This publication focuses on the role of literacy in the social development of five academically successful 12- and 13-year-old girls of middle- and working-class and Euro-American background residing in the rural Midwest. For the study, literacy is broadly defined to include signing yearbooks, writing notes and bathroom graffiti, reading teen magazines, doing homework together, and leisure time reading. These literacy events are construed to be just as important as reading novels and short stories in the classroom. Study participants the most popular girls in school, and "tough cookies," the "nicest girls, every teacher's ideal students." Chapter one describes the school and the context of the study. Chapter two explores literacy's role in expressing allegiance and a sense of belonging through yearbook rituals. Chapters three and four look at literacy and each friendship circle. Chapter five summarizes classroom roles and implications for pedagogy. (Contains 94 references.) (ND)