "The school is completely based on Nightingale," von Ziegesar told ABC News, "But I exaggerated to make it more entertaining." [ [http://www.abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/Story?id=3628866&page=1 ABC News: 'Gossip Girls': 'Raunchy and Intense' ] ]

References