The Clique

When I picked up The Clique by Lisi Harrison at the half price Scholastic book fair at my school the librarian told me people were trying to ban it in some places (not my school). That bumped it up the reading list for me. I have to ask her what the controversy is because I didn't see it.
The Clique is the first book in a series of books for teens. It is your typical Mean Girls type story. In this one, Claire's family moves into the guesthouse of her father's collge friend in a wealthy neighborhood. How do I know it's wealthy? Because Harrison name drops so many highend name brands throughout the book that I rolled my eyes about halfway through when one popped up. From the Hermes riding crop to the Prada bags to the Range Rover, she made sure to let the reader know that EVERYTHING was expensive. The girls attend an all girl private school and all, including Claire, struggle to become a part of Massie's group. The girls can be downright mean to each other. On Claire's first day at the school she makes the grave error of wearing white Gap pants that are more than a year old. Massie gets the other three girls in her group to do her bidding so during art class Alicia wipes red paint onto the back of Claire's pants making it looklike she started her period. Claire walks around like this for a while before her art teacher finally tells her to go to the nurse. Even after this Claire still wants to be part of the group.
The main girls in this story are seventh graders and most of the time Harrison pegs 7th grade behavior- the backstabbing, the gossip, the trying desperately to fit in.
That's something that saddens me in stories and real life- why do these girls put themselves through this trying to be "popular"?
It was a fun, quick read. I would classify it as chick-lit for the middle school crowd.