Sweet Valley Twins #41: Jessica's New Look

Jessica is all atwitter because there are boys sitting at the Unicorner. She recently discovered that she likes Aaron Dallas, and since he's at the table, she ditches her twin to sit with him. The boys start talking about basketball, and she's the only one who follows the game. Lila actually thinks that the Lakers play baseball. Aaron asks her to go to a game with him and his parents, and she becomes the first sixth grader to get a real date.

Unfortunately, one of her teachers noticed that she keeps squinting and getting headaches, and he thinks she needs to see an eye doctor. He sends home a note, which she hides under her mattress. Alice finds out anyway when the teacher sends home a letter, and she makes both twins go to the doctor.

Jessica discovers that she needs glasses, while Elizabeth has perfect vision. She throws a major fit, which Alice tries to diffuse by letting each one get a new outfit. Jessica picks out some god awful purple outfit, but she still doesn't want to wear glasses. She spends over an hour trying on different pairs before she gets a purple pair that everyone else likes.

She decides that just because she has to get glasses that doesn't mean she has to wear glasses. She wears them around the house, but hides the glasses in her bag on the way to school. Their parents take them out to the movies, and she runs into Lila in the theater. Lila blackmails her into giving her that new outfit and her new purple earrings so she won't tell everyone.

The Sweet Valley Tribune apparently cannot find adult writers because they started a new column written by middle school students. Elizabeth gets picked to do the next one, and she has to write on the topic of kids who make a difference in their community. Janet wants to get the Unicorns involved, but Liz and Amy laugh at the idea. They decide to run a skate-a-thon to raise money for a new set of encyclopedias.

When Liz, Amy, and Jessica get to the skating rink, they discover a problem. The owner thought everyone would bring their own skates, so he doesn't have any available. Amy and Liz make fun of them before going inside to discover that it was a lie. They made it up to make them look stupid (?).

Jessica left her glasses at home, and she gets all excited when she skates with Aaron. She notices her parents walking into the rink and she bumps into Lois, sending her sprawling. She grabs her glasses and pretends like she's trying them on before ditching Aaron and running off. Her parents catch her and ground her until she starts wearing her glasses.

She decides that she isn't going out with Aaron and announces that she won't leave the house until she no longer needs glasses. Elizabeth pretends that she likes Aaron, even faking a talk with Amy on the phone about her crush. She keeps telling Jess that she wants to take her place, and Jessica finally tells her to just do it.

Elizabeth tells her mom her new idea, and they run off to the mall. She comes home wearing glasses with plain glass inside, and Jessica thinks she looks cute, but that glasses fit her personality. They work fine on those who like school, but she's a cute popular girl! Aaron shows up for their date, and Elizabeth pretends that she's Jessica. Aaron thinks that she looks really cute in her glasses, so Jessica realizes that he will like her. They trade clothes and she heads off on her date.

Elizabeth's article is a big hit around the school, and everyone loves Jessica's new glasses. Liz notices that Lila has Jessica's new outfit, but she claims that it's okay because she has something even better and makes some googly eyes at Aaron. The book ends with the Unicorns getting annoyed at Mandy Miller.

*Jessica only has to wear glasses for a few months before her eyes will recover. This is something that they do a lot in books and on television, but does it ever really happen? I was in fourth or fifth grade when I got glasses, and everyone I know who got glasses at a young age still wear them.

*Steven is sometimes such a typical older brother. He gets ready to make fun of her glasses, gets a look from Ned, and starts laughing to himself.

*Lila says that her dad took her to the theater because he felt bad about spending so much time at work. It's funny how sometimes this bothers her and sometimes she loves that he's gone so much.

*The point of the newspaper column was to focus on kids helping in their community. How is the Unicorn Club buying encyclopedias for SVMS helping the community? Especially since it's established that there are other middle schools/junior highs in the area.

*I love that her glasses are only mentioned in passing in a few books after this.

*There is a funny scene where Jessica rides her bike in front of what looks like a piece of crumpled paper, but it's actually a white cat that belongs to Aaron's little sister, and she takes a header in his front yard.