The Clique by Lisi Harrison

Pages: 220

Publisher: Little, Brown

Age Group: Middle Grade / Young Adult

Challenges: N/A

Release Date: June 4, 2004

Meet The Clique… 

Massie Block: With her glossy brunette bob and laser-whitened smile, Massie is the uncontested ruler of The Clique and the rest of the social scene at Octavian Country Day School, an exclusive private girls’ school in Westchester County, New York. Massie knows you’d give anything to be just like her. 

Dylan Marvil: Massie's second in command who divides her time between sucking up to Massie and sucking down Atkins Diet shakes. 

Alicia Rivera: As sneaky as she is beautiful, Alicia floats easily under adult radar because she seems so "sweet." Would love to take Massie's throne one day. Just might do it. 

Kristen Gregory: She's smart, hardworking, and will insult you to tears faster than you can say "my haircut isn't ugly!" 

Enter Claire Lyons, the new girl from Florida in Keds and two-year-old Gap overalls, who is clearly not Clique material. Unfortunately, for her, Claire's family is staying in the guesthouse on Massie's family's huge estate while they look for a new home. Claire's future looks worse than a bad Prada knockoff. But with a little luck and a lot of scheming, Claire might just come up smelling like Chanel No. 19.... 

The Clique... the only thing harder than getting in is staying in.

Stars: 4/5

Cover: A-

Plot:

Claire Lyons moves to Westchester from Florida, and moves into her dad's old best friend's guest house. Her dad's friend has a daughter named Massie, who goes to (and basically dominates) Claire's new school.

Claire just wants to be a part of Massie and her friend's group, but they completely exclude her. 

I didn't the book any justice with the summary there.

I LOVE Lisi Harrison and her books. I first started this series in fifth grade, and I've read it multiple times since then. Also, even though the main characters are seventh graders, I don't feel like I've outgrown this series at all. 

The plot was interesting and exciting. Lisi Harrison told a fun, catty book about girls and cliques.

Characters:

Even though the girls in Massie's clique were complete and total (insert swear word here), Lisi Harrison still managed to make them realistic by showing their vulnerable and insecure side.

I really like that she did that, because it shows that the main reason people are mean to other people is because they're insecure or have low confidence themselves.

Claire was the perfect naive new girl, yet she knew how to stand up for herself and fight back. 

Todd, Claire's younger brother, was a great comic relief. He was an expert at pestering, getting in trouble, and making Claire's life as difficult as possible.

Writing:

Lisi Harrison is simply a genius. She comes up with words and cute puns that I would have never expected to see. She thinks up the best come-backs, and I love the way she makes everything fun.

Ending:

Everything comes together by the end of each book in The Clique series, but Lisi Harrison leaves just a wee bit of a cliffhanger to make you want to pick up the next book and read the next book right away.

Cover:

I love all of the covers to this entire series; how they all co-incide with each other but are different enough to tell them apart.

Lovely Line:

"Claire stared at the microwave. The clock showed double numbers, which meant she had one minute to make as many wishes as she could before it came 11:12 A.M. She asked for friends at OCD, good grades, Massie's approval, which would lead to Kristin, Alicia, and Dylan's approval, the lead in the school play (whatever it was), a different carpool, braworthy boobs by Christmas, neater handwriting, and faster-growing hair."

(Page 126)

The Final Verdict:

I really recommend this book to middle schoolers and high schoolers. It's a fast, fun, and cute read that leaves you laughing and wanting to dive back into the characters' world.

FTC: Bought.