Sweet Valley Kids #30: Jessica's Unburied Treasure

The Wakefield family is off to the Grand Canyon! Jessica and Elizabeth are so super close in this book that they share everything. They even decide to take just one suitcase for all their stuff. Alice thinks this is just about the cutest thing ever. They also ask the flight attendant if they can share just one blanket on the plane. People think this is so cute that they can't stop talking about them, and one flight attendant even brings them wing pins.

Once they land in Arizona, they go to pick out postcards to mail their grandparents. They conveniently want the same exact one, so they decide to just share the postcard and mail it to their grandparents from the both of them. After hiking down to the basin, they find out that their group will split up into three smaller groups. One group at a time will go water rafting down the river, camp out overnight, and come back the following morning as the next group heads off.

Even though the twins are desperate to go rafting, they hang out with Steven and check out all the nature. Liz loves just about everything she sees, but Jessica isn't too fond of all the bugs. They finally get to go rafting and have a minor argument over who will get to sit in the best seat. The tour guide gets a kick out of it because he thought they shared everything. Jessica gets the seat first, but she has to let her twin have it later.

While on their camping trip, the twins find something in the dirt, which turns out to be a very expensive diamond ring. The tour guide tells them that there's a chance it was lost years ago and that if no one claims it, they can keep it. Alice suggests selling the ring and using it to buy something they both want. Jessica secretly daydreams about keeping the ring and showing it off to her friends. Apparently even Lila doesn't have a diamond ring.

Elizabeth makes friends with an older girl who talks with her about computers. She then suggests they sell the ring and buy a computer. Jessica is totes against the idea, even though she secretly loves computer games. She really just wants to show off her new ring and make all her friends jelly. The twins fight so much that Steven suggests just throwing the ring in the river. Even Alice and Ned start thinking it's a good idea.

Before they can do anything drastic though, the guide comes back with some big news. An older woman in the first group conveniently lost her wedding ring on her trip. She's super upset because her husband gave it to her and he recently passed away. The twins briefly fight over who will give her the ring before Jessica wins. The woman is so happy to get her ring back that she gives them a $20 reward.

This causes the two to fight some more. Jessica wants to buy furniture for her dollhouse, but Elizabeth wants to buy some new books. Ned solves the problem by taking the money and giving them each $10. They then come home and find out that an old family friend is going out of town and will be leaving their kids with them. The twins get all excited until they learn their new guests are boys...

*There is a small continuity error from the other books/series. Jessica talks about how Lila's parents spoil her, but we know it's just her dad.

*It's nice to know that they just take this old lady at her word. No one asks her to describe the ring or anything. They just show it to her, and she's all like, “yep, that's totally my ring.”

*The ring is supposedly so valuable that the twins could sell it and have enough money to buy a brand new computer, software, and a bunch of games. The woman later says that her husband gave the ring to her at their senior prom. What kind of high school senior can buy a ring worth thousands of dollars on the secondary market?

*The beginning of this book is super annoying. There is a reference on every single page about how the twins share everything. All the other SVK books I read though went on and on about how different they are and how the only thing they share is their bedroom.

*I went to a Half Price Books clearance sale and found three SVK books, but all three were Jessica books. It was a super disappointing sale though. Last year, I found like 30 Nancy Drew books and probably 10 SVT books plus a few BSC books. I found one Nancy Drew book, two BSC books, and three SVK this year. I couldn't even find a Goosebumps book in the sale!