Here’s the chance to nitpick all the inconsistencies in Sweet Valley Land. I’ll start with the obvious:
The gals have been sixteen for about 15 years, and have seen there share of Christmases, Halloweens, and summer vacations. [In their defense, it's not like the writers were not aware of this, they just needed to keep everyone the same age for the sake of its readers.]
No one ever goes to the bathroom, gets their period, or has gas.
The twins are kidnapped, stalked, held hostage, attacked multiple times and are never tramatized more than one book (until the Jungle Prom Punch Fiasco).
Others?
168 responses so far ↓
Donna // March 3, 2008 at 8:55 am
Ooooooh, I love this!
From the very early books, I remember:
Todd, on one occasion mentions he has a sister and in another, a brother - yet for the remainder of the series, I was under the distinct impression he was an only child.
In my copy of book # 1, there is a chapter at the end outlining the ’story so far’ of each of the main characters. Lila’s synopsis says her mother visits her infrequently and that George Fowler is not her real father. Her mother says she used to be a bit hollywood actress and Lila assumes her biolgocial father is a famous actor.
IS ANY OF THIS EVER MENTIIONED AGAIN??
Bill Chase’s synopsis says he tragically lost his girlfriend in a car accident that he was driving and that he never got over her (and Elizabeth reminds him of said dead girlfriend and he has a huge crush on her) and that this happened two years ago. This would mean this happened when Bill was 14 years old - are 14 year olds in the US allowed to drive at that age??
After Tricia Martin dies, there are TWO different books with a sub-plot of a girl looking exactly like Tricia Martin that Steve falls in love with - how can there be three (unrelated) girls that all look identicial in one town??
Many of the characters have a birthday celebration, yet all remain 16 years old.
In the SV Twins series, Elizabeth interviews Alice and asks where she meets Ned. From memory, Alice says she was working as a waitress and was serving Ned and accidently tipped a plate of spaghetti on him and the rest was history, yet in the SVH saga books, Alice leaves Hank Patman at the alter and runs to Ned.
Why does Steve live on campus when presumably college is in the same town??
And my personal pet SVH hates:
When Todd returns from Vermont, he holds a party at his parents new home and answers the door wearing a white dinner suit - how many parties did you attend as a sixteen year old where the guys dressed like that??
Only the ‘bad’ characters experiment with alcohol, cigarettes or drugs and usually meet a horrible accident or death to teach the rest of us a lesson not to indulge in any of these naughty habits.
That the exceptionally wealthy students like Lila, Bruce and Regina all attend SVH - surely their parents would want to send their children to a snobby private school??
EVERY book has a boy that is “the most gorgeous boy Jessica had ever seen” - how can one town have such a high percentage of really, really good looking people?
Francine’s obsessive hatred of overweight and single people - the worst being in one book (I think Love Letters for Sale?) where Elizabeth muses that “anyone who wouldn’t appreciate a guy as great as Todd deserves the single life.” And in another, Jessica is ashamed that she has a visiting cousin who is “at least 10 pounds overweight” - none of this is healthy for angsty teenage girls with low self esteem - SVH ghostwriters have no sense of social responsibility - HATE!
None of these sixteen year olds have any responsibilites, boundaries, curfews or concept of the world outside their own town (hence, I guess, the selfish and self absorbed behaviour).
All of that said, I am blushing as I remember how much I devoured each new title (and how much I thought my life would be like SVH when I turned sixteen - oh, the disappointment!!).
introducing: more interactive content « The Dairi Burger // March 3, 2008 at 12:00 pm
[...] It’s always sunny in Sweet Valley [...]
ihatewheat // March 3, 2008 at 12:01 pm
Donna, nice job! I forgot to mention that at every party, the kids serve finger sandwhiches and punch. Doesn’t anyone just get a some six-packs and jello shots and hang around?
Magpie // March 3, 2008 at 12:17 pm
“Why does Steve live on campus when presumably college is in the same town??”
Donna, I think that SVU is actually in a different town that happens to be in Sweet Valley County (I’m pretty sure this is explained at some point in the SVU series). But this does lead me to a WHOLE new set of inconsistencies with the location of SVU - sometimes it is 2 hours’ drive from the Wakefields’ house (is it even possible that Sweet Valley County would be so vast?), and sometimes it is just down the road.
Also, the biggest inconsistency of the entire series: in SVH #1, we are led to believe that Todd is fairly new in town, and certainly that he doesn’t know Liz very well. I guess he got temporary amnesia, because I seem to remember him being friends with her at age 7 in the SVK series, and DATING her in SVT!
Magenta Galaxy // March 3, 2008 at 12:57 pm
“Why does Steve live on campus when presumably college is in the same town??”
Also going with what Magpie said…if it IS that close, why do Bruce and Lila feel the need to FLY back and forth to school in the early SVU books??
“EVERY book has a boy that is “the most gorgeous boy Jessica had ever seen” - how can one town have such a high percentage of really, really good looking people?”
And don’t forget all the billion times the twins have been kissed more passionately than anyone has ever kissed them before!
Shall I point out the obvious “Olivia coming back from the dead” in the early SVU book where they have a high school reunion about 5 months after they graduate? I know that was written before the Earthquake books, but maybe choose some other character to kill, one that DIDN’T show up at the reunion…
In the 2 mini-sets of SVU books where they are lifeguards, Jessica suddenly isn’t dating Nick, and is free to whore it up for that Ben dude.
I might be off on this, but isn’t Robin Wilson’s mom single and they’re kinda poor and that’s why her mom wants her aunt to send her to college, but then when Robin conveniently moves to make room for Heather Malone, isn’t it because her dad’s job was transferred?
I think at some point Enid and Winston also mention siblings early on, too, never to be heard from again. Someone should check their basements.
Steven isn’t dating Billie anymore when he’s a sophomore, during SVHSY, but when SVU starts and he’s a junior, they’re dating again.
Janelle // March 3, 2008 at 2:51 pm
“Steven isn’t dating Billie anymore when he’s a sophomore, during SVHSY, but when SVU starts and he’s a junior, they’re dating again.”
I might be wrong- but I thought that Steven and Billie meet and start dating at the beginning of the SVU series when she shows up to answer his ad for a roommate and he’s shocked to find out that “Billie” is a girl!
Another inconsistency is the never-ending and often-repeating sports seasons at Sweet Valley High. It switches from basketball to football season and back all the time.
Also, in That Fatal Night, the football team is having a great season that is almost over, but in Ms. Quarterback, although they do remain consistent with the story of why Ken isn’t playing, it’s suddenly MONTHS later and the football season is still going and still almost over.
Johnny Buck // March 3, 2008 at 4:29 pm
Actually, the twins DO get their periods once … in SVT “Jessica’s Secrets” … Jessica gets upset because Elizabeth gets her period first. J just assumed she’d get hers first because she’s more mature. Anyhoo, Jessica decides that she can prove she’s grown up by going to visit cousin Robin in San Diego, where she lears that Robin is a member of a super-elite club called (I think) the Jaguars. All I really remember about them is that they wore all black and had ID bracelets. Jessica pretends to have her period the whole time, but only actually gets it on the way home from the trip.
At any rate, that was probably the last mention of the Crimson Tide in Sweet Valley.
Abby // March 3, 2008 at 5:10 pm
“I might be wrong- but I thought that Steven and Billie meet and start dating at the beginning of the SVU series when she shows up to answer his ad for a roommate and he’s shocked to find out that “Billie” is a girl!”
I’m pretty sure that happened in SVH…right around the time they changed the covers (so like, late 90s, maybe #97-99), and at the start of SVU they were in love.
“there are TWO different books with a sub-plot of a girl looking exactly like Tricia Martin that Steve falls in love with ”
Really? I remember #64, the Ghost of Tricia, but when was the other?
My personal pet peeve- the kids in SVU, despite being kidnapped, raped, beaten, uncovering large secret societies, being the target of murder plots, and meeting up with people from the FBI most wanted list, still act like the kids from Saved By the Bell. Any use of alcohol is abhorred, (Alex drinks for the first month she’s in college and needs to go to AA, all the sexual violence usually occurs after some guy is drunk), and these kids, despite all being over 18, refuse to sleep in the same bed with each other, and of course there is no sex. Remember when Liz books a cruise in college for all her friends? Even though it’s all couples, she still puts boys with boys and girls with girls…and no one complains.
My biggest complaint about SVH was everyone always talked about Liz and Todd like they were this long lasting, soulmate couple, yet at the absolute most they would have been dating 9 months (you know, a school year), broke up numerous times, and cheated on each other everytime one of them was out of town (and a couple times when they weren’t). Not only that, but Liz (who’s supposed to be the sensitive, kindhearted, responsible twin) felt like, zero remorse whenever she did it.
Magenta Galaxy // March 3, 2008 at 6:27 pm
^^And dumbass Todd, my least favorite YA character everrrrr, always took her back!
Janelle, to go along with your sports theme…just how many championship football, basketball and soccer games can one school play in per year?
Kristin // March 3, 2008 at 6:42 pm
I always thought it was weird that none of the sweet valley kids have after school jobs that aren’t volunteer jobs (Amy with the hotline, I think Liz and Jess were candy stripers for like one book) yet they always have money to buy new clothes, have parties, drive everywhere and go on vacations to exotic locations.
perfectsize12 // March 3, 2008 at 7:24 pm
The one inconsistency that always drove me bonkers was the age/grade discrepancies between the different series. In SVK, the Wakefield twinkies (thank you, Heather Mallone for that wonderful phrase!) and their friends are 7 years old in second grade. In SVT, they are 12 years old at the beginning of sixth grade. But the twinkies were born in June during earthquake season. So, did the twins and all of their classmates get left back a year? I always thought that the Sweet Valley education system was seriously lacking! Then, in SVH, they are all 16 years old in eleventh grade. So when did everybody make up the lost year? Apparently this bizarre epidemic also affected their older brother, Steven. He was in ninth grade in SVT (3 grades ahead of the twins) and a freshman in college in SVH (2 grades ahead of the twins). Francine! Since SVH was published years before SVT, would it have been that hard to make the twins eleven in sixth grade and put Steven in eighth grade? I wondered about all of this for years growing up. No wonder I did so poorly in school - I had Sweet Valley on the brain 24/7!
Anonymous // March 3, 2008 at 7:27 pm
Kristin, I agree, I grew up in a pretty well-to-do family where I could have been given all those things, but the day I turned 16 my parents drove me all over to fill in applications for part-time jobs so I’d learn responsibility, something the SVH kids could’ve used. Why make Jessica get a job just because she routinely spent hundreds of dollars on your emergency credit card? But, it is SV, where at least one thing is consistent - the bad parenting!
Magpie // March 3, 2008 at 8:10 pm
Magenta Galaxy, I’d totally forgotten that Lila and Bruce fly to campus sometimes! Haha, that really makes zero sense.
And perfectsize12, that inconsistency about the ages is really annoying. I swear sometimes kids at SVH change grades, too- in one book, a character will be a sophomore, the next a junior. Also, Bruce was supposed to be a senior in the SVH series, yet he is always in classes with the juniors. I know that’s possible for some classes, but as often as this? That’s a bit weird.
kate // March 3, 2008 at 8:25 pm
The main reason I read this blog is because you review most of the books I haven’t read (saving me time and aggravation) and when you do read a book I get a pleasant blast from the past. Therefore I can’t remember any of the inconsistencies everyone is talking about.
That said it drove me CRAZY that if you weren’t perfect all your problems could be solved in one book. “Problems” being poor/fat/ugly and not anything too serious. Of course, there was sometimes a follow up book where the issue would rear its ugly head, but then be solved by the end of the book again.
sigh…this is why after SVH I went right to mysteries. Kinsey Milhone would whupped those twins butts.
megan // March 3, 2008 at 9:21 pm
at least they were not always 13 and in the 8th grade for their whole LIVES. Or, 11 and and in the 6th grade.
Not naming any NAMES….
Stacey // March 3, 2008 at 10:20 pm
I’m still really mad that in Senior Year Todd played football, not basketball and then he was a big basketball scholarship winner in SVU.
So stupid, I wanna smack someone upside the head.
I will tell you what I think was one of the weirdest consistansies in the series. In the last few Unicorn Club books, the girls are in 7th grade, Rachel Grant becomes a member…I am thinking she’s in the last four books. And then in Goodbye Middle School in SVT it goes from 6th grade to them having just completed 7th grade and Rachel Grant in there. I thought for sure they would mess that one up.
tygre // March 3, 2008 at 10:30 pm
“Really? I remember #64, the Ghost of Tricia, but when was the other?”
Spring Break, the super edition that takes place in Fraaaaaance. The hostess’s daughter (who goes to SV when the twins come to France) stays with the Wakefields.
katie // March 3, 2008 at 10:55 pm
Is it fucked up that the only 2 Sweet Valley books that I can actully remeber are the ones where the twins got their periods and the one where Regina overdoses? I think I chose those two strictly on their WOW factors for me at the time.
Ariel // March 3, 2008 at 11:21 pm
“Bill Chase’s synopsis says he tragically lost his girlfriend in a car accident that he was driving and that he never got over her (and Elizabeth reminds him of said dead girlfriend and he has a huge crush on her) and that this happened two years ago. This would mean this happened when Bill was 14 years old - are 14 year olds in the US allowed to drive at that age??”
He wasn’t driving. The reason he blamed himself was that he’d picked an argument with Julianne at a party and she left with someone else, and that person crashed the car. That said, they did seem pretty intense for 14.
Colleen // March 3, 2008 at 11:39 pm
there’s another Sweet Valley Twins book where they mention periods! In the one where the guy who works at Casey’s is framed for holding up the drugstore, Elizabeth The Spy. Jessica and Elizabeth were in line to buy pads! Jessica was all self-conscious that someone would see her. I remember reading that and it occurring to me for the first time that it was weird that in 8th grade none of the BSC got their period, if the twins were in 6th grade and they did.
Eli // March 3, 2008 at 11:57 pm
How about that TWO people could get completely wasted off a partial flask of grain alcohol? Even if you are a perfect size six. Of course that isn’t consistent with a previous book…just inconsistent with reality.
ihatewheat // March 4, 2008 at 12:56 am
Jessica pretends to have her period so she can hang out with a girl gang? Oh man, you HAVE to be making that up. It’s just too good.
Anonymous // March 4, 2008 at 1:20 am
Magpie - Jade Wu changed grades too, she was a sophomore when the twins were Juniors, then in SVHSY she was a senior with the twins. Not to mention her character change from meek, ballerina, traditional daughter of very traditional, married parents to slut-tacular daughter of divorced parents, and her mom worked in a bar.
katie // March 4, 2008 at 1:21 am
Colleen, I remember that one too!! See, it just takes a little memory jogging.
I remember in Stacey’s Emergency, she blames that she is not feeling well in puberty. That is as far as I remember them going.
I have a question; I remember in the Twins books, they referred to the twin’s blond hair and blue/green eyes. What size were they back then though?? I do not remember them mentioning it.
LucyHoneychurch // March 4, 2008 at 1:35 am
ihatewheat — but remember, the Jessica-pretends-to-get-her-period story is just a blatant rip-off of “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret.” Minus the giant sanitary-napkin belts and weirdo things like that.
Off-topic, but my mother was reminiscing the other day about the time I read AYTG?IMM and I had to ask her about the whole belt thing because I was freaking SCARED.
kate // March 4, 2008 at 5:20 am
Lucy,
I did the same thing. i freaked out that I had to do something complicated with a belt (I couldn’t even make paper book covers), and my mom had to calm me down too.
That said, Margaret did inspire me to do a dry run with a sanitary napkin just to see what it was like.
Donna // March 4, 2008 at 8:40 am
I stopped reading SVH after about book # 90 or so and SVU after book #6 - I had absolutely no idea I missed all of this good stuff - it’s pure gold! I’m going to scour ebay for copies and catch up.
I forgot to mention - In first chapter of each book when Francine gushes about how beautiful the twins are they are sometimes described as being so identicial that even their friends and family had trouble telling them apart and and other books say that even though they are identical their friends and family knew in an instant who was who - what the??
Why are Elizabeth and Enid invited to Lila’s parties when they clearly dislike each other?
Was teenage pregnancy ever an issue in SVH?
Why are other girls who play the field have ‘bad reputations’ yet Jessica is described as being a ’social butterfly?”
Kellie // March 4, 2008 at 8:59 am
In #10 Wrong Kind of Girl it was revealed that Annie Whitman’s mother had Annie at 16. But in #93 Stepsisters, Annie reflects on the magazine cover her mother’s picture was on “eighteen years ago” when her mother was in her early 20s. Shouldn’t Mona Whitman be only 31?
Magpie // March 4, 2008 at 11:57 am
Anonymous- thanks for confirming that about Jade Wu’s age
I was pretty sure she was one of the victims of this bizarre Sweet Valley Time Warp, but I couldn’t remember exactly. Her personality change in Senior Year has always really bugged me!
And Kellie- also, wasn’t Mona Whitman supposed to be some kind of alcoholic/down-and-out mother in Wrong Kind of Girl? She recovered from that pretty quickly!
Janelle // March 4, 2008 at 3:32 pm
Another time that periods are mentioned is in one of the early SVT books when the tomboy “Billie” Layton gets hers before everyone else, towards the end of the book she decides to start being called “Belinda” and acting more like a girl!
I guess the endless years in one grade didn’t really bother me that much, just because I don’t think that Sweet Valley was ever meant to be a serial series, if that makes sense. Kind of like the early episodes of Saved by the Bell and Beverly Hills, 90210- each book features the same characters, but one story is pretty independent of the others. I think this changed once the Senior Year books started and they tried to have a more consistent time-frame.
So although all the multiple Christmases and stuff never really bothered me, the age thing did! I always noticed that Steven wasn’t in the right grade consistently and it bugged me!
One more thing- the inconsistencies concerning the Wakefield’s family. There are several things that are mentioned within different books that don’t add up to the Sagas about the family.
aaaames // March 4, 2008 at 5:33 pm
Janelle, I was trying to think of that SVT book the other day! At the time I thought it was made of awesome, but now I am appalled at myself for LIKING IT. I clearly remember a friend and I discussing that book and thinking it was Very Important. I really hope I didn’t internalize that lesson that once you were a proper lady you couldn’t have a cute androgynous nickname or casual clothes.
Jade Wu's Toe Shoe // March 4, 2008 at 6:15 pm
Heeee! Love this thread.
I, too, always got worked up about the glaringly obvious inconsistencies with secondary characters’ personalities/lives . . . and wondered why the ghostwriters couldn’t just create entirely different characters who would never be seen or heard from again (since that was done often anyhow.)
One that stands out in my memory (from the Twins series) was how the mother of Sophia Rizzo (is that her name?) went from being this poverty-stricken, disabled woman to an attractive, stylish and completely mobile gal who started dating Sarah Thomas’s dad. Hello! And the most bizarre thing about it was that the kept ONE thing consistent - that she had a heavy Italian accent.
Remembering details like this is such a dreadful use for my brain cells . . .
Anonymous // March 4, 2008 at 6:20 pm
Does anyone else think it’s weird that they never had a baseball team? I mean, soccer, football, and basketball were all represented. It would have been a whole other season to stretch on indefinitely!
Nathalie // March 4, 2008 at 7:24 pm
I was more into the SVT than SVH, but of the approx. 7 SHV books I read I do remember thinking it was weird that there was no baseball.
Also, I thought it was weird that I don’t really remember any girls who were good at women’s sports. I remember that they all played a lot of tennis, and I knew there was one where a girl played on the football team. But were there every girls who were good at gymnastics, volleyball, swimming/diving, pretty much any sport?
Magpie // March 4, 2008 at 9:09 pm
Nathalie, I think that Robin Wilson was a champion diver at one point. And they got a female quarterback on the football team later on in the series, too! *shock horror*
Those are the only two sporty girls I can remember, besides the cheerleaders, of course!
Becca // March 4, 2008 at 9:34 pm
I never read many SVT books, but I remember reading that Jessica got glasses in one of them. She didn’t have them in SVH; did she have them besides that one book in SVT (I think it was called Jessica’s New Look or something)?
Magenta Galaxy // March 4, 2008 at 9:35 pm
Magpie/Nathalie, don’t forget Shelley Novak, the basketball player. She was like the female Todd, I think.
Magpie // March 4, 2008 at 9:56 pm
Magenta Galaxy, I’d forgotten about Shelley Novak!
She was such a boring secondary character, I’ve erased her from my memory.
Tiny Pants // March 4, 2008 at 10:38 pm
Shelly Novak for b-ball, and then there’s another one with a girl who’s like a semi-professional tennis player — Kristin Thompson, totally a one-book wonder for SVH. Both wind up you know, semi-giving up their dreams because sports pale in comparison to boyfriends.
Another thing to note — since unlike say Jade Wu or Patty Gilbert, Kristin and Shelly are white and thus apparently they don’t need to have Liz touching their shoulder/looking at them all condescending on the book covers the way Jade and Patty do.
It’s more of a CONSISTENCY than an inconsistency, but I can’t stand the often far-fetched lengths the GWs have to go to to get these completely random one-book characters into the Wakefields’ orbit. It always seems so forced!
Nathalie // March 5, 2008 at 3:24 am
Thanks guys. I stand corrected. I just remember being so obsessed with the idea of gymnastics and diving as a kid, it seems natural to me that these obsessions would have been more represented in Sweet Valley. Also ice skating.
Sophie // March 5, 2008 at 6:02 am
No one in Sweet Valley has special needs. Also, the twins are never bad at anything. All of a sudden they are star ballerinas or gymnasts or whatever. Plus, they’re brilliant.
I hate them so hard.
diana // March 5, 2008 at 6:13 am
“d.
Also, the biggest inconsistency of the entire series: in SVH #1, we are led to believe that Todd is fairly new in town, and certainly that he doesn’t know Liz very well. I guess he got temporary amnesia, because I seem to remember him being friends with her at age 7 in the SVK series, and DATING her in SVT!”
oh god, this drives me CRAZY. although didn’t the SVH series come first? not that it makes it any better. it’s like, they’ve all known bruce and todd and ken forever and suddenly in high school are falling all over these guys that we’re supposed to believe they don’t know that well and never hung out with before.
Stacey // March 5, 2008 at 11:33 am
They explained the thing about Jessica getting glasses. They said it was only needed for a short term thing to help her eyestrain or something. She had them for a few books and then at the beginning of another book it said something about her being so happy to not have them anymore.
Janelle // March 5, 2008 at 3:30 pm
Going along with the idea that the twins are good at everything, one thing that always bugged me was their singing abilities. In one book it would say that they were horrible singers and then in another they were fabulous!
Anonymous // March 5, 2008 at 4:22 pm
There was maybe a kind of mini-series within the SVT where they did sports. They went to the “California Games” supposedly this huge middle school competition for all California schools but I can’t remember if the series had that title too. In the gymnastics one, Jessica is the star of the gymnastics team (of course) and I actually remember the description of the gymnastics as being decently realistic, although Jessica suddenly being able to do these moves after not hearing about her training gym 30 hrs a week during the series of course was not. Lila and Amy were on the team. And a boy was trying to be on the girls team and he was a manager. much like Winston in that cheerleader one. It was mentioned that Elizabeth was on the volleyball team possibly? they had to qualify for the games too. maybe that was the subject of a different one, I think there were 4 or so. They were smaller in physical size but more substantial, like smaller print, more of a YA book. The gym one was the only one I read.
Anonymous // March 5, 2008 at 4:24 pm
okay the series is called “Team Sweet Valley” and there is a volleyball one (#2) called “win for Sandra” or something. The gym one is “Jessica goes for the gold.” Here is the amazon description.
http://www.amazon.com/Jessica-Goes-Sweet-Valley-Twins/dp/0553570250
snappleaddict // March 5, 2008 at 5:44 pm
Someone pointed out in the comments on my blog that in SVH #4 Power Play when Liz goes to the hearing with Lila she drives the Fiat over to Lila’s, and Lila’s dad takes them to the hearing, then to dinner, and then drops Liz off at the Wakefield’s…even though she drove to Fowler Crest and the Fiat would still be there.
Janelle // March 5, 2008 at 8:57 pm
I thought of another one! I don’t know if anyone was as obsessive as me to notice, but the time of day that the twins had certain classes and who was in each class changes from book to book- at one point I think I even tried to make out a schedule for each of them, but it was impossible!
Stacey // March 5, 2008 at 9:47 pm
My step daughter is in 6th grade and her schedule changes every six weeks!!! So if we pretend really hard, maybe we can imagine thats what was going on!
Stacey // March 5, 2008 at 9:52 pm
Hey, I have both Team Sweet Valley books; they are so… odd!!!
All of a sudden Jessica’s this freaky good gymnast and Elizabeth is a pro-level Volleyball player! Then they never play either sport again… (except beach volleyball in high school of course!) : )
Also something sport related that bugs the bejeebus out of me…. in one SVT book Jessica is on the girls basketball team and she is really good and she is thinking about how much she loves it…never again is it mentioned. Then in one of the later SVT books, the girls decide to form their own girls basketball team because the middle school doesn’t have one (WTF??) and they recruit Steven to coach them. Its the one where the Boosters quit cheering for the boy’s teams because they don’t appreciate them and they don’t show up to cheer at the girl’s games. Of course they form the girls team just in time to go to the playoffs and finish the season. That team is never heard of again.
Funny thing is I can really see Jessica as a girl’s basketball player, at least at middle school level. I think that should have been an on-going story line.
London // March 5, 2008 at 11:39 pm
Here’s something that is less of an inconsistency and more of a peeve of mine: Whenever someone is someone else’s “slave”, that person is forced to pick up the other person’s dry cleaning. This happens a lot in the early books. How much freaking dry cleaning does a teenager really have? I’m 24, and even my business cas barely requires anything more than a washing machine.
crystal // March 6, 2008 at 7:49 am
hey, this isn’t really an inconsistency, just a question.
i live in australia and i used to read the sweet valley high and university books, as well as sweet valley junior high. did you guys have that in america, or is SVT (i assume this means sweet valley teens) the equivalent of sweet valley junior high?
they released junior high after they stopped writing all the other series, and they had nice new covers with actual photos of the characters on the fronts. i think they ended up being my favourites because they were just a bit more risque and realistic than all of the other books!
if you were confused by the age and grade inconsistencies, imagine how i felt. i had no concept of middle school, junior high, sophomore year, and so on. I WASTED SO MANY HOURS OF MY YOUTH TRYING TO UNDERSTAND YOUR SCHOOLING SYSTEM!!
Janelle // March 6, 2008 at 3:59 pm
Crystal, SVT stands for Sweet Valley Twins- this series came before the Jr. High ones and the twins are in 6th grade. Then there was a shorter series called The Unicorn Club which had about 20 books, when they were in 7th grade. Then in the Jr. High books they’re in 8th grade (and at a completely different school!).
I was younger when I started reading Sweet Valley and I think that the Twins books were my favorite. I do have ALL of the books thought (except all the kids ones) and I’ve been reading through the SVH ones which is pretty entertaining!
Anya // March 6, 2008 at 6:07 pm
This is really nitpicky but I thought it was really strange. In one of the earlier SVU books Jessica has Liz and Tom Watts over for dinner so that they can meet her husband Mike McCallery. They make a huge deal about how well Tom and Mike got along and then in the 8th book, Home For Christmas, when Mike shows up at the Wakefields he describes the scene as knowing everyone there except for the guy that Liz is with, who apparantly he liked so much a couple of books ago.
jms // March 6, 2008 at 9:07 pm
London, the dry cleaning bit is so true! In high school, I wore sweaters that needed dry cleaning, but I don’t live in southern California–where real teenagers likely wear lightweight summer clothes most of the year. I guess jumpsuits, Lisette’s sweater outfits, and suede skirts DO need to be dry cleaned…
Kellie // March 6, 2008 at 9:21 pm
Oh I thought of another one! In the Sweet Valley Terror miniseries (you know, with Margo, magical vodka etc) in one book, Jessica is driving the easily-repaired Jeep but in the next book, she’s driving Mrs Wakefield’s station wagon because the Jeep is still being repaired.
Oh and in The Morning After, the accident took place three weeks ago. But in The Arrest, it took place “about a week ago” - why can’t they get it straight from one book to the next?! And I’m reading Beware the Babysitter at the moment and I’m confused about how Josh knew Margo’s name was Margo, after she called herself Michelle to his family.
Magenta Galaxy // March 6, 2008 at 10:15 pm
Doesn’t the last name of Josh’s family change from Rossi to Smith from the Morning After to the rest of those books?
Stasia // March 7, 2008 at 4:30 am
I haven’t read any of the Jr. High books (not yet, anyway), but I’m glad to hear it’s a totally different school. When I first found out about this new series, it bugged me that if in SVT they’re clearly in Middle School (6th-8th), then why would there be a Jr. High (7th-9th)? Does this series (esp. the first book) give any background, pre-8th grade?
crystal // March 7, 2008 at 10:05 am
thanks, janelle! now that you say it, i did definitely read the sweet valley twins books, we have those too.
my friends laughed at me last year when i took some sweet valley high books away on holiday with me for some light reading. i don’t want to be ashamed! i’m 19! maybe i’m still kind of the target audience??
Stacey // March 7, 2008 at 12:34 pm
Stasia, there is plenty of background in the first book of the SVJH series. The last book of the Twins series “Goodbye Middle School” discusses the changed too, as well as two in-between books, Elizabeth: Next Stop Junior High, and Jessica:Next Stop Junior High. (all are worth the reads).
I am 11 books into the SVJH series now and I really am enjoying it. It is different, but very good.
Magpie // March 7, 2008 at 3:38 pm
Diana, yes, the SVH series did come before the others
But what puzzles me is, why didn’t the writers of SVT and SVK make their books consistent with what had happened in SVH? It’s not like we the readers care whether 6th grade Liz is dating Todd or some other random guy who happens to be at her school. It feels so contrived. I guess they were trying to be consistent, but it just made the whole thing radically INconsistent!
J // March 8, 2008 at 7:22 am
I obsessively read SVT, then SVH and finally SVU starting around age 6-7 (I was a precocious reader!)
The only thing I remember wondering about is how the sagas about the two sides of the twins’ family are both called “the wakefield something.” Alice’s family was NOT WAKEFIELDS!
As a side note, I also totally thought high school would be like SVH and was kinda pissed that it wasn’t. Also, the ghostwriters won at least one soul: I never tried cocaine in college because of Regina Morrow - I was convinced I’d have a heart attack!
lalala // March 8, 2008 at 5:00 pm
lmfao!
after reading all these comments it makes me realize how completely fake the world of sweet valley is… oh well i still love it… the only thing that really ever bugged me about the series is that when either of the twins loses one guy.. theres always another five waiting to go out with them… also why did so many of jessica’s boyfriends have to do die in svh? i can think of atleast two or three… oh & she dates a vampire……………
Sarah C. // March 8, 2008 at 9:06 pm
In #96 The Arrest, there’s a Maria “Santini” who is mentioned leaving the cafeteria with Bill Chase.
Santini/Santelli, who cares? All those eye-talian names sound the same.
I also love that the Wakefields have a golden retriever–even the dog is blonde!
Kellie // March 8, 2008 at 10:30 pm
***Magenta Galaxy, I’d totally forgotten that Lila and Bruce fly to campus sometimes! Haha, that really makes zero sense.***
I’m currently reading the Sweet Valley Terror miniseries and Steven drives back from campus like, every night, because it’s only an hour away (which ended up being two hours by the time the twins went to college) … now, maybe this is a cultural difference, but where I live (Australia) it wouldn’t be that out of the ordinary to commute 1 hour to university. Why did Steven have to live on campus? Since he spent so much time at home anyway, what was the point?!
Cheryl Slade // March 9, 2008 at 4:57 am
Maybe I’m misunderstanding the meaning of the word ’statuesque’, but doesn’t it usually signify a normal, non-anorexic build? If so, then Regina’s description in the first couple of books means that she’s the only beauty queen in Sweet Valley who’s not a toothpick. Given Francine’s well documented hatred for anyone regular-sized, how did Regina end up on the cover of a fashion magazine?
Galleta // March 9, 2008 at 7:36 am
http://www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=statuesque
i.e. having a tall and shapely form.
Kellie // March 9, 2008 at 10:34 am
To be fair, though, would size 6 really only fit anorexics? I’m in Australia and thought a US 6 was the equivalent of about an Australian size 10, which is definitely considered slim (it’s usually the size presented as the “ideal”), but there are two smaller sizes.
That said, my issue with Francine’s attitude toward food bugged me - it was okay for perfect-size-six girls with naturally fast metabolisms to constantly stuff their faces with Dairi Burger crap, hot fudge sundaes from Casey’s and massive pancake breakfasts practically every other day… but when Robin Wilson (in her fat days) shows signs of a less than perfect diet, it’s one big “tsk tsk” from Elizabeth.
Also, how did Elizabeth gain all that weight at the beginning of SVU? It was hardly like she’d ever had to keep a close eye on her figure in the past.
Donna // March 9, 2008 at 10:48 am
Hi Kellie,
I’m also from Oz (Melbourne) and I always thought American size 6 was the equivalent of our size 8.
And re the college commute, I commuted an hour and a half on public transport when I was at university so I never figured out the whole SV live on campus thing either.
I would LOVE for a ghostwriter, or better yet, Francine herself, to join in this blog and us straight once and for all with all of these inconsistencies!!
Abby // March 9, 2008 at 1:29 pm
No, an American size six is definitely not a size where you would assume someone is anorexic. However, it’s important to note that size 6 now, and size six in the early 80s are pretty different…due to style and cut differences someone who wore a size 6 today would probably not fit into a pair of size 6 pants from 1982. I would imagine someone who wore size 6 in the 80s would probably be a 4 today, maybe even a 2.
That being said, I never got the impression the Wakefields were skinny. In fact, I think “shapely” is used most often. Don’t get me wrong, they never had saddlebags or stomach paunches, but they had a body type like Cindy Crawford, circa 1990. Mischa Bartons these girls were not.
One thing kind of funny though– I always got the impression the Wakefields, even with their shapely legs and flat stomachs and glorious blond hair, and eyes the color of the pacific ocean, were kind of flat chested. No wonder no guy besides Bruce ever bothered to try to get to second base with them.
Janelle // March 9, 2008 at 3:13 pm
I don’t know about the flat chested thing, it is pointed out several times that they have “perfectly proportioned figures” which I took to mean that they did have boobs!
Here’s my evidence that these books have had a profound impact on the way I see things- my entire life I’ve always wanted to have that “perfect size six figure” and, at 23, I’m actually close to having it and I’m totally excited about it!
Also important to keep in mind is that the stick-thin figures that are so popular now weren’t in the 80’s and a size 6 would have been considered thin and beautiful, even though now it’s more “normal” It reminds me of the original opening sequence to Beverly Hills, 90210 which shows a woman in a a bikini laying on a float and she actually has hips! That image is definitely not was is considered the ideal now.
Abby // March 9, 2008 at 3:59 pm
Perhaps flat chested is a little harsh, but I’m thinking they were B cups at the most, maybe even As. The cover artist always drew them as having no boobs, and Elizabeth makes a couple references to having a less than abundant chest in SVU.
BadKat // March 9, 2008 at 5:09 pm
If the twins were a size 6, I can’t imagine that their boobs were that big…Naturally…Most (but not all) women have boobs proportionate to their body size and type, and I am sure that the Wakefield two are no exceptions.
I never liked how they pushed the “whiteness” of the Wakefield family. Did they ever even get a nice tan?
If Australian sizes are similar to UK sizes, a 6 US would be a size 8 UK.
I remember that chick at the start of the 90210 intro! Her swimsuit was awful! Ugh, early 90s fashion :(-
Magpie // March 9, 2008 at 6:03 pm
BadKat, Francine made much of the Wakefields having a perfect golden tan. I seem to remember, in fact, that when they came to London for that crazy werewolf mini-series, Jessica is disproportionately upset about the fact that her tan is fading. ‘Cause, you know, the sun never shines through the mist over here.
Also, a US size 6 is a UK size 10. So, given their 5′6″ height, a pretty healthy size to be.
Magenta Galaxy // March 9, 2008 at 8:42 pm
In answer to the questions about living at a school that’s only an hour away…it’s not uncommon in the US to do that. Part of the “college experience,” so to speak, to live away from home. My fiance’s family only lived about a half hour from our college, and he lived on campus, as did tons of others that had close-by families. I think it also somewhat has to do with the fact that most non-private universities charge less for students that have their family residence in the state of the school, so it’s not unreasonably expensive to live at the school if it’s in your home state.
Anya // March 9, 2008 at 8:57 pm
This isn’t really an inconsistency, just an annoying thing. The twins have been in love like a million times and they are only 16. That is the most unrealistic thing ever.
Amber Tan // March 10, 2008 at 7:14 pm
“due to style and cut differences someone who wore a size 6 today would probably not fit into a pair of size 6 pants from 1982. I would imagine someone who wore size 6 in the 80s would probably be a 4 today, maybe even a 2.”
Good point, Abby, not to mention an excellent reason to rip all the labels out of my clothes and replace them with labels with smaller sizes. Hey, if designers are gonna keep moving the goal posts re: size spec, then all bets are off.
FTR, I wore a size 2 in 1982 and ‘plumped up’ to a size 4 by the end of high school.
Amber Tan // March 10, 2008 at 8:03 pm
” The twins have been in love like a million times and they are only 16. That is the most unrealistic thing ever.”
Except for the fact that they’re both still virgins…
Kelly // March 10, 2008 at 9:47 pm
is there any way we could go through and count how many christmases, birthdays, etc they went through in high school? Now, I’m thinking this might be a project for me…
Janelle // March 10, 2008 at 11:39 pm
Kelly, that one would be fun! It would also be hard because, as I’ve recently come to realize, not all of the Christmas, etc., stories are presented as such. I just read Enid’s Story from the Super Stars series and it’s about Christmas! Of course, Christmas is not mentioned at all on the back of the book!
Jade Wu's Toe Shoe // March 11, 2008 at 3:32 pm
Amber Tan, that was the ONE thing I was always happy about. Good thing I never read the SVU series.
On that note, I really cannot understand why I kept reading SVH if - even as a ten year-old - I disapproved of the characters’ actions so frequently. Bwahaha.
Oh, and I couldn’t agree more with Kellie’s comment about the bad eating habits in Sweet Valley (rivaled only by the Sleepover Friends.) Although I always did wonder what “Million Dollar Mocha” tasted like.
Amber Tan // March 11, 2008 at 5:13 pm
” I really cannot understand why I kept reading SVH if - even as a ten year-old - I disapproved of the characters’ actions so frequently. Bwahaha. ”
Now there’s nothing wrong with indulging in a little schadenfreuden, Jade Wu’s Toe Shoe.
But you’re right — from whence stemmed the urge to not just read this cr@p but comuplsively read them over and over again? I used to get thoroughly disgusted with the sheer inanity, poor writing, and thin plot lines and I’d swear to never read another SV book EVER.
Then somehow I’d cave and go sneak a couple more off the library shelves. It was like a compulsive eating disorder but with bad YA fiction instead. I literally couldn’t stop myself.
Maybe the ghost writers implanted subliminal messages in the texts, rendering us utterly powerless before the charms of SV.
Amber Tan // March 11, 2008 at 5:14 pm
“comuplsively”
Er, that’s “compulsively”…
Kellie // March 13, 2008 at 9:05 pm
Oh! One inconsistency that I think has been debated ad nauseum is the loss of Jessica’s virginity. The official answer is SVU #2 but IMO, SVH #3 there’s some pretty suggestive stuff in there (Like Todd saying he heard that “Jessica’s getting quite a reputation around here, Bruce is getting whatever he wants from her, whenever he wants it too” … what could that be in reference to, if not sex?)
aaaames // March 14, 2008 at 3:09 am
Uhhh, sexual harrassment? But I know! I always assumed Jessica had already done it when I started the series, based on characterizations like that! And as a kid I NEEDED TO KNOW.
Emily // March 14, 2008 at 4:10 am
Words cannot express how much fun I have had reading these comments. Ladies, I love you all, each and every one.
(I have a beach vacation coming up and I am suddenly struck at the thought of heading to Goodwill or possibly Half Price Books or something to get some SVH books. INSPIRATION!)
Kell(y) // March 14, 2008 at 1:59 pm
I think they’ve been sixteen for 25 years now - the first book came out 1983ish.
Tricia Martin’s eyes changed color at some point, from blue to brown. I remember being OUTRAGED when I read that!
I was also annoyed by the fact that Sweet Valley was described as having “rolling green hills”. OK, first of all, Southern California is mostly pretty flat. And secondly, it is not possible for it to be simultaneously sunny all the time and green! It’s gotta rain at some point!
I heard that they went back and freshened up the series some to update it. I need to pick one up to see the changes, but right off the top of my head, I imagine that:
-Jessica and Liz will wear a size two.
-The Fiat and Triumph will mutate into a…I don’t know, something sporty (I dunno cars). The Porsche will stay the same, I bet.
-Dana will be fronting an emo band called Tears of an Android.
-Regina will die from meth.
-All mentions of madras will be vanquished.
Kellie // March 14, 2008 at 9:24 pm
Oh! I thought of something else. In SVH #11, when Elizabeth is contemplating the fact that Suzanne may have lied about Mr Collins, she compares her to Jessica and thinks that if what she suspected about Suzanne was true, it would make Jessica look like a goody-two-shoes.
BOOK #1, ANYONE?! Jessica did exactly the same thing to Todd Wilkins!!
Magpie // March 14, 2008 at 11:32 pm
Yep, Kellie, I completely agree! And it’s not exactly an inconsistency, but I can’t believe Jessica gets away with accusing Todd of sexual assault, even apart from the Suzanne issue. And then at the end of Double Love, when the truth is revealed, instead of being (rightly) furious with Jessica, Todd is all, “oh, haha, that’s just Jessica being irresponsible again!”. WTF?
Jo // March 14, 2008 at 11:38 pm
“Why does Steve live on campus when presumably college is in the same town?”
I lived in the dorms my freshman year at the University of Oregon, in a town where getting to any other place in town takes maybe 30 minutes in really bad traffic. There were at least three girls in my dorm whose parents lived in the same town. The dorm experience was a part of college life — and provided a chance to party/have sex/skip class without your parents knowing about it. Plus, some schools, although not mine, require freshmen to live in the dorms.
Kellie // March 15, 2008 at 4:28 am
Oh and another thing about the false-rape accusation in Double Love - why was Elizabeth so quick to believe Todd when he denied it? Come on, your twin sister has just accused a guy of trying to rape her and all that guy has to do is say “Liz, I barely touched Jessica!!” and you trust him 100%?
aaaames // March 15, 2008 at 5:51 am
Well, Jessica HAS been shown to be a big-ass liar, so….
Awol // March 16, 2008 at 3:12 am
I just stumbled across this site today for the first time, and I can already guess that I’ll be back from time to time (especially when I’m bored at work)… how can one fairly badly-written and trite YA series leave such a lasting impression on a bunch of 20-something ladies? SVH and SVT still enter my thoughts all too often even these days, and when I was first reading them (in the early 90s, at around age 10), I would devour each new book every month and then wait eagerly for weeks till the next one came out.
I came across this site while trying to find out if anyone on the net had scanned images of both the “Night to Remember” and “Wakefield saga (part 2)” covers–and thanks to you, I did find them at the linked ‘dreamhosters’ site. Thank you!
I was always really irked by the inconsistencies you’re all talking about (and, with my SV obsession, easily obsessed by those as well). I just wanted to add that I remember one other book that talks about periods– Sweet Valley Twins #25, “Standing out,” where tomboy and future Unicorn Billie Layton gets her period while at school or softball practice, something like that. For her, it’s a girly thing she can’t cope with (potentially a realistic plotline for readers for a change).
Anyone know what the scoop is on the alleged “Sweet Valley Confidential” adult series? Can you imagine??
Amy Slutton // March 17, 2008 at 7:52 pm
Kell(y): I could swear there is an early SVH where Liz is all pissed off because Jessica takes off with the car and she has to walk home in the rain.
Also in The Evil Twin (the first one I believe), I remember reading that it was really crappy weather on Christmas Eve. I think Margo was outside in the thunderstorm spying on them through the window. That stuck so clearly in my head because I absolutely despise it when it’s rainy around Christmas! And living here in Miami, it happens sometimes…
Amy Slutton // March 18, 2008 at 5:24 pm
Oh, I just remembered an inconsistency: I have seen it written in SVH numerous times that Jessica “rarely cries” so if she does then Elizabeth knows it’s serious. But, as anyone with half an eye can see, Jessica is in tears anytime anything doesn’t go her way.
BTW I was looking on ebay for some old magazine editions, and was surprised to discover that INGENUE actually is a real magazine from the past!
Kelly // March 18, 2008 at 7:28 pm
I HATED when Liz and Todd were breaking up (again) during the whole Deven situation (I think that was his name). They were talking about their history together, and Todd says something about their first kiss on the beach and having to carry Liz piggyback because she hurt her foot or something.
But everyone KNOWS that Liz and Todd kissed for the first time in sixth grade in the appropriately titled “Elizabeth’s First Kiss.”
Amy Slutton // March 18, 2008 at 8:11 pm
LOL, and in SVH world, their first kiss was when he saves Liz and Jessica from that wild Rick Andover
Katie // March 19, 2008 at 5:06 am
Lmao! This is the funniest stuff. I think I spent over an hour reading what all of you had to say!
I agree, the thing that pisses me off the most about the books is that theyre always sixteen and have summer, xmas, spring break a billion times!
Plus, this book has some serious brain-washing potential. I’m 18, and I started reading SVH a year ago, because I had read some SVT when I was a little younger… I got about 8o svh books from ebay. Anyways, I’m always questioning myself on crap based on sweet valley. for instance, “PFF, I can totally do that.. they did that on sweet valley!” “would it be so wrong to cheat on my boyfriend.. i mean elizabeth did it…” UGggh! stupid sweet valley. im totally addicted!
actually, i always thought the twins were fat. i mean theyre size 6.. im a size 1 and im 18? o_o but maybe because im shorter.. i guess it makes since for them to be a size 6! also, i always thought being 5′6 was freakishly tall, im sure its not, but in my high school everrryone is pretty short.. most girls are 5′0-5′4 o_o
xD
Katie // March 19, 2008 at 5:11 am
oh yea, one more thing. in some of my svh, there are TONNNSSS of typos. lk wtf, did anyone proofread this? does this occur in your books?
Stacey // March 19, 2008 at 11:42 am
Ok this bugs me…I just read SVSY #1 and Elizabeth goes to a party and she thinks ‘There are my friends”, Enid, Maria Slater, Aaron Dallas, Todd, oh yeah and Brooke Dennis”
WTH??? The last we heard of Brooke Dennis, she was in 6th grade! Am I wrong, was she ever mentioned as attending Sweet Valley High?
If I wanted to stretch really hard, I could assume she went to El Carro, and was sent to SVH for Senior Year with the other 500 kids sent there after the Earthquake.
They couldn’t say it was anyone of a zillion students mentioned in SVH could they?
marjieena // March 20, 2008 at 3:09 pm
i wasn’t that addicted to sv when i was a kid (i’m 17 right now) but i did read a couple of books from each of the sv series. but then i preferred stacy and friends, as well as the adventures of mary-kate and ashley….
anyway, yeah, i totally agree with the inconsistencies that you guys mentioned, esp. since i didn’t a lot of the books. growing up, i always dreamed that my high school years would be like the wakefield’s..but i got a serious reality check when it didn’t turn out that way (adding the fact that i lived in the philippines -no junior high, plus we wore uniforms!…now that i imagine it, i wonder how the girls would react if they suddenly had to wear uniforms to school, surely elizabeth would write a lengthy article for the school paper and jessica and her friends would stage a big protest)..
anyway, has anyone here read the new sv series, one that starred only elizabeth? it started with liz catching jessica kissing (or having sex?) with her(liz) latest boyfriend…and from that, i remember reading that liz moves to london and becomes a maid for a rich english family…
ok. so when i first saw a friend of mine had a book, i immediately borrowed it…especially since elizabeth was the twin i liked more..anyway, when she became a maid, i was very much shocked, considering that elizabeth was supposed to be very smart and that she actually had a college education..and for her to end up a maid! but then, she never really had a degree, because from what i remember, she immediately dropped out upon catching jessica and her boyfriend…woot, sv is definitely a strange series (btw, does anyone know what twins were taking up in the university? i’ve always wondered about that)
Amy Slutton // March 20, 2008 at 5:26 pm
I’m reading SVH #2 Secrets right now and I actually found an indirect mention to sex drive… it’s when they are discussing the affair rumored to be between Ms. Dalton and Ken Matthews, and Olivia says that women “reach their peak” in their 30’s. Then she goes on to say that men are “practically burned out by then.” LOL!
Magpie // March 21, 2008 at 3:35 pm
Stacey, I noticed that reference to Brooke Dennis in SVSY #1, too! I don’t think she is ever mentioned in SVH at all. I guess they were trying to be really clever in referencing the other series, but it just comes across as weird (especially if the reader’s never seen any SVT before).
Also, it really bugs me how Enid just disappears in SVSY and apparently turns goth, but then she is Liz’s best friend in the world again in SVU #1. With no mention of the fact that they haven’t even spoken to each other for almost an entire year.
Kell(y) // March 21, 2008 at 3:58 pm
“actually, i always thought the twins were fat. i mean theyre size 6.. ”
Just FYI: sizes have changed over the years, and a six today is larger than a six in the early 80s, when the books started coming out. Your “size one” is probably about a true six. That said, even with today’s crazy vanity sizing, a six is not fat by any stretch of the imagination. Someday you too will experience the delights of the aging metabolism and the pains of listening to carefree, fat-free teens talk about their weight.
…..
OK, I know sizes have changed over the years, and a six is larger than it used to be, but even today
Kell(y) // March 21, 2008 at 4:03 pm
Dang no-editing of comments. Dang it. That last sentence was unconnected to anything.
On-topic: My favorite book in the series was the one where the twins go to Kansas and the town they visit is in a time-warp of sorts: all the clothes are out of date, they don’t listen to cool music, and Jessica and Elizabeth are practically gods. I swallowed that hook, line, and sinker at the time (being from California myself, I was fairly sure that we were the best people on earth and that everyone wanted to be us) but in retrospect, how incredibly patronizing is that?
Maybe small-town America really was like that before the advent of the internet, but I doubt it.
aaaames // March 21, 2008 at 8:23 pm
Ha, I grew up in the midwest, and I’d say before the internet, in places, it really WAS sort of like that! We would have been totes bowled over by glam blonde twins from California!
Lois Waller // March 21, 2008 at 8:43 pm
actually, i always thought the twins were fat. i mean theyre size 6.. im a size 1 and im 18? o_o but maybe because im shorter.. i guess it makes since for them to be a size 6! also, i always thought being 5′6 was freakishly tall, im sure its not, but in my high school everrryone is pretty short.. most girls are 5′0-5′4 o_o
I seriously hope you’re joking, but since you’re probably not…UGH.
Andrea // March 22, 2008 at 3:15 am
I’m 15, and I’ve really only read about 15 of the 100 or so books that my family owns (they’re all SVH), but I must have started around 50 of them and gotten to the middle before peeking at the end to see if my prediction were correct (they always were,somehow!) and tossing the book.
Ah, what always had me wondering was when Elizabeth and Todd drove off to some secluded spot to gaze at the stars and be alone with each other and so on, but all they ended up doing (as far as we’re told, anyway) was “kissing and talking”.
Didn’t people have hormones in the 80s?
I delight in the descriptions of Jessica’s stylish outfits. I remember reading of one that was covered in rhinestones and sounded absolutely hideous from a book where they go to some little town and ride horses, and thinking “eeeew”. It’s possible that it was from the aforementioned volume where they go to Kansas.
Kell(y) // March 23, 2008 at 12:46 pm
It was! That was the rhinestone-studded jumpsuit that sounded sooo cool to me at the time.
Magpie // March 23, 2008 at 12:58 pm
“also, i always thought being 5′6 was freakishly tall”
FYI, the average height for a female of 16 in the US is about 5′5″. The twins are only just taller than average.
Kellie // March 24, 2008 at 1:36 am
Which seems about right to me - it was never emphasised that the twins were particularly tall. If anything, being tall was considered a negative in Sweet Valley - remember Lynne Henry (5′9) and Shelley Novak (6′
… their height was a constant source of angst.
For the record, if I hear anyone say they’re 5′6, my immediate thought is of the Wakefield twins!!
SVH loser // March 24, 2008 at 10:53 am
Oh my, does anyone else just want there to be a real Elizabeth Wakefield so you can punch her out? The most uppity, self-righteous, hypocritical pain in the arse in history. And yet I am 23 and still own every SVH and SVU book, the shame of it!
Magpie // March 24, 2008 at 11:05 am
Kellie, I remember being 5′6″ and thinking I was finally perfect twin height. Then I carried on growing to 5′9″ and became a freakish Lynne Henry
But yeah, I agree that it was never suggested the twins were meant to be tall. I read an SVU book recently (”Shipboard Wedding”, in case anyone wants to know) in which the ghostwriter kept going on about how tall Liz was, and it seemed really inconsistent.
Amy Slutton // March 24, 2008 at 4:09 pm
I’m reading All Night Long now. This is the one, in case anyone was wondering, where Todd mentions he has a sister.
LOL @ the rhinestone jumpsuit. She wears it with leather boots right? I remember drooling over that outfit too
Jennifer // March 24, 2008 at 10:21 pm
Magenta Galaxy:
I am re-reading the Sweet Valley Terror mini series ( yay for amazon! lol) right now and you are correct, all through The Morning After Josh’s family is referred to as the Rossi’s but in The Arrest and all the books after they are the Smith’s.
Synergy // March 26, 2008 at 10:35 am
Tiny pants said:
“Shelly Novak for b-ball, and then there’s another one with a girl who’s like a semi-professional tennis player — Kristin Thompson, totally a one-book wonder for SVH. Both wind up you know, semi-giving up their dreams because sports pale in comparison to boyfriends.”
And to continue the thread on girl athletes in SVH - remember the time Liz decided to learn surfing? I remember being so excited about the idea - and then wanting to kill her for throwing the competition! So that the guy who taught her would stop chasing her and chase some other girl instead! In the first place, why wish that kind of guy on one of your friends?
But anyway, I love this site and I still have fond memories of these books ;p The new covers make me cringe. Old 80s-90s covers all the way!
Amy Slutton // March 26, 2008 at 5:51 pm
Forgive me if someone has already said this but in retrospect I think the biggest contradiction is Liz. It is constantly shoved down our throats how she is the “good” honest dependable one, but reading the books now, she is far from. Especially when it comes to Jessica, Liz is totally willing to screw over her friends (asking Enid to hook up her cousin and Jessica, even after what Jessica did to her, in Dangerous Love) and give them dishonest advice (Robin in Power Play and other examples abound). And like it has been pointed out before, Liz was unfaithful to her boyfriends left and right.
Aseya // March 27, 2008 at 1:49 pm
I just found it hard to believe that nobody swore in Sweet valley, and aren’t all teenagers meant to be stroppy gits, it use to drive me insane when Liz was always so bloody perfect. It just made me want to punch her.
Also with Jessica spreading it around with every guy(give or take a couple) in Sweet valley, that Alice wouldn’t have put her on the pill or something.
Kell(y) // March 27, 2008 at 9:52 pm
Holy crap! Check this out: http://gawker.com/5004617/random-house-proudly-promoting-eating-disorders
Dang, I was right about them resizing the twins
Toys For Big Boys // March 27, 2008 at 11:39 pm
I loved the books as a child. My cousin had loads of them and I would spend my holiday reading them all!
The fact that the twins’ appearance was described at the start of every freaking book annoyed me. Total waste of paper and ink.
I’m seriously tempted to start reading them again…
Stacey // March 28, 2008 at 3:43 pm
I need Prince Albert help. Did he or did he not actually die in the Earthquake? I thought he lived through it and then he is MIA from Senior Year, but he reappears in SVU. (maybe he and Olivia are playing fetch in SV Field of As Need Demands somewhere)
Long live Prince Albert, the sanest Wakefield of them all.
P.lily // March 28, 2008 at 7:04 pm
OMG. I love this site. I stumbled across it after reading about Random House’s new “perfect size 4″ re-release of the SVH twins. This totally is a nostalgic trip… allow me to vent my random 2 cents:
- as an Asian girl devouring the SVH series, I always pondered the lack of diversity in good ol’ Sweet Valley. Other than the return of the token African American character Maria Slater - there wasn’t really much. The only Asian character I recall was Jade Wu - who was stereotypically depicted as suffering from “parental pressure to succeed.” But even if I fantasized about ever joining the SVH posse, I wouldn’t be able to get any guys since everyone there seems to be towering at 6 feet and higher.
- is it possible to have such a GORGEOUS family? The twins are younger clones of their mother Alice and Steven is a younger “dark handsome” lookalike of Ned. They always insert a paragraph pointing that out in every single book so that you never forget how remarkably good-looking their entire household is.
- I loved and hated the diary books. Loved it because it revealed how dark and bitchy Elizabeth really was (we knew it all along!). Hated it for its inconsistencies with the series. The diaries basically chronicle how the twins hooked up with each others’ boyfriends. Liz and Sam. Jess and Todd. Jess and Jeffrey. Liz and Ken. The only one that actually surfaced to the series was Liz and Ken (during the whole Pom Pom wars books). I HATED reading about Liz and Sam hooking up because Sam was actually one the characters I liked for Jessica… one of the guys that had the most personality out of all the twins’ boos.
- Don’t ask me why, but I’m extremely intrigued by Bruce Patman. He was one of the few characters that actually evolved and showed more depth as the series progressed. From the typical cocky good-looking idiot to the sensitive turmoiled guy. In “A Night to Remember” - he showed the most inner conflict, and I think, realistic humanity & introspectio