They had wavy blonde hair, blue green eyes and sun-kissed smooth skin. They were 5’6″ tall and had trim bodies. They drove a Fiat in the earlier books, then a purple jeep in the later ones. One twin usually had her hair in a ponytail, the other would let her hair loose. One was active in her school paper, the other in her cheerleading squad. They were as different as night and day, but they shared a bond much stronger than any friendship. Well, at least that’s what I got from all the stories I read about them. They were the Wakefield Twins — Elizabeth and Jessica. And when I was younger, I wanted to be just like them.
I grew up reading a lot of “Sweet Valley” books. The first one I read was “Keeping Secrets” of the Sweet Valley Twins series. I was hooked. I was 12 years old when I first started reading the books, and it excited me that the twins were also 12-year-olds. I thought it was so cool! The world of Sweet Valley came to life, and I remember devouring every SV book I came across. Soon enough, I knew Elizabeth and Jessica as if they were my own sisters. I had a little crush on their older brother Steven. Their parents, Ned, a lawyer, and Alice, an interior decorator, seemed too good to be true. Add a Golden Retriever named Prince Albert to the mix and it was a picture-perfect family. I was so immersed in their world I would daydream about walking around their neighborhood with their friends (depends on which twin I’m with!).
In Sweet Valley Twins, there was also the clique called “The Unicorns.” Jessica was part of the group and I recall the story when she decided to start dressing differently from Elizabeth (goodbye identical outfits) and spend more time on cheerleading (making her twin explore writing for their sixth-grade paper — The Sixers). The clique was composed of the most popular girls in school like Janet Howell (also Lila’s cousin) and Ellen Riteman. They would wear one purple item everyday. I wanted to be part of the Unicorns!
In Sweet Valley High, the twins were 16-year-olds and were high school juniors. There were lots of boys in the picture! There was Winston Egbert (class clown), Ken Matthews (nice guy, football team captain, turned blind for awhile and then regained his vision), Bruce Patman (rich, handsome and arrogant), Nicholas Morrow (rich, handsome and nice), Jeffrey French (Elizabeth’s second boyfriend) and Todd Wilkins (Elizabeth’s true love).
When the “Sweet Valley Kids” series came out, I read that too! This series told the stories of seven-year-old Jessica and Elizabeth. So cute! And then “Sweet Valley University” came out — the twins in college. I read that too.
My friends and I would have talks revolving around the Sweet Valley characters. We wondered which twin we shared quirks with. Were we responsible like Elizabeth? Or wild and carefree like Jessica? Did we prefer writing articles over practicing cheerleading moves? Did we want a stable relationship or play the field?
I wanted to be like Elizabeth. She was calculating, serious, a writer for her school paper and dreamed of becoming a journalist. Her boyfriend for most of the series was Todd Wilkins, the captain of the basketball team. But I also wanted to be like Jessica. She was fashionable, fun, a cheerleader and dreamed of becoming famous. She dated a lot of guys, knew how to get her way and always had her twin rescue her from sticky situations.
They seemed to be living the ideal teen life. And I wanted to be just like them.
I stopped reading Sweet Valley books in my late teenage years. The stories were getting too contrived. They started putting Todd Wilkins in the Twins series, placing the twins in so many near-death experiences, writing too many spring break stories (which one’s the real one?), marrying off Lila and Bruce, the twins always solving crimes and mysteries… ENOUGH!!! I couldn’t take it anymore. Not that the earlier books were exactly food for the brain, but the stories were becoming more and more ridiculous.
There was also the issue of self-esteem in my teens. I felt terrible I would never be like them. For one, I’m not American! I would never have blonde hair and blue-green eyes. I had frizzy black hair and common brown eyes. I also would never be 5’6″ with a perfect size 6 figure. I never grew past 5 feet and my weight went up and down. I would never have the perfect athlete boyfriend. My eyeglasses and nerdy looks kept me from being noticeable to guys. The books played with my idea of “The Perfect Teenager.” The more I read, the more I loathed myself. And the more I loathed myself and my teenage social life (I was nerdy and not popular), the more I escaped into Sweet Valley. It was a vicious cycle.
It was difficult to let go of the notion that one had to be amazingly beautiful and outgoing to succeed in school and attract guys. That was something really evident in the Sweet Valley books. A makeover here would get you the guy of your dreams. Losing weight will make you Prom Queen. Eventually I pulled myself out of that teenage slump and built my self-confidence. The Sweet Valley books stayed put in my bookshelf as I explored reading other books and getting more involved with friends and school activities. I started appreciating my long black hair, seeing my eyes more as “chocolate brown” than “dirt brown,” seeing my body as naturally curvy than fat. I needed to reframe my concept of a good self-image. Admittedly, it took a long time before I started feeling good about myself.
My Sweet Valley books are at my parents’ home, stacked in one of their bookshelves. One time I took one and read it while I took a snack. It was fun reading through the old stories and sort of reminiscing. The text I once treated close to Bible truth was suddenly junkfood for the brain. I couldn’t believe how shallow some of the stories were. I couldn’t believe how they dealt with outcast stories by simply giving the outcast a makeover and ta-da! She’s no longer a social pariah. How misleading! I couldn’t believe how Todd and Elizabeth were just way too super tight. Aren’t they too young to have a serious relationship? Blah, blah, blah. I suppose that was the route the publishers wanted to take — portraying the lives of two ideal teenagers framed in a hazy dream sequence, cotton candyland manner. It worked for awhile anyway.
I wanted to be a Wakefield Twin. I wanted to be just like them. I wanted to go shopping at Lisette’s, hang out at Guido’s or the Dairy Burger. I wanted to date Jeffrey French or Nicholas Morrow, to paint as well as Olivia Davidson, to be in Mr. Collins’ English class. Sweet Valley was a rich playground for my imagination and a convenient way to escape the troubles of my ordinary teenage life. While I no longer desire to be a Wakefield Twin, I do wonder what would have become of them if they “lived” to this day. Would Elizabeth have taken that prestigious writing program in Switzerland instead of staying home in Sweet Valley? Would Jessica still have joined all those beauty pageants?
If you’re still reading this entry, I assume you were once immersed in the world of Sweet Valley, too. Well, nice to meet you, fellow Sweet Valley fan. Maybe you can tell me your experiences with the Twins. After all, just because I no longer want to be like them, it doesn’t mean I don’t want to reminisce. 😉
——-
More Sweet Valley information from Wikipedia and a humorous look at the Sweet Valley World at Dwanollah‘s (I loved this one!). See the different Sweet Valley covers here. That’s the same place where I got the book cover images in this entry.
Hi! I'm Toni Tiu,
and I've been blogging at
at Wifely Steps since 2003. This started as a blog to help newly weds adjust to married life. It has evolved into a home and parenting blog. I write about things close to my heart -- good eats, good reads, family, marriage, and the little things that make everyday happy.
pinayhekmi
August 25, 2006 at 1:57 am (18 years ago)OMG, OMG soooo many memories!!!! I was definitely a Sweet Valley fan. They even had a Sweet Valley TV series on television and the twins they picked were perfect. They way I envisioned that Jessica and Elizabeth would look like (played by Brittany and Cynthia Daniels). I outgrew them pretty quickly. I stopped reading after they went to HS. But when they were kids, I wanted to have the adventures they had. I always wanted to be Elizabeth, didn’t like Jessica at all. Now that I think about it, I don’t think I would let my lil girl read this series. Mainly because of all the stereotypes you mentioned. It’s definitely a throwback to what should be an extinct way of thinking.
The other series I loved loved loved was the Babysitter’s Club. Did you read that one too?
Via
August 25, 2006 at 8:07 am (18 years ago)ohmygod!!!! In which book were Bruce and Lila married?? (Hehehe! Parang kilala ko sila!)
missyosigirl
August 25, 2006 at 8:38 am (18 years ago)omigod i loved these series too hahahha :)) bruce and lila got married after they were stranded in an island ba yon, tapos they discovered they could get along tama ba?!?
tapos i remember there was this book when somebody died because of a drug overdose diba? because of bruce? omigod teenybopper memories flooding back hahahah :))
pau
August 25, 2006 at 9:54 am (18 years ago)hey there-
and i thought i was the greatest sweet valley fan! the last count, i had over a hundred books.
i read everything sweet valley, including the secret diaries- that’s where i got turned off. imagine todd wilkins and jessica wakefield secretly dating while todd was in vermont! and sam woodruff and elizabeth!
and winston egbert and jessica!
oh well. whenever i read SV, i feel like im in a different world…away from homeworks and cruel teachers.
the new series wherein the twins are in their senior year was okay, there were so many twists! jessica was no longer the popular cheerleader and elizabeth’s bestfriend is Maria, not Enid anymore.
have to stop now.
Toni
August 25, 2006 at 2:32 pm (18 years ago)Tin> I read The Babysitter’s Club too! I wanted to be like Dawn, the hippie one.
Via> Sweet Valley University! They end up crashing in an island (I don’t even remember why they were traveling together, with Bruce as the pilot), and realizing how they love each other despite their arrogant fronts. So ta-da, when they get back to SV, they get married.
YosiGirl> Regina Morrow. That was a friggin’ sad story. I had a crush on her older brother, Nicholas Morrow. He looked so cute kasi on the book cover eh. Hehehe.
pau> Don’t stop! Haha! It’s great to get to talk about these things with someone who was as obsessed with the SV world I as I was!!!
If I had my way, I would’ve wanted to date Jeffrey French or Nicholas Morrow. Maybe even AJ Morgan. I would’ve hung out at the Sweet Valley beach evvveryday. And then I’d just ride a bike home and then lounge by our pool some more. Parang everyone had a pool ‘no. And parang almost everyone was an only child. Todd, Lila, Enid, Amy… so one-dimensional but entertaining nevertheless.
karol
August 25, 2006 at 2:53 pm (18 years ago)haha! i loved sweet valley, too. but my first book was a sweet valley high and i read it while i was in grade 3 or 4 pa lang ata (my sister is 6 years older than i am, so she started with sweet valley high..and since i’m the youngest, i had hand-me-down books…i read what my siblings read..hehe). =D i’ve read almost all the books (up to the 100th plus issue, i think) plus the other series like, twins, kids, university…i think a senior high series also came out…i also read the sagas – the wakefield saga, the patman saga (alice used to be with bruece patman sr.), etc. there are also books like enid’s story, todd’s story, etc. hahaha! natuwa ako dito.
i also read sweet dreams? the most common theme of these books – popular guy, nerdy girl…etc. etc..did you read them too? =D
jey
August 25, 2006 at 3:31 pm (18 years ago)i love sweet valley series, from twins, high and university! sinubaybayan ko yan. hahaha! before, my mom would buy me one book everytime she goes to manila. i sold these books back in college so i can buy the university series. my roommate and i would even go to recto to buy 2nd hand sweet valley books. after reading them, we’d sell them back so we can buy another set. wow! this brings back memories…
jher
August 25, 2006 at 4:15 pm (18 years ago)hmmmm… i wonder why the boys are mysteriously absent from this comment thread? heheheheh
Kay
August 25, 2006 at 4:50 pm (18 years ago)If you’ve ever thought of selling your SV series, lemme know. I wanna complete mine and there are only a few lacking.
I love them! Still do. =p
rampantbicycle
August 25, 2006 at 9:33 pm (18 years ago)I wasn’t exactly a Sweet Valley fan…I was more into Nancy Drew :)…a lot of my friends really loved them, but I had the troubles you mentioned above with it impacting my self-esteem (never high to begin with) negatively. I was American, so I had that part down 😉 but I had boring brown hair and wasn’t gorgeously slim and pretty, and though I was brainy, I was as unpopular as they come. (Which is, sadly, the actual fate of brainy kids in most real life schools.) Those pretty blonde cheerleaders and the jocks that were their boyfriends were very cruel to me and other kids like me.
So I escaped into other books when I had the chance. Mystery books…fantasy books…anything that was as far away from real life at school as I could get!
But I remember those books well.
JMom
August 26, 2006 at 4:29 am (18 years ago)haha! I’m dating myself, but these are way after my time. I’m of the Judy Blume, Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys generation 😀
I know what you mean about the self esteem issues though. I’m glad to see that there is so much more variety for young teens now, and they are not always the pre-stepford wives type of books. I like some of the books my girls read. Sometimes I even get caught up with their books like the HP series just to name one. It seems my eldest is more fascinated with fantasy books than girly teen angsts ones. My second daughter is into those kind of books, but the ones I’ve seen her reading seems to be a bit more realistic than the fantasy that is in the Wakefield twins series and the like.
Tina
August 26, 2006 at 10:32 am (18 years ago)And this is the only time I can comment here! (I commented on the 20 questions first :D)
I LOVED Sweet Valley. I got introduced to Sweet Valley Kids when I was in Grade 3 and I loved them. My mom didn’t want me to read too much pocketbooks then because I might get distracted from school…so we had this agreement to buy a book a month. I always finish the book too fast though! Haha. I remember going to National Bookstore and seeing the rows and rows of Sweet Valley Kids books and never knowing what to buy first. Haha…and it was only P59.75 back then!
I wasn’t allowed to read SVT until I was around Grade 5 because my mom didn’t want me to read anything with love stories. I didn’t really mind that much because my friends were crazy about these books too so we’d just borrow books from one another. 😀 I loved SVT because their life seemed so interesting! Even if they had about 5 Christmas-es and 10 Halloweens (to make room for all the Chillers) and a lot of dances — and all throughout sixth grade! Haha. I also read The Unicorn Club and I loved how the club sort of turned better. I loved Mandy Miller and Lila Fowler in that series. It showed Lila’s softer side there.
I didn’t really read much of SVH because I didn’t know where to start reading that, so I just bought/borrowed random books from our school library. When SVJH came out, I totally gobbled it up! Jessica is not popular there anymore, while Elizabeth is sort of popular, and Jessica got one serious boyfriend while Elizabeth had about three guys in the entire series. Plus there were a lot more new characters (less of the normal SV gang), so it was interesting. I read some books in SVSY and it is a lot mature, plus there’s the Conner-Elizabeth thing that I absolutely loved. 😀
And I blabbed on about books again. Haha. I still have my Sweet Valley books here, and I read them from time to time when I don’t have anything else to read here at home. I never actually thought of myself similar to them or wished I could be like them (except maybe wishing I also have a twin sister) because I know it’s way too fictional to happen in real life. 😀 It’s always serves as a retreat for me from the real life. Oh yeah, and how could I forget! Elizabeth was my main inspiration in wanting to become a writer!
Haha, this comment is LOOOOONG. ^^; I still buy SV books from Booksale from time to time just because. 😀 I also used to read the Baby-sitters Club and I also like Dawn! 😀 In fact, I mostly buy Dawn books from the BSC. 😀
And now I shall stop. Hahahaha. =))
Tina
August 26, 2006 at 10:43 am (18 years ago)Boo. I think my comment just disappeared.
Or was it too long and it just classified as spam? Huhu anyway. :-s I will not type that looong comment anymore (because I blabbed on and on and on) and just say I also LOVE Sweet Valley books. I’m more of an SVT fan though. 😀 The book was highly unrealistic for something that’s written in the real life, but I like it because it’s a retreat from my own life. I never wanted to be like them, except maybe have a twin. Hahaha. But it was because of Elizabeth Wakefield that I wanted to be a writer. 
I still buy SV books at Booksale when I have the chance. Haha. And I also buy BSC books as well. Haha. It’s fun to retreat to those books once in a while after reading too many heavy novels. =))
Pat
August 28, 2006 at 3:41 pm (18 years ago)Hi! I stumbled upon your blog in one w@wie’s blog and I’ve been reading it since then. anyway, I couldn’t help but comment now on this entry. I loved reading SVH too, but I esp. liked the book that came out that chronicled the family history of the Wakefields and how the twins’ parents ended up together.
Silly as it seems now, I also wanted a bf like Nicholas Morrow. hahaha!
ana
August 31, 2006 at 11:38 am (18 years ago)me too, me too. i used to be a Sweet Valley girl- kiddies to college to beyond nga ba. pero you’re right, it got ridiculous na. oh memories…
trapp1
September 15, 2006 at 8:25 pm (18 years ago)Array
tNa_piE
October 12, 2006 at 4:38 am (18 years ago)I love Sweet Valley High too… I used to dream also that I also belong to their group & I also had these wonderful life like the wakefield sister’s. I am always day dreaming about them. If there is nothing to do around the house or while I am travelling on my to school, I am always thinking what will it be like to be one of them?!… But as I get older, that fantasy fades away… but I missed those kinds of memory of my teenage years… Life is less complicated. I still have my Sweet Valley books well-kept. I considered them as one of my treasures for my teenage years. We really need to get over it, but we should always think that without those fantasies, we will not realized how to live our lives into reality. By the way, is there anyone knows if there is a website where we could get the past copies of Sweet Dreams Pocketbooks?… I am still craving for the stories because of the wonderful plot & choice of characters. I know right now, most of the books are being transferred to pdf file. Is there anyway I could get a tip on where to get those? Thanks so much in advanced! I really like all the comments that you had about SV twins… hope you will also post some info about SWEET DREAMS & LOVE STORIES POCKETBOOKS… thanks!
SVHGurl
June 14, 2007 at 3:32 am (17 years ago)Ah, SVH. I’ve read ‘Kidnapped’, ‘Jessica Takes Manhattan’, ‘Billie’s Secret’, ‘The Return of William White, part II’, ‘Dear Sister’, ‘Winter Carnival’, ‘Wanted for Murder’, ‘A Stranger in the House’…it’s way too addicting! Shallow, corny, thin…but addicting! I hate the SVH S e n i o r y e a r series. Jessica is annoyingly amusing and Elizabeth is pathetic for bailing her precious sister out all the time. I absolutely hate SVH..so much, I love reading it!
rhia
August 16, 2007 at 8:08 pm (17 years ago)Hi!!! I’m an avid reader of sweet valley series. I first started to like reading & buying it when we had a project in english – a book report.Sweet valley “Claim to fame” was the first book that I bought in the series and which I based my project. And so as they say the list went on. I got addicted reading it.Grabe every time na magpunta ako ng bookstore bumibili ako at least 3-6 na sweet valley (59.75 pa nga ang price dati). Minsan dinadayo ko pa ang sm southmall sa las pinas kasi may goodwill bookstore dun at dun kasi ang pinakamalapit na mall sa amin,kasi wala pa non ang sm bacoor. Di ko man na-collect lahat sya pero marami-rami rin naman ang nasa collection ko, ang dami na nga ring hindi naibalik nung mga nanghiram sa akin eh…(paging hehe). Wow that was a decade ago, I stop buying & collecting kasi mahal na at faced-out na yata sya(wala na kasi akong makita sa national bookstore eh). Contented na lang ako kapag may mahihiraman sa mga katulad ko na kapwa nangolekta. Meron din akong sweet dreams,love stories, fear street, nancy drew,hardy boys,etc na pocketbooks. Ang sarap lang mag-reminisce kapag naaalala ang nakaraan noong mga araw na mahilig pa kong mangolekta. I’m a mother now of twins both boys, kapag may free time gusto ko pa ring magbasa ng sweet valley series. Kapag walang magawa binabasa ko na lang ulit yung mga pocketbooks na nasa collection ko. Baka gusto nyong magpahiram or mag-swap, just let me know P-L-E-A-S-E!!! Here’s where u can contact me I live at 75 JM Villanueva St. Poblacion 3B,Imus,Cavite & my landline# is (046)471-2287 & my cellphone# is 0918-4762935. Thank’s (“,)
Bec
November 1, 2007 at 10:33 am (16 years ago)Hey! I know this is late compared to when you first posted this, but great piece! I was obsessed with the world of Sweet Valley as well, and wasted hours reading about Jessica and Elizabeth. I came to the same conclusions you did – it’s shallow brain fluff. But man, did it make an impression on me in my teens! I compared myself to the twins (and all the other model-gorgeous Sweet Valley inhabitants). I always paled in comparison to them with my brown hair, brown eyes and average body. But instead of stopping reading the books, I became more immersed in them! What a vicious cycle. Like you, once in a while I pick up a book and reminisce. Lots of fun now that I don’t take it seriously!
Also, check out http://community.livejournal.com/1bruce1/ – it’s a funny community where bloggers critique or recap Sweet Valley books.
Aila
November 16, 2007 at 8:41 am (16 years ago)Hi! I was a huge fun not of the Wakefield Twins but the SWEET DREAMS POCKETBOOKS! I have accumulated a number of these pocketbooks and is now ready to part with them. I also have a number of Danielle Steel Pocketbooks! If anyone is interested to buy them, feel free to contact me at 0917-8530946 or email me at lilacgreen@gmail.com
Melody Powers
February 7, 2008 at 12:51 pm (16 years ago)Bruce and Lila never got married. They lived together for a while but they never said ‘I do’ – Lila married an Italian count who died in a jet skiing accident and when she came back to Sweet Valley she and Bruce fell in love… but they never married.
Jessice, on the other hand, married Mike McAllery.
Yep, I’m STILL immersed… and I’m 29 now. Still love the SV even all these years later.