The It Girl

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.)