The Girls Series

A series of books by Jacqueline Wilson, aimed at teenagers, following three girls through their third year of high school as they deal with the issues of teenage life. The series includes subjects ranging from everyday problems, to very serious things.

The main characters are Ellie, the narrator, an artistic girl with image issues; Nadine, Ellie's gothic childhood best friend, with something of a wild streak, and Magda, a confident and popular girl who befriended them at the start of high school.

The books are:

Girls in Love: The girls all deal with having their first boyfriends, but Ellie and Nadine both have some problems.
Girls Under Pressure: Ellie develops an eating disorder, Nadine gets a chance to be a model, and Magda's good looks give some people the wrong idea.
Girls Out Late: Ellie gets her first real boyfriend, while wishing she could stay out later, and Magda and later Nadine make some unwise decisions.
Girls in Tears: Ellie's relationship is struggling, Magda is upset over losing her pet, and Nadine gets an Internet boyfriend.

The series was given a Live Action Adaptation, called Girls in Love, which ran for two seasons between 2003 and 2005.

Tropes used in The Girls Series include:

Adaptational Attractiveness: In the live-action version, Ellie - whose characterisation largely revolves around her weight and other looks issues - is played by the pretty Olivia Hallinan.
Annoying Younger Sibling: Eggs to Ellie, Natasha to Nadine.
Dirty Old Man: As it turns out, Ellis.
Easily Forgiven: Magda and Nadine can be horrible to Ellie at times. However, Ellie quickly forgiving them for getting them all trapped in an apartment with three strange men at the end of Girls Out Late really takes the biscuit.
Important Haircut: After the Attempted Rape mentioned above, Magda gets her hair cut into a short, unflattering style and dyed back from blonde to her natural colour. When she regains her confidence, she gets it cut again into a better style, and dyed bright red.
Just Friends: Ellie insists Dan is this throughout most of the first book and first series of the live action version, even though he insists differently.
Missing Mom: Ellie's mother is dead.
No Sympathy: Nadine and Magda can be guilty of this toward Ellie.
Teacher-Student Romance: In Girls Out Late, Magda attempts to start one of these with Mr Windsor. He is not happy with this. Also, Ellie's father teaches adults in an art college, and both of his wives were originally his students.
Too Dumb to Live: Nadine:
- In Girls Under Pressure she attempts to go to a photography session by herself that will literally be just her and the photographer (he turned out to be legitimate, but still).
- At the end of Girls Out Late, she agrees to go off in a van with three strange guys. Magda and Ellie also go along with this, although Ellie was only doing it because she didn't feel she could abandon her friends while they were being so stupid. Magda was swinging between the two reasons to go.
- Finally, in Girls in Tears, she goes to meet her internet boyfriend, who, predictably, is not who he says he is, and has to be saved by Ellie and Magda once again.
Weight Woe: Ellie. She develops an eating disorder in the second book, and still has issues in the rest of the series.
Will They or Won't They?: Ellie and Dan in the first series of the live action version, where he has a larger role. They do, but he's disappeared by the second series and is never mentioned again.
With Friends Like These...: Ellie's friendship with Nadine and Magda can come across this way. It's believable that the friendship survives, but Ellie does need a lot of patience.
Women Are Wiser: The main characters believe this, with Magda and Nadine often making derisive comments about 'schoolboys', despite the characters only being 13/14 themselves. The series repeatedly demonstrates that Magda and Nadine are not wise in the slightest.
Your Cheating Heart: In Girls in Tears when Ellie catches Magda and Russell kissing.