Young Adult Revisited

I don't know if any of you are staying up to date with the world of Sweet Valley, but I came across something today that made me stop in my tracks. Pascal is going ahead with her plan to release six short serial books set after the horrible events in Sweet Valley Confidential. The first in the series The Sweet Life #1 comes out in May. According to the short synopsis available online, the books pick up three years after Sweet Valley Confidential ended. Liz is now an ace reporter (natch), Jessica is a huge success in the PR world (of course), and naturally the twins are now best friends again. The synopsis says something to the effect that Jessica does not find motherhood as easy as she thought. Are you kidding me with this crap? Is Pascal writing stuff because she wants to see our heads expose? Look, we all expected something completely different from Sweet Valley Confidential. I know that a lot of us thought if she actually did the serials, she would try to make up for that. N...

Claudia and Alan Gray finally go out on a date. She actually has fun with him, but keeps looking around because she thinks someone might see them together. He brings her napkins for her popcorn so she won’t mess up her jeans, and acts really thoughtful. She won’t let him walk her home though because she’s worried the other members of the BSC might see them. They ask her a bunch of questions about where she was and she keeps changing the subject. After the meeting, she admits to Stacey that she went out with Alan. It doesn’t help that Kristy keeps bringing up new stories about stupid stuff he did in the past. Claudia took a job working at the library with Erica. She asks her mom about possibly updating the mural in the children’s room and her mom blows her off. She then mentions it to the head of the children’s department, who thinks that it is a great idea and lets her do it. The event turns into a disaster. The librarian lets the kids get involved, and they go crazy throwing pain...

All Matt really wants is a little freedom from his family. His older siblings Pam and Greg make fun of him all the time, ignore him when they’re supposed to take care of him, and get him into trouble. He also wants a bigger bedroom because his bedroom is too small for all of his stuff, but his mom claims they need the guest room for his grandparents’ once a year visits. The final straw comes when his brother throws the family dog (who he hates) on his chest and his brother sticks him with making dinner. After everyone goes to sleep, Matt sneaks into the guest room and falls asleep. He wakes the next day with enormous feet and finds that he became a teenager. When he runs downstairs, he discovers that Pam and Greg are now younger than him and he has to attend high school. The classes are harder, no one likes him, and guys in black keep following him around. He tries explaining what happened to his teachers, but they think he read too much science fiction. He runs into a ...

Mark works in a wax museum/attraction called the House of Horrors, even though he is secretly afraid of the figures. His crush Lisa spots him after the last group goes through and tells him that they are throwing an after hours party. Mark sticks around and runs into his co-worker Elliott. Elliott warns him that the boss is coming, so he hides in the museum. Mark hears everyone leave for the night and sees the lights go out. Still thinking that the party is coming up, he hides out. It takes him far too long to realize that he is on the only left there. He runs through the museum, freaking out because he keeps thinking that he hears someone. Suddenly, a shadow falls over him. He trips, falls on a couch and screams in horror. The next day, Lisa arrives at work, laughing to herself over how stupid Mark is for thinking they were throwing a party. She pauses, seeing one of the figures in a new position, standing over the couch. When she gets closer, she realizes that the figure on the cou...

Mrs. Arnett divides the class up for a special project on families. Each student has to do a report on their partner’s family. Jessica gets paired with Lila and Elizabeth gets paired with Melissa McCormick, a girl rarely ever mentioned before. Melissa tells her that her project should be easy since it’s just her, her older brother Andy and her mom. When she gets home that night, she finds her mom laying on the couch and coughing. Her mom has heart problems and been in and out of the hospital for years. We also learn that their parents separated years ago, but apparently never got divorced. They haven’t heard from their dad even once since he skipped out and Andy hates him. The principal calls Melissa into his office and tells her that her mom had a heart attack. He rushes her to the hospital, where they meet Andy and his principal. They get to see their mom in her room, but she acts really down and defeated. She makes them promise that they will always look out for each...

Molly Hecht is an outcast and they should run her out of Sweet Valley. Everyone blames her for Regina Morrow’s death because she had the party where she died. They are more than filling to forget that (a) Justin took her to the party and (b) she only went because Bruce cheated with Amy. Hell, Bruce and Amy even go to the funeral together. Of course, they look like crap, but Liz makes them feel better by telling them that Regina forgave them. No one trusts or likes Molly anymore and generally makes her feel like crap about herself. No one talks to her and they all ignore her at school. Justin shoots her down, so she tries talking to Liz. Liz basically tells her that she loved Regina and wants nothing to do with her. Then she makes the mistake of going to the cemetery and running into Nicholas, who makes her feel even worse. When she gets home, her parents lecture her constantly. She suggests moving to San Francisco with her dad and he tells her that her punishment is going to school e...

I never read the book before this, but this one sums it up perfectly. Sweet Valley Middle School hosted a TV dating show, kind of like “The Dating Game.” I find it gross that anyone would watch 6 th graders dating, but whatevs. Elizabeth freaked out and couldn’t go on stage, so Jessica took her place and accidentally picked Todd. Patrick was supposed to pick his girlfriend Sophia, but accidentally chose Maria. Amy winds up with Aaron Dallas and Janet gets a dorky guy named Donald. All of the couples get to spend the day at a new amusement park and if they make it back on the bus together, the school gets a free dance. Jess is excited because Lila keeps bragging about going to the park and she hasn’t gone yet. Since they load the kids on the bus right after the show, she gets stuck with Todd. Liz and Sophia stay behind and overhear some workers talking about exposing cheaters. Since they both cheated, they rush off and sneak into the park. Jessica hates Todd, but has to be nice to ...