Young Adult Revisited

Sweet Valley Middle School needs to raise money for some new library books and supplies. They decide to a do a bike-a-thon where the kids get donations for each mile they ride on their bikes. They also give away a free top of the line racing bike to the winner. Nearly everyone in school decides to ride, except for Bruce who thinks it's a waste of time because he already has an expensive new bike. Lois decides to ride too, which surprises everyone because she's so fat and overweight (their words, not mine). Bruce especially likes picking on her and making fun of her. At one point, he stands up and tells everyone what's on her lunch tray, and everyone laughs at her for eating so much. While waiting in line for lunch a few days later, Bruce accidentally trips over her book bag. He decides that she did it on purpose and decides to get back at her. Lois worked really hard to get a lot of donations, and she got 23 people to sponsor her. Bruce goes to his parents, ...

Kristy, Bart and Charlie take a group of kids to another big game. This is one of the few books where the Krushers and the Bashers play together as the Krashers. At the end of the game, they start back home and it starts raining. Charlie gets lost, the rain starts coming down harder, and they somehow get across a bridge just before the rain washes it away. They find a big house in the middle of nowhere and decide to stop and ask for help. They see a smaller house nearby, and a man comes out and tells them that he's the caretaker for the bigger house. He gives them a little food and some blankets and offers to let them stay in the bigger house for the night. He then makes a cryptic comment about their odds at lasting throughout the night. Everyone takes a tour of the house, and they find a girl's room. They do a little more touring before winding up back in the same room. Karen finds a diary, and Patty, one of Bart's players, finds the key. Kristy reads it, ...

Sweet Valley Middle School is about to launch yet another special program. This one is a special creative writing class that meets after school, and Mr. Bowman gets to pick the chosen few who take part. Elizabeth and Amy naturally end up in the class, but so does Todd Wilkins, which is odd since he never wanted to write before. He's a little worried because the class ends just 15 minutes before basketball practice, and he isn't sure he can do both. Todd has a lot on his plate lately because he's the star of the middle school team, and you know how important middle school basketball is in terms of life. His dad was once a great player, but he blew out his knee before he could make it to the pros. He keeps pushing Todd to be a better player and focus all his attention on the sport. Mr. Ramirez, the new teacher of the program, is a super cool guy who lets the kids call him Mark. He encourages them to work together on a story to show them that the greatest stor...

Cry of the Cat opens with a girl and boy getting attacked by a cat before it cuts to a girl checking on her little brother. He's screaming because the movie is so scary, but she turns it off and calms him down. Tanner tells Alison to have a "mice" day, and she lets us know that it's an in joke because she has a big collection of mice. Alison meets up with her best friend Ryan, and the two head back to school for rehearsals of a play they're in together. She sees a cat run out in front of her, and it runs under her bike before she can stop. Ryan wants her to just leave it behind, but she wants to see if it's okay. When she realizes the cat is dead, she sees a house nearby with the door open. A young girl named Crystal opens and flips out, saying that it's Rip and only her mom can help. Alison is still really upset over what happened but goes to school anyway. While working on stage, she keeps hearing a cat meowing but no one else can hear...

Ken Matthews is the hottest thing to hit football in years, but he might not maintain his status for much longer. The big centennial picnic happens in a few days, and he's in danger of failing English. If he can't pass, he won't get to play in the big game. Luckily, Liz offers to tutor him so things should be okay. The ridiculous thing is that he just has to write a short story, which is a huge part of his grade. As long as he writes a story and submits it, he'll pass. The problem is that he's now dating Suzanne Hanlon, and she doesn't have a whole lot of time for the things he likes. She likes foreign films and fancy restaurants, and he doesn't seem to like anything except football. She does invite him to come to dinner at her house, but things go wrong. Suzanne tells him not to bring up sports because her dad doesn't like athletics, but when he brings up business, her dad gets a little cold. Elizabeth shows him a story she worked on an...

January 18, 2014 Edit: Thanks for all the feedback guys! It looks like I'll just stick around here to recap the Nancy Drew books. I have no clue yet when I'll put my first one up. I picked up one of the more modern books from a book sale, started reading it, and loved it. The only weird thing is that Nancy goes missing, so George, Ned, and Bess have to work together to find her. I didn't realize that so many of you loved her as much as I do LOL.  I know that this blog gets a lot of page views even if people don't necessarily comment a lot. For those who do read or comment, I have a question. Would anyone be interested in seeing recaps from Nancy Drew books? I have quite a few of the older books that came out in the late 80s/early 90s when Nancy was in college, but I also have some of the newer books and some of the originals. My first thought was to create a separate blog, but now I'm not sure. I already cover so many books on here, from Goosebumps and Sweet...

Since the twins don't go to Paris until high school, this book must be some random fantasy. They sign up for some weird program where they get to spend spring break in France with a local family. Steven whines a little because he thinks it's unfair that they get to do something cool and he gets stuck at home. The day before they leave, they get a letter in the mail that says the family had to leave to take care of their grandma but they found a replacement family. Since no one else from any other school is doing the program, the twins fly across the world by themselves. Elizabeth starts going through the colors and translating them into French, but she forgets the word for black before falling asleep. Jessica makes friends with the flight attendant, who starts to tell her a story about a young girl who flew with her earlier before getting distracted by another passenger. No worries though because she finds an article about in an in-flight magazine. It talks abo...