To think Mr Collins from the Sweet Valley High books was a tad creepy?

[SamanthaBrique]

I found some SVH books in a free bookshop recently. I devoured them as s tween so thought I'd see how they stack up these days.

Apart from the twins being ridiculous (Jessica is a psychopath and Elizabeth sanctimonious) and the author's hatred of fat people, Mr Collins the English teacher was way too creepy. Why was he always hanging out with 16 year olds? Even at weekends he'd host picnics for them, he'd give up his free time to take them camping. Surely there was something dodgy going on??

[MidnightDexy]

I always used to get massively fucked off when the Babysitters Club described their charges as "a good kid". YOU'RE A FUCKING KID. YOU'RE TWELVE YOU DICK.

[HelenaDove]

YY Champagne Im childfree by choice so when MILB came out i thought .....yay but it turned out she was just scared of childbirth.

But her H piercing the condom and getting away with it AND her family all taking his side ...........it was astounding It only came out six years ago but could have come from the 1950s.

[papayasareyum]

Yeah, I had the Caitlin books. The young model on the front cover of my books was a young Amanda Seyfried

[PaulAnkaTheDog]

Ah, apologies for the mix up on BSC characters. Helena no there was a series after Confidential. It was even worse so no wonder my brain has blocked out it's name.

[HelenaDove]

Ah you must have read them later than me.

[callycat1]

I read these, loved the descriptions of Claudia and Stacey's and Jessica (from svh) outfits. I wanted to go to svh so much and date Bruce Patman

[papayasareyum]

actually, scrub that. I've just checked. Amanda seyfried was a cover model for Francine Pascal books, but not the Caitlin ones

[PaulAnkaTheDog]

Did anyone read Sweet Valley Twins about when they were in middle school?

[Fluffyears]

The eve always had a section describing the twins with their size 6 figures, sun-streaked blonde hair and eyes the colour of the ocean....also the 'Spanish tiled kitchen' whatever the drug that is and their brothers appetite! I skipped past that each time it came up.

[HelenaDove]

There was a series after Confidential Have to say im glad i missed them.


Caitlin trilogies summarized.



francinepascalfan.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/this-blog-was-inspired-by-this-awesome.html

[callycat1]

There was a Mr Collins equivalent in SVT but he had bad dress sense.

[HelenaDove]

The Dairi Burger.

The Oracle.......the school paper Elizabeth worked on.

[callycat1]

When I started high school I thought the year 11s would turn up in cars and we would all go and eat pizza and burgers after school and have dances and dates.

I was sadly disappointed

[HopelesslydevotedtoGu]

Did anyone read Sweet Valley Twins about when they were in middle school?

Yes
And Elizabeth and Todd went out all through middle school
Then in high school completely forgot about their relationship and got together again
Could they not have bothered to think of a different boyfriend name?

[HelenaDove]

There was a short lived series..,......Sweet Valley University as well. I remember seeing them in WH Smith.

Id grown out of it by then.

[Champagneformyrealfriends]

Helena YY-I bought the book thinking that finally somebody was going to empower women to be child free by choice and then she ruined it. And I have a child. She really let the side down, so to speak.

[PaulAnkaTheDog]

Margo was definitely the best character. Anyone who wanted to off Elizabeth for being such a sanctimonious pain in the arse is great to me, irrespective if they're a psychopathic murderer.

[Kitsandkids]

And Sweet Valley Kids, when they were aged about 7. There was a lot of talk about the different coloured 'barettes' they wore in their hair but that's the only thing I remember!

[BoyFromTheBigBadCity]

As I've got older I look back at SVH (and the rest) and feel really bad for Jess. Pascal plotted out the original series, hence created them. There's loads of didactic intention - she wants you to prefer Liz and be like her, not Jess.

[Champagneformyrealfriends]

Did anybody read Summer Sisters by Judy Blume? Bloody love that book.

[PaulAnkaTheDog]

Yes! Sweet Valley Kids had a great spooky series! Sweet Valley Twins had the Unicorn Club, absolute bunch of bitches. God knows what the writers thought they were doing with all these books, they practically encouraged divisive, bullying behaviour in young girls. Made Francine Pascal a pretty penny without her doing any work though!

[Runningupthathill82]

The Wakefield twins lived in a "split level" house with their mother who had a "perfect pageboy" haircut "with not a streak of grey" IIRC.
I always wanted a split level house. But alas, I grew up in Yorkshire in the 80s.

[HelenaDove]

YY Boy. There is a real good girl/bad girl trope there. An undercurrent of Madonna/whore.

[Youremywifenow]

There's a follow up where they are about 30. I. Couldn't resist reading it.

spoiler below:






Jessica ends up with Todd. There is a rift between the twins as they cheated on Liz who then moves to possibly New York to become a journalist and ends up with Bruce Patman and very rich. Winston is a software millionaire but bad but it's ok because he dies either in car crash or a brain tumour. Reading it made me remember how awful they all were.

[TheWitTank]

The Unicorn Club were a bunch of arseholes. I remember they had to wear purple everyday and were vacuous dicks. Elizabeth was boring and smug. Loved those books! Did anyone watch the TV series?