When I picked up Gossip Girl by Cecily Von Ziegesar in the eighth grade I was getting ready to give up reading. While I appreciated the classics I read in school and thought fondly of the fantasy series of my youth, as I got older, I struggled to find a book that I had fun reading. Gossip Girl did not introduce me to the “adult” content that got it banned from school libraries, featuring nothing worse than what was heard in the girl’s bathroom. Instead, it helped me fall in love with reading again. The characters were not relatable, nor did I learn any valuable lessons, but I was captivated by Blair and Serena’s dramatic and outlandish lives. The novel transported me from my boring suburban middle school to the luxurious Upper East Side, giving me the same feeling of escapism that stories of witches and wizards gave me as a child and I craved more. Gossip Girl made me excited to read again, an excitement that has not gone away since. Gossip Girl taught me that sometimes all you need is a good old fashioned guilty pleasure.
Gossip Girl is available for sale on Hachette Book Group, among other sources.
In 1933, Nazis burned works of Jewish authors, and other works considered “un-German”
About the Author: In 1933, Nazis burned works of Jewish authors, and other works considered “un-German”
About the Author: Banned Books Project Editorial Team
Are you also alarmed by the rise of book banning in America?
Through spotlighting those involved in the fight against book banning, Picture This Post seeks to provide both an overview of this issue and suggestions on how you can join the groundswell of resistance to this latest chapter in censorship of artistic expression.
If you and/or your book club or book community wants to Adopt a Banned Book -- or in other ways add to this timely conversation --please write to bannedbookspicturethispost@gmail.com.
