Young Adult Revisited

I think I have all of these books except for maybe the Abby one, so I'm surprised I haven't recapped any of them. SMS launches a new school project, where every student in eighth grade must write their autobiography. They have to pick three or so major memories or events that had a lasting impact on them, so here's Kristy's memories. Her first one came when she was a little kid. Kristy, Claudia, and Mary-Anne decided to build a snowman on their front lawn. One of their neighbors thought it was cute, so they decided to build one for her. She gave them money, which they put aside to buy a present for Mimi. She overheard and told some other neighbors, who all hired them to build more snowmen. They used the money to buy her a scarf, which Mimi wore every winter until she died. When she gets a little older, Kristy realizes that she gets the shaft when compared to her brothers. She has to go to bed earlier, can't play with them outside, and generally gets...

Rela is the adopted daughter of a minister who has a huge crush on a guy named Chris. At the beginning of The Eternal Enemy, she decides to buy a VCR from Circuit City (ha-ha!) to use at a big party she wants to throw. The cashier, Ed, finds her super attractive, which leads to him accepting a post-dated check from her just so she can buy a better VCR than she can afford. Though he asks her out, she turns him down because of Chris. Her best friend, Stacey, wants her to ask Chris to her party, but she does let her know that he's been spending a lot of time with this hot girl Debbie. Rela can't work up the nerve to ask him, but Stacey does it for her. He asks her after calculus class if it's okay that he comes to the party and if he can bring a friend. Real decides to set up the VCR to take an old alien movie that she loved as a kid, but she doesn't look at the tape after recording it. Cut to her party when she puts on the tape. She sees static and the ne...

There's a hot piece of ass in Sweet Valley, and his name is Jeffrey French. Both Lila and Enid want him, so Jessica and Liz decide to help their respective best friend snag him. For Liz, this means shoving him down Enid's throat at every turn. Jessica tries to step back and let Lila wow him on their own. Lila invites him to a pool party at her house, but Jessica keeps the party a secret from her twin. Jeffrey spends the whole time making new friends and meeting new people instead of fawning all over Lila. She buys him a brand new camera because he loves photography, but he tells her he can't take it because it was too expensive. When Liz hears about the party, she decides to amp up her efforts. She gushes on and on about Enid and how Jeffrey should meet her at the big volleyball game. She then promises Enid he'll be there. He asks Liz if she's going, and she claims that she has to do something with her cousin. The next day, they learn that he went t...

Jessica promised to bake a batch of cookies for the Unicorn meeting, but she naturally forgot. Alice agrees to take her to the store and buy some cookies, but they have a minor fender bender on the way to the meeting. Mrs. Harrington is an older woman, who runs into them, claims her neck hurts and needs to go to the hospital. Alice thinks the older woman looks familiar but can't place her. She and Elizabeth go to visit her in the hospital and learn that she lives alone and doesn't have any family or friends nearby. When they get home, Jessica announces that she knows why the woman looks so familiar. She's actually Dolores Dufay, a former actress and big time star. Now that she knows the woman is a star, she wants to get as close to her as possible. Jessica convinces Elizabeth to go with her to Mrs. Harrington's house. They find out that she was robbed while in the hospital. Jessica immediately forgets about asking her for an autograph and instead helps h...

Elizabeth decides that it would be really cool to take part in a foreign exchange student program, so she sends off for more information. When the packet comes, she learns that they can't take part in it because they don't speak a second language. Enter Ned and Alice, who decide that taking in a foreign exchange student is a great idea. Jessica immediately starts daydreaming about seeing a hot guy show up. When the lady from the program calls, she mishears Giovanna as Giovanni and assumes she's a boy. She tells all the Unicorns, and they start planning a bunch of parties and events to welcome him to town. Amy and Elizabeth have to break the news that it's actually a girl staying with them. While trying to track down a cot for her, they meet a neighbor named Mrs. Dalone. Her family was from Italy, so she introduces them to spumoni and shows them photos her cousin took. Jessica instantly thinks that Giovanna will be a country bumpkin with no fashion sense ...

It's almost Christmas in Sweet Valley, so what better time to pull a choral competition out of nowhere? Sweet Valley Middle School made it into the national choral competition, but since they're competing against bigger schools, they need ten more people. They decide to hold an open audition for some new singers. Since Jessica and Elizabeth were far too busy for chorus before, they decide to audition now. Right before the auditions, they run into Anna Barrett. She seems super nervous and reveals that she can't sing. She's adopted and recently found a letter about how her older sister Leslie was adopted by an Australian guy and his wife. They're moving to the embassy in Washington DC, and since that's where the event takes place, she knows that she has to go there. Her parents won't tell her about Leslie, but they did say she could go to the contest. Since the teacher lets them audition in groups of four, she partners with Ellen and the twins. Th...

Mandy Miller totally like-likes Peter Jeffries. I know this because it was mentioned in a previous book, but now she doesn't know if he likes her. There's a big dance coming up for Valentine's Day, and she wants to ask him to the dance but she isn't sure if he'll say yes or even if he likes her. In the midst of all this, the Unicorns decide to throw a big fundraiser to raise money for the hospital. They decide to call it Yours for a Day. Kids can sign up to be a servant or they can be a master. Masters have to pay $5 for one day or $10 for two days, and their parents will match their donations. Since this is Sweet Valley and everyone wants to help everyone, they end up with the exact same amount of servants as they do masters. Jessica winds up with Lloyd, who is pissed that she lied about the earthquake in the last book. He makes things pretty hellish for her. She has to eat a bunch of random cafeteria food, help him with science experiments, and e...