Gossip Girl
by Cecily von Ziegesar
★ Top 25 book of 2002 · #20 on Best Books of 2002
A sharp-tongued anonymous narrator dishes on privileged friends on Manhattan's Upper East Side. When one girl returns from boarding school, she threatens to upend friendships, romances and reputations.
Best for: Teen readers who love juicy social drama in a glamorous city setting
Gossip Girl is #20 on BookWard's Best Books of 2002, out of 32 2002 books that cleared our data bar.
What Gossip Girl is about
Welcome to the Upper East Side, where the teenagers at the Constance Billard School for Girls have money, status and plenty to say about each other. Cecily von Ziegesar's series, drawn partly from her own schooldays at Nightingale-Bamford and the stories her friends told her, centers on two best friends, Blair Waldorf and Serena van der Woodsen.
Their romances and rivalries are narrated by an anonymous gossip blogger who always signs off with a wink: 'You know you love me, gossip girl'. The first book begins when Serena, known as S, comes back from boarding school and starts to unsettle everyone around her. Glossy, catty and full of social maneuvering, it will appeal to readers who enjoy teen drama about wealth, loyalty and betrayal.
Gossip Girl on the Best Books of 2002
Gossip Girl came out in 2002. Of the 32 books first published in 2002 that met BookWard's data bar, it ranks #20 on our Best Books of 2002 list.
Why it made the list: 174 readers have shelved it on Open Library. The list ranks each year’s books on how many readers have picked them up, how highly readers rate them, and how many are reading them right now.
Nearby on the 2002 list
- The Contaxis Baby Lynne Graham, #18
- The Heiress Bride Lynne Graham, #19
See all Best Books of 2002 Best books by year
More years: Best Books of 2001 Best Books of 2003.
The numbers behind it
- Readers: 152 want to read it, 7 are reading it now and 15 have read it, according to Open Library.
| Signal | This book (0 to 100) | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| Reach | 28 | 55% |
| Reader love | 50 | 25% |
| Being read right now | 31 | 20% |
Questions about Gossip Girl
When was Gossip Girl published?
Gossip Girl by Cecily von Ziegesar was first published in 2002.
Was Gossip Girl one of the best books of 2002?
Gossip Girl is #20 on BookWard's Best Books of 2002, out of 32 2002 books that cleared our data bar. 174 readers have shelved it on Open Library.
Why is Gossip Girl on the Best Books of 2002 list?
174 readers have shelved it on Open Library.
More of the best books of 2002
- Romancing Mister Bridgerton Julia Quinn, #1
- Coraline Neil Gaiman, #2
- Room on the Broom Julia Donaldson, #3
- Why Does He Do That? Lundy Bancroft, #4
- Everything's Eventual. 14 Dark Tales Stephen King, #5
- Stories of Your Life and Others Ted Chiang, #6
See the full Best Books of 2002, the Top 100, or new books on Rising.
How we know
This page uses public data: Open Library reader counts and ratings, and Wikipedia page views for recent years. The description is paraphrased from real source text. Rankings reflect reading interest, not quality or sales, and can be affected by data gaps. Lists update monthly.
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