The first novel in the series, Research for the Social Improvement and General Betterment of Lydia Goldblatt and Julie Graham-Chang, was published on April 1, 2010.

After receiving initially positive reviews, Ignatow completed the second edition of the series The Long-Distance Dispatch Between Lydia Goldblatt and Julie Graham-Chang, which was published on March 1, 2011.

[3] The third novel in the series was published only seven months later (October 1, 2011), entitled Words of (Questionable) Wisdom from Lydia Goldblatt and Julie Graham-Chang.

In interviews with the news media,[9] Ignatow has shown that she only uses writing and drawing implements that are easily available to children, such as crayons, markers, and colored pencils.

[10] On top of relating to youth experiences in school, the format of The Popularity Papers also assists young readers in comprehending the storyline and providing visual aid to complement any struggles.

This realization that their budding independence might conflict with their parents is yet another instance where the girls begin to comprehend that their world is changing as they continue to grow up, a crucial tenet of a bildungsroman storyline.

For example, in 2013, a Washington state middle school social studies teacher contested the use of the novel for class reading citing the presence of a major political debate, referring to homosexuality, thus classifying the series as age-inappropriate.