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??

Paul yes Mallory was the one with all the siblings. Jessi was a dancer and the others had hobbies too (Kristy - softball, Claudia - art, Mallory - horses and reading etc) but she was the only one without a defining personality feature, they just went on about her being black.

Although it still wasn't as annoying as the amount they went on about Stacey's diabetes.

I never read the books, but the babysitters club film was quite good as I remember?

And the carnival ghost that tried to entice Liz off the Ferris wheel... The blatant rip off of 'it's a wonderful life' (a Christmas without Elizabeth) and the joy that was the haunted necklace one. All SVT.

And they were ALWAYS 12!

I went to see Michael Grant, author of the Gone series (failry violent and scary post-apocalyptic-ish YA books) - he said he started his career writing Sweet Valley High books

So Margot turns up, she is an exact replica of Jessica and Elizabeth
So much so that their mother thinks Margot is Elizabeth and has a whole conversation with her
Oh and Margot is trying to kill Elizabeth and take her place
I kept waiting for the big reveal that she was their long lost triplet
She wasn't
She just coincidentally was their exact replica
The characters didn't find this odd
Seriously?
I think I gave up on svh after that

Hang your head in shame Hopelessly! The Evil Twin was excellent! So close to Elizabeth being bumped off!

You missed the one where margos twin turns up and both decide they'll take Elizabeths and Jessica place..that was odd!

Yeah! When it turned out Margo wasn't dead and had killed the paramedics all those months ago yet no one noticed a fucking ambulance and crew going missing and her and Nora decided to kill the twins. Sibling rivalry kicked them in the tush though and it went tits up if I remember correctly? A fake funeral for Jess was thrown into the mix as well I think?

I just googled this one as I remembered the title...I forgot how crap/brilliant the covers were! That 'tache -the guy is supposed to be college age.

I always liked Elizabeth! I was a goody two shoes too
Although didn't she cheat on Todd with Jeffrey French and that werewolf? Not so innocent after all!

So were the books written by several different authors? That explains the lack of continuity and some Frankly barmy storylines!

Ooh I used to love SVH (for my sins, I now actually have twins. Fortunately I've been strong enough to not buy my twins those funnily named pendants... "lavaliers" or something??)

Helena I read the first Caitlin trilogy too, but don't remember much about it - she suffered from some guilty secret.

Did anyone read a set of 4 teen books (around the same time) about high school kids near San Francisco? It was about a group of 5 friends: he was a jock, she was smart, there was a kooky acting girl, a nerdy boy and a beautiful but poor girl. They all grow up, fall out, become friends again and the main boy & girl get together before they head off to college. As a teen, I thought it was so wordly and sophisticated

Oh I loved SVH (and Twins) so much and I totally agree with whoever that said what a let down high school was!

On babysitters club what I thought was most irritating about Jessie - the only black girl in the neighbourhood - was the re-cap they did for about 3 pages each book (Claudia was statistics, Kristy was a tom boy blah blah and then they'd say oh Jessie and Mallory were best friends and so similar. But they had some differences like X, y and Z ... Oh yes what else, Jessie is black.) I hated the way they'd slip her race into the re-cap but sort of pretend that it was an after thought. Just don't mention it. They didn't explain that all the white characters were white. Bugged me even though I was 12.

* Claudia was artistic not statistics!

Oh and Dawn the Californian who was super laid back!!

I loved the SVU when Lila & Bruce Patman were stranded after a plane crash and fell in love.. And almost got eaten by wolves 😂

And Jessica's husband Mike who was a bad boy but ended up crippled??

When was there a warewolf?!

PaulAnkaTheDog Yeah! One of the other twins went to kill Jessica but killed their own twin instead or something but everyone thought Jessica was dead cause DNA testing doesn't exist and had a whole your not dead party for her at the end.

Loved how neither wanted to live their own life but wanted to be a Wakefield instead..crazy series lol

Ahhh Sweet Valley! And I think I read some of the Caitlin ones too. I really liked the Sweet Dreams stories (could chain read them in the school holidays) and loved Paula Danziger. Can You Sue Your Parents for Malpractice was my favourite.

I was horribly teased/taken the mickey out of for reading SVU by some 'friends' (they preferred true horror stuff) - must've been all of 12/13 :/

Mary Yeah was a bloke who wore a werewolf mask who thought he was or something then in another a vampire who actually was a vampire..makes sense!

shannonsweetvalley.com/welcome/timeline/

Spend to much time on this blog reliving them lol..so many odd books!

WitTank I just cried laughing at that book cover and had to show DH!

Was Mr Collins the one who was always described as being 'strawberry blonde' i.e ginger? And yes to the 'split level' house!

I read the Caitlin books. I remember my mum coming in and having a 'conversation' with me about them, because I think she thought they were too old for me (I read them when I was 11 or 12). I can only imagine how tame some of today's tweens would find them

Yep Hiphop, that's Mr Collins. Why he was always hanging around with teenagers, we'll never know. Maybe he was the inspiration for the equally creepy Mr Schue in Glee!

HamNJam I read those! Were they called Class of 88? I really liked them.

So many memories!

Wasn't there a SVH book called "Don't Go Home With John" in which Lila was raped/assaulted? I remember being v shocked when I read this as a young teen.

I read SVT too and loved the "special editions", especially one about them being lost in a narnia type world and each finding a boy (they were also twins) who had the opposite personality. Such marvellous cliches and ridiculous ideas, but I loved it

I also read a few of the SVU series. One that I always remember involved Jessica having a boyfriend who turned out to be an undercover police officer investigating a drug ring at the uni. He had to go into witness protection and wanted her to go with him, but she couldn't leave Elizabeth. There was the implication that she lost her virginity to him and then he was gone...

1bruce1

The only Special Edition one i had was an SVH one called Malibu Summer.