Before Josh Schwartz introduced us to The O.C. and the Upper East Side, before reality TV ushered us into Laguna Beach and the hills of L.A., even before Paris, Nicole and Lindsay inspired paparazzi madness and pre-teen idolatry — we had the Wakefield twins of Sweet Valley. What prepubescent girl of the ‘80s and ‘90s didn’t know Elizabeth and Jessica? We all collected, hoarded and exchanged the candy-colored books and became fixated on their adventures; we virtually absorbed every detail of their lives. We knew where they lived, who their friends were, where they hung out, who their respective boyfriends were. We followed them through second grade, sixth grade, junior year, even to their freshman year in college. We even read about their ancestry! We shared and indulged in their lives, page after page.
The amazing thing was that both blond, blue-eyed beauties were normal teenagers living their lives. They went to school, cheered for their football team, wrote for the paper, went on dates, had fights with each other, made mistakes, learned lessons. They didn’t have super powers, bottomless bank accounts, or celebrity status, but we still aspired to be them. We wanted Liz’s grades, moral fiber and steady relationship with Todd Wilkins. We wanted Jess’s confidence, utter coolness, and ability to get away with her crazy antics. Whether we admitted it or not, we saw a little of ourselves in both of them.
Eventually, we all grew up and Sweet Valley High books disappeared from the stores, but recently as I browsed through the Young Adult section in Powerbooks (yes, I do sometimes browse through that section), I saw the twins back on the shelves: younger, clad in bikinis, with wavier blonde hair. I grabbed the book and flipped it over.
“Welcome to Sweet Valley High — a world of good girls and bad girls, hot boys with fast cars, perfect tans and natural highlights... all under the Southern California sun.”
This didn’t sound like the Sweet Valley I knew, but I was definitely intrigued to see how they had revamped the series. I bought both books available — Double Love and Secrets — and I discovered that they had literally just updated the series and infused it with modern details. For example, the pages are sprinkled with brands like Louis Vuitton, Roberto Cavalli and Juicy Couture. The characters are the same, except they have camera phones, laptops and blogs. They watch modern shows like Heroes. The Oracle, the school paper Liz used to work on, is now a website. (It might be interesting to note that the twins are now size fours. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I remember them being size sixes. Hmmm.) Basically though, it’s still the same story and plotline as before.
I love that they didn’t try to sensationalize the series and turn the iconic twins into their modern literary counterparts Blair and Serena of Gossip Girl. But I wonder if the books will still pique the interest of today’s young girls. Admittedly, Elizabeth and Jessica are squeaky-clean characters (yes, even if Jess can be manipulative sometimes) who live in suburban California, and today’s tweens voraciously follow the glamorous lives of jet-setting socialites on TV. Will the name-dropping of familiar brands help translate the stories penned in the early ‘80s to today? I’m worried that the girls today will flip quickly through the pages and toss them aside once they don’t see anything extraordinarily “fabulous.” Perhaps they want to be swept into a world of exclusivity and luxury instead of reading about teenagers.
In a press release at www.sweetvalley.com, Beverly Horowitz, VP and publisher of Bantam Delacorte Dell Books for Young Readers, says: “Sweet Valley High novels deal with issues and situations familiar to young adults of all decades. A whole new generation of readers can see how the ‘good girl’ and the ‘bad girl’ make their choices. It’s a wonderful way to see how the other half think and feel! The twins have always represented the best and worst parts of kids finding their way in the world.” Looking back, the stories were always charged with emotion that I could relate to. It was helpful to see different perspectives on dealing with those emotions and situations. Aside from providing some exciting high school action and drama, the books always (directly or indirectly) instilled some pretty solid and good values in me.
I had missed Elizabeth and Jessica. Today’s generation is exposed to overly neurotic, drama-laden, scandal-hungry girls who they’re supposed to look up to. I missed Liz and Jess for the normalcy, simplicity and happiness of their teenage years. They were teenagers in those years, which is what some of our teen TV dramas forget to highlight. The best thing about being a teenager is being a teenager. I hope today’s girls still find room in their book shelves and hearts for the Wakefields.