In the A-list, the first spin off of the Gossip Girl series, without actually being interconnected, good girls continue to finish first. There has been a lot of hype about these books, the new "sex in the city" type books for teenagers, yet they are still selling the same old song and dance to girls: girls who have sex are sluts. boys don't love girls who have sex with them. good girls are good.
I see this being for 3 reasons. The first, and most obvious, is that girls who read books are generally nerds (like me at 12)and not only didn't have sex, but could barely say 3 words to a boy. Girls who read books barely know what sex is. These books make them feel okay about not being knowledgeable about sex. The second reason is because society, no matter how much they loved Carrie Bradshaw, in real life they would think her a slut. And men love to watch Samantha the same way they loved to listen to "Blow Job Queen." it was sexy and slutty and they wanted to fuck it, but not to marry it. The third reason is probably to sell these books to parents with the idea that "Some girls have sex. They're bad. Good girls do not."
Anna Percy, the main character of The A-list series arrives in LA like any timid book-geek girl would, a shy virgin. She gets drunk on a plane and makes out with a cute boy. That could happen to anyone, so long as they are a naturally beautiful blonde. Anna is shocked by the importance of designer clothes and makeup at Beverly Hills High; at her high school in Manhattan all the girls wore old jeans and comfy t-shirts. (Huh. Gossip Girl, published and created by the same masterminds of T’ween marking, says that fancy clothes are just as important in NYC as they are in LA. (I having lived both places say they're way more important in NYC. LA is the home of laid back style.) But apparently Anna is not a gossip girl.)
Anna learns a lessons all girls need to learn: 1. don't trust girls. they'll stab you in the back (or just rip your dress) 2. don't trust boys. they only want one thing, and if they don't get it they'll dump you.
or if they do, like with Cammie, Anna's new arch-enemy, they'll dump you because you're a slut. Cammie doesn’t understand this, though, and is still using sex as her only weapon.
Still, the heroine of the A-list is much more likeable than the heroines of any of these other fancy series books out now. She might be rich and beautiful, but she has a sense of self and stays true to character.
The character of Sam is rather realistic too: appropriately needy, thinking that she's fat because she's a size 8 or maybe a ten. Ugh. And is still kind, but too weak to not both want to be friends with Anna (in the next book she becomes obsessed with kissing her. Therefore equating the fat/ugly girl with lesbians. Right. Are boys reading these? I bet they are secretly.) Thus, you can be rich as a prince and still be needy.
(the girl on the cover of the book looks like she's a 10. Do you think they did that for marketing purposes? She doesn't looked all Airbrushed Teen Vogue.)
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