Young Adult Revisited

Kate and her older brother Brandon are moving back to their old hometown after six years. On the night he graduated from high school Brandon had a fight with his girlfriend Lucinda over flirting with other people. Lucinda threatened to go to her “special place” and he turned his back on her. Kate saw something weird in the lake and no one saw Lucinda again. Lucinda’s little brother Keith sent back a newspaper clipping, showing that the lake in town was drying up. At one point, the town moved all of its buildings and flooded the area, creating the lake. Brandon moves them back and asks Keith about Lucinda. Keith claims that no one has found anything except for an old graduation robe. They run into his old friend Holly who is excited to see him. Kate mentions that she wrote him a ton of letters, but he never wrote her back. Holly explains that she feels responsible because Lucinda wasn’t happy about her relationship with Brandon. She also believes that Lucinda ran away from home and...

I did a little happy dance in Half-Price Books when I found this one on the clearance shelf. I heard that the store no longer buys SVT or BSC books, but every time I go in, I find at least one book I don’t have. Imagine my surprise when I discovered TEN BOOKS that I didn’t have and all for just 50 cents each. This one starts with Jessica and Ellen finding a metal box buried in the backyard, when they attempt to help her little brother bury his pet bird. I would really love to know what happened to poor Ellen Riteman. Did she move away? Get pregnant as a freshman? Anyway, her brother Mark wants to open the box right away, but they don’t want to share with him. Jessica pretends to sprain her ankle again and sends him back to her house for her crutches. As soon as he leaves, they cut the lock off the box and finds photos, letters and $200. They agree to split the money and when he comes back, they pretend that they just got the box open. Mark wanders off and they read through all the l...

Steven Wakefield is still trying to get over the death of his girlfriend Tricia Martin. Then again, given that it took 130+ books to finish off a school year, it’s probably only been a few weeks since she died. Her sister Betsy keeps riding him, trying to convince him that it is too soon for him to start dating again. He really likes Cara Walker, but decides that he should focus on Tricia’s memory. Even though Liz is usually the one that gets in the middle of other people’s lives, here she thinks that Betsy is right. She basically wants her brother to sit around, mope, cry and not move on. Jessica is the one that wants him to get back on the horse and start dating again. He keeps coming home from school, but spends the whole time with Betsy moping over Tricia. Cara approaches him at a party and he completely blows her off. When Jessica suggests she call him, she decides that she needs to just back off and give him time. His friend Artie sees her at a party and thinks she looks pret...

Wes is getting frustrated because, much like me, he can’t see the image inside 3-D posters. This annoying set of twins live down the street and he nicknames them Gabby and Corny. They bring a new poster to school and brag about how well they see the image. When they get a new poster, Wes finally snaps. The first person that identifies the image inside wins a prize. He drags his best friend Lauren to the five and dime store and buys a poster. The store owner Sal tells him that sometimes you see things you don’t want to see and warns him about the poster. Then he grabs his arm, says he has the gift of sight and tells him that some things should stay in the 2-D world. Wes takes the poster home, shows it off to his family and no one sees anything in it. Later that night he gets up close to the poster and notices a praying mantis inside. The bug comes to life and eats a moth flying by. He also sees the toy soldiers on his wallpaper move and decides something is weird about it. The next ...

Ned has a big secret and he is finally ready to share it with the twins. No he isn’t a pedophile, nor is he running for mayor. Nope, he just has a secret language called Ithing that he wants to teach the twins. It’s really lame and a total rip-off from Pig Latin. You just add “ithing” before and after constantans or some shit like that. Liz picks up on it right away and absolutely loves it. Jessica couldn’t give a shit because she thought he was taking them to Europe. Ned explains that he and his former best friend used the secret language as kids and it means a lot to him. Please note that he only tells the twins and NOT Steven. Caroline Pierce shows up and Jessica suddenly wants to learn the language so she can drive her crazy. She learns it pretty fast too. Before long (as in the next day), the twins are speaking to each other in their secret language. Amy overhears and Liz apologizes, but says she can’t tell her the secret because she promised her dad. Jessica even refuses to t...

Michael hates his little sister Tara and I kind of hate her too! She trips him, humiliates him and is constantly getting him in trouble with their parents. When his birthday arrives, she jumps on his brand new bike before him, knocks it over and leaves a huge scratch on it. Even worse, his parents snap at him for yelling at her. At his birthday party, Tara keeps hanging around and the girls think she’s cute. Michael is in a school play with some of the girls and they want to see him in costume. When he goes upstairs and changes clothes, she lets them all into his room and they see him in his underwear. Once again, his parents blame him and say he’s overreacting. Then Michael’s dad brings home a new/old cuckoo clock from a local antique store. He wanted to buy it a long time ago, but it was always too much. The owner found a flaw on it and reduced the price. They all look for the flaw, but find nothing. That night, he sneaks downstairs and sees the clock chiming. He touches the bird...

The word is out at Sweet Valley High: Scott Trost failed one of his classes and is no longer eligible to play. Everyone attacks Terri, wanting to know if Ken plans on trying out. Remember how he was blind just a few books ago? Yeah, well he’s totally better now, so don’t worry. Terri knows that he isn’t necessarily perfect again, so she’s naturally worried when he signs up for the tryouts. Claire Middleton is the new girl in school and she signs up for the tryouts too. Jessica thinks she’s pretty enough to join the sorority, but when she talks to her, Claire goes off on the cheerleaders. She doesn’t get why athletic girls (or any girl) would waste time on cheering. To make matters worse, Jessica’s new crush Danny seems interested in her too. The whole school starts rallying behind Claire and even the newspaper does a story on her. She’s really good and even beats Ken at a few challenges. Jessica spreads a story about what she said and guys gang up on Claire. They take stuff from he...