Sweet Valley High

And the Sweet Valley Special series were mentalist. Did anyone read the one where a crazy gurl wanted to kill Elizabeth/Jessica and take over her life? Rocking.

I was also sad when Amy came back and was all cool and didn't want to be friends with Elizabeth any more and was best friends with Jessica.

Bruce Patman was the bomb, I bet he did look like Christian Bale.

Listen, does anyone remember the "special edition" that traced back the Wakefield family? Apparently every single generation besides their mom's was twins. One was a movie star who died during childbirth!

Elizabeth Wakefield is stunned when Nicholas Morrow asks her for a date. A newcomer to Sweet Valley, Nicholas is fabulously wealthy and extremely handsome. Even though Elizabeth would never cheat on Todd Wilkins, her steady boyfriend, Nicholas is so attractive and sincere that she agrees to go out with him just once.
To make matters worse, Jessica, Elizabeth's scheming twin, announces that Nicholas Morrow is the boy for her. Suddenly Nicholas is the only thing on Jessica's mind. Elizabeth is terrified to think what will happen if Todd or her twin finds out about her date with Nicholas. But who can keep a secret from Jessica Wakefield?

Elizabeth Wakefield isn't about to let Lila steal Jeffrey from her best friend. And when Jessica, Elizabeth's twin, finds out her sister is helping Enid, she vows to do whatever she can to help Lila. Jessica's not going to stand for Jeffrey ending up with Enid, and she's certainly not going to let herself be outwitted by her own twin!

Elizabeth Wakefield knows her beautiful twin can handle almost any guy--most boys are just no match for Jessica's seductive charms. But Scott Daniels, Jessica's latest love, is more of a man than a boy, much older and much more experienced than anyone Jessica's ever dated.

When Jessica sneaks off to a college beach party with Scott, Elizabeth's afraid of what could happen. And when her twin sister isn't back by morning, Elizabeth's fear turns to alarm. Why has she stayed out all night long?

And I remember that special - but don't have much to say about it because in my head it's mixed up with Calamity Jane.

SVH featured no goffs therefore god knows which one I'd be. A weird British girl on an EXCHANGE PROGRAMME who only lasts one book I suppose.

Ha ha, so the first time I did coke I thought "Oh no! Regina from SVH! Oh no!" And then when I told my best friend her first comment was about Regina.

I read that special edition! Didn't the Wakefield Mom date Bruce's dad?

The slam book, it had like questions and stuff and you had to fill it out...um like "Who is most likely to do this..." sort of questions.

OH who remembers the board game?!

I had shelves and shelves of SVH. I bought every single new one as soon as they came in the stores. I always saw myself as being Elizabeth, the smart, sensible one. I had the board game (I think I remember that you actually got to go shopping in the game?) and all the Sweet Valley Twins stuff before that too. My parents had no idea how steamy those books were. They were just like, "Oh, there's our Sarah, always reading..."

Sweet Valley High presents The Gashleycrumb Tinies.

That one was classic. It was like the Collector done as an afterschool special.

Yes! Yes! Totally.

What about the one where Elizabeth goes out with a rock star, but doesn't realise he's famous and thinks he's just some poetry reading surfer type she met at the beach?

I'm so glad these have been mentioned.

Did anyone read the special one about Lila Fowler? How her parents neglected her and she was so lonely in her mansion. It was really sad.

I always wanted a lavalier necklace, but at the time I had no idea what one was. Now I have no interest in owning one, alas. Also, not only were the twins the perfect height, they were also "perfect size 6s". Bitch whores.

You know I think I can use the SVH books as proof that clothing sizes have changed dramatically over the past 20 years. Any of the NYC crew can tell you that I am not stick figure but I am wearing a size 2! The twins are like 3 times my size in theory! But clothes on the higher side, like 10+, have all seemed to get smaller. What is going on here? Goddamnit.

(sorry I am in bad mood and trying to distract myself with nonsense)

But has anyone ever seen her picture? FP could truly be a 45 year old man with a fetish for cheerleaders. That voice you heard could have benn his sister.

Slam Books are prime material if you catch a kid with them. We'll yank them and then sit around in the teacher's lounge reading them aloud. Sometimes they give up important drug/gang info in which case we turn them over to our campus cop. Otherwise we laugh at which teachers they want to do and then trash them.

I will never forget my mom appearing in the doorway of my room after finishing the book I'd just read in the series and chanting "Tricia Martin's dead! She had lu-ke-mi...YA!" while doing some kind of hula dance. She turned a Sweet Valley Lesson About Live and Death into a fucking song! I love my mom.

http://www.twinsworld.com/celebritytwins/SweetValleyHighTwins.jpg

One of the twins from the TV show was later on Dawson's Creek.

Elizabeth Wakefield is avoiding Prince Laurent de Sainte-Marie. He may be devastatingly cute, but he's engaged to Antonia Di Rimini, the daughter of a haughty countess. Then Elizabeth learns that Prince Laurent has refused to marry Antonia--because he loves Elizabeth! Elizabeth doesn't want to cause an international incident...but is running away from Chateau d'Amour Inconnu the answer?

Jessica Wakefield's sexy new boyfriend, Jacques Landeau, made an awful mistake. To save himself, he got her mixed up in a major jewel theft. He's apologized a million times, but she's not ready to forgive him. Will Jessica reconsider when he reveals a heart-wrenching secret?

THIS IS THE GREATEST THING THAT COULD'VE POSSIBLY HAPPENED AND I'M SORRY I STOPPED READING THESE WHEN I WAS 12, HOLY SHIT.

(Oh my god how bored am I that I'm reading about these books)

"It really makes me wonder whether the Americans really do perceive us as a bunch of prudish snobs. If this book is any indication of this - then I am very worried. Elizabeth manages to have 'tea' with the Queen - yeah right! I have spent 19 years in England, and have not even been inside Buckingham Palace - let alone have had 'tea' with the Queen! God! How juvenile!"

Pure unadulterated comic genius!

the series is being revamped for the 00s. double love and secrets have recently been re-released. and:

"Pascal says fans will have lots more to look forward to - she's currently writing "Sweet Valley Confidential," a novel that follows up with the twins and their friends at 26 years old. "

One of the revamps: instead of being a perfect size 6, the Wakefield sister are now a perfect size 4!

They're going to IM and stuff to make it up-to-date. Apparently they did the same for the Nancy Drews every 20 or so years. I have to get these for my library, but what the girls are really clamoring for now is "Candy Apple."

I wasted away half of age 7-10 in my bedroom reading Babysitter's Club, Boxcar Children, Sweet Valley High, Fear Street and Goosebumps when I should have been outside tricking other neighborhood children into painting fences or something. The 10th time I borrowed a Hardy Boys book from the local library, I felt a distinct sense of hopelessness for my prospects in life.

There's a new Goosebumps too: Goosebumps Horrorland. I read the first one and it was so not scary.

I think the Babysitter's Club will see a resurgence too. We only have the graphic novels but kids are asking more and more for the series, which I believe is out of print.

Has anyone read "Luxe"--new historical romance (turn of the nineteenth century) YA? Very good and very racy!

i love YA historical romances! I remember reading one when I was in middle school that was basically the exact same plotline as the movie Titanic, and thinking the movie was a book adaptation.

They were up to #115 five years ago?

Virginia_Plain, I didn't realize you were a librarian.
The wife of one of my co-workers is a children's librarian in brooklyn.

I am a children's librarian in Queens:)

Did you all read Magic Tree House? I think it was after my time but it is very popular.

Oh man, I was so into the Babysitter's Club. Read #s 1-50, then I grew up. The fan fiction written about the BSC is a riot.

I'm sure I've mentioned this before, but I once referenced the Babysitter's Club Super-Specials during a college discussion of Mikhail Bakhtin's concept of "dialogism."

The fan fiction written about the BSC is a riot.

linkz plz

One of the revamps: instead of being a perfect size 6, the Wakefield sister are now a perfect size 4!

-- kate78, Thursday, April 10, 2008 5:20 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Link

thank god. those chicks were so fat.

i loved a particular line of ya historical romances, which might be what yerac is talking about. there was the titanic storyline, a few about the great depression (one about a girl whose family loses their fortune and one about a girl from oklahoma who goes to hollywood to make it big), etc.

do you mean the SVH historical books? i suprised myself by liking those.

oh, i'd forgotten about those! no, these were different. almost a precursor to the whole american girl shtick, in that it was a whole series focusing on strong, resourceful (yet gorgeous) girls/teens.

Those are the sunfire romances! I bought a bunch of them on a whim a couple of years ago at a big used book sale, but I've never gotten round to re-reading them. The one about the girl from Oklahoma who goes to Hollywood (Roxanne) was my favorite.

yes! that's it! i loved roxanne, too.

http://pics.livejournal.com/irinaauthor/pic/000a2qfk

I want this tote bag that they're giving away with the SVH relaunch in the worst way. But since I'm in academic library I have no justification for hitting up Random House for one.

can't you say it's for cultural studies?

I suppose it's worth a try...

We had a raffle at my library for that bag--but one of the YA librarians won it. I wasn't that upset, because I was just going to give it away as a prize if I got it. It's a lot more tasteful than I had imagined though.

Which Wakefield Twin Are You?

I was going to be so disappointed with any result other than Jessica -- Elizabeth is such a limp dishrag.