The Clique [Paperback]

Lisi Harrison (Author)

Book Description

Series: Clique Series | Publication Date: 2004

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.

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 girls 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.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 5-8–Claire Lyons moves with her parents from Florida to wealthy Westchester County, NY. Until they can get settled, the family stays in the guest house of Mr. Lyons's college buddy, who happens to have a daughter who is also in seventh grade. Expected to welcome her, Massie instead chooses to make Claire's life miserable for no other reason than she's the new girl. Massie enlists her clique of friends at Octavian Country Day School, all part of the beautiful and popular crowd, to help with the harassment, which ranges from catty comments on Claire's clothes to spilling red paint on her white jeans in a conspicuous spot. Tired of it all, Claire tries to fight back, but then the abuse worsens. The book has trendy references kids will love, including Starbucks in the school, designer clothes, and PalmPilots for list making. However, this trendiness doesn't make up for the shallowness of the characters or the one-dimensional plot. Nor is the cruelty of the clique redeemed with any sort of a satisfying ending. The conclusion leaves one with the feeling that a sequel is in the works. Amy Goldman Koss's The Girls (Dial, 2000) shows the same cruelty of girls with a more realistic story and resolution.–Diana Pierce, Running Brushy Middle School, Cedar Park, TX
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Gr. 5-8. Head-to-toe Calvin Klein is in. So is Ralph Lauren. Burberry is so out. And as for Claire's platform navy Keds and two-year-old, white Gap jeans--doesn't she know that clothes are like milk or cheese with a "best-before date" and a limited shelf life? Claire is clueless when she enters seventh grade, a newcomer and total outsider when it comes to [...] Massie's friends at an exclusive private girls' school. Massie leads her clique in humiliating [Claire] (including splashing those jeans with red paint to make it look like Claire has her period), and the instant messaging is very mean. It's also hilarious, especially because the viewpoints switch between the two [girls] and Claire gets her revenge--sort of. There's too much detail about how the superwealthy live, but Harrison, who writes for MTV, knows peer pressure, and her first novel has fun with the tyranny of brand names ("she was wearing . . ." is a constant). Buy this quickly, though, because the very specifics that teens will recognize will be "so out" before the year is over. Hazel Rochman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 220 pages
• Publisher: Little brown; 1ST edition (2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316701297
• ISBN-13: 978-0316701297
• Product Dimensions: 5.1 x 0.6 x 7.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (352 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #201,200 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Lisi Harrison was the Senior Director of Production Development at MTV, Music Television, and was responsible for creating and developing original programming for air on MTV. She also served as Head Writer for MTV Production and before that had her own column in Jane Magazine.

Lisi lives in Laguna Beach, California, and is currently working on her next Alphas novel, coming in April 2010, as well as her next Clique novel.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Approach With Caution, July 5, 2005

By 

Juliet (California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Clique (Paperback)

Reading is like magic, you get sucked into the book. This book in really well written, interesting, and some parts are funny. However, when you put the book down to go to dinner and you take another look at your un-manicured nails and your limited clothes selection, it makes you dissapointed. Massie Block, Dylan Marvil, and Alicia Rivera live the lives of the rich. When I first put the book down for a break my mind was thinking, "Wow, Claire is really poor and dorky" and then I remembered the fact that I own Keds, I shop at the GAP, and I only throw clothes away when they get stained or don't fit me. The book made me feel bad about the fact that my favorite shirt is my one of only 3 Abercrombie & Fitch shirts because it was a little too pricy. I know that as a teen (which I am) these books can be fun to read because when you are reading it and it focuses on Massie, you feel like you are in her shoes. The book was good, really, but approach with caution.

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "Clique" and Clash, May 12, 2004

By 

Little Willow (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Clique (Paperback)

Lisi Harrison's debut novel introduces us to THE CLIQUE - a quartet of popular girls attending private school in New York. These girls are wise (and rich) beyond their twelve years, valuing their designer clothes, sparkling homes, and precious cell phones above all else. At the top of the clique is Massie, a girl whose room is modeled after an all-white posh hotel suite.

When her father's longtime friend has a stroke of bad luck, Massie's dad lets his friend, his friend's wife and his daughter stay in the guesthouse. This girl may be Massie's peer and new classmate, but, since she is clad in overalls and Keds, Massie is reluctant to make friends.

What follows is a somewhat predictable but squeaky clean story, appropriate for middle grades to read. Think a G-rated version of Gossip Girl: money talks, clothes matter, but friendship and backstabbing are the main issues instead of dating and, ahem, other more adult things. In other words, if you like the movie Mean Girls, you'll like this book.

24 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Gives preteen-teen girls a terrible name, June 14, 2006

A Kid's Review

This review is from: The Clique (Paperback)

After several of my friends reccommended this book to me, I was tempted to buy the first book. But when I finished reading The Clique, I was disgusted.

The Clique zooms in on the many social issues girls about age eleven and up face - the cool people, fashion, what's in and out, and whether you're 'worthy' of being considered even a half-decent person. But instead of going against these issues that cause many girls tears and stress, the book promotes them. Yes - it promotes picking on unfashionable people, being a reckless spendthrift, and practically living for spending time with your friends trying to become beautiful. Some might argue with me, saying that the book doesn't straight-out declare that these things are good, but the fact that all the main characters do these things and easily handle them could inspire any girl to do the same thing. There's already too many things in the media saying that you must be beautiful to be a decent person without a book series saying the same thing. And the story is just like those annoying advertisements on television. The most beautiful, most fashionable girls live in the most lovely houses, while the least fashionable girl is forced to live in one of their guest houses. Why should we make more people think that by spending all your money, you'll become rich?

In conclusion, if you're one of the minority of the preteen-teen female population that thinks beauty, wealth, attitude, bullying and vanity aren't the ideal qualities in a girl (are they even 'qualities' in themselves?), then stay away from The Clique. Chances are, you'll be grateful for doing so.