I noticed my Blumes were ranged alongside my Gossip Girls and barely had I struggled to my feet before the shock of the contrast prostrated me again. GG - tales of Manhattan's most moneyed teenagers, which are essentially produced to a format by various guns-for-hire for multimedia conglomerate Alloy Entertainment - is as widely revered by teenage girls as Blume was in my day. The difference is that her stories focus on the real, lived teenage experience while the Gossip Girl books and the rest of Alloy's prolific output in effect writes exactly that out of the story. All is hard, shiny and affectless. Teenage readers need some messy truth in their reading lives, and a wise and witty author to guide them through it. There is no mess, truth, wit or wisdom in Gossip Girl. Encourage them to read Blume instead. LUCY MANGAN
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