Kathryn's Inbox

Ahh, Jessica Wakefield is up to no good again. Sneaking Out  the fifth volume in the Sweet Valley Twins graphic novel series adapts another classic story from the original series. This is the one where Johnny Buck comes to town. And super-fan Jessica Wakefield, who caught Johnny Buck's hat when he tossed it into the crowd at a film premiere, is desperate to go. After all, Jessica knows that Johnny meant for her to catch that hat, and that if she takes it to the concert he is sure to recognise her in the crowd. He'll just have to invite her backstage. But for now, there are just a few tiny obstacles in the way. Jessica's parents have forbidden her and twin sister Elizabeth to attend the concert as they feel the twins are too young. Second, Jessica cannot afford a ticket. With some characteristic Jessica Wakefield style scheming she comes up with solutions to both problems. She will sleep over at her friend Lila's house. And she will take on a job dog sitting, cash paid u...

The Sweet Valley Twins graphic novel adaptions have been so popular with fans--new and old--that the series is back for a third instalment. This time around Choosing Sides, the fourth novel in the original series, is up for adaption. Old fans will be familiar with the plot. Tryouts are being held for the school's cheer squad, and Amy Sutton desperately wants to join. The only problem is that the cheer squad auditions are being run by the school's cliquey mean girl group the unicorns. They don't want any non unicorns on their squad, regardless of how talented they may be. And they especially don't want Amy. (Sweet Valley devotees may notice something here. The plot is eerily similar to that of Power Play, the fourth novel in the Sweet Valley High series.) In a concurrent plot, Ken Matthews is keen to join the school basketball team but some of the other boys don't want him. Anyway, with the help of Elizabeth, Amy and Ken join forces to encourage one another--and t...

The second graphic novel in the reimagined Sweet Valley Twins series takes its focus from goody-goody twin Elizabeth to the devilish and fundamentally flawed Jessica. This time around, we see a vulnerable side to the younger Wakefield twin. After all, it's not so easy having such a perfect sister. Especially when this is the one occasion when Jessica deserves the spotlight. The twins are taking ballet lessons. Jessica loves ballet and works harder than anyone else in the class. Coupled with a natural flair for ballet, she should be living the dream, right? Nope. It is her sister Elizabeth who gets all of the praise and recognition from their teacher, who barely even notices Jessica no matter how hard she works. The premise is interesting enough, though like all Sweet Valley tales this one is flawed--it particular the retconned ending. (In the original, the teacher paid Jessica little attention because she mistakenly believed that she was not serious about ballet. This one pans out ...

Jessica and Elizabeth Wakefield are back ... again. In yet another attempt to revive the bestselling Sweet Valley series, the first book in the middle-grade Sweet Valley Twins series has been reimagined as a graphic novel. Set in present day, the story opens with Elizabeth and Jessica starting sixth grade at Sweet Valley Middle School. The pair, who dress alike, and who do everything together (including sharing a phone,) begin to realise that they are developing different interests. Jessica is becoming interested in fashion and hanging out with a clique of popular mean girls, while Elizabeth hangs out with the less popular girls and is interested in starting up a sixth grade newspaper. Both twins struggle with, and embrace, what these differences mean, before eventually reaching a place of acceptance. The reimagining of this classic title from the original series is interesting enough but something about its existence feels very unnecessary. Certainly, Sweet Valley titles were best se...

Recently, I've posted a couple of Sweet Valley themed posts here, and a few more over on Instagram, and I've been blown away by the response. Obviously, the books were huge in their day, and I've always felt a bit nostalgic for them in later years, but I never realised just how many Sweet Valley fans out there feel the same way. Consequently, I've decided to start a semi regular feature that shines a little spotlight on all things Sweet Valley. And while I'm going to make an effort to include all four main series ( Sweet Valley High , Sweet Valley Twins , Sweet Valley Kids and Sweet Valley University ,) and give at least some time to the spin-offs, as the name suggests, I will mostly be focusing on Sweet Valley Twins and its spin-offs, The Unicorn Club, Team Sweet Valley and Sweet Valley Jr High.  So ... Sweet Valley Twins . The series launched by Bantam (a part of Random House,) on July 1 1986, a little over three years after the debut of Sweet Valley High . Lik...