If you were a young girl in the eighties or nineties, odds are pretty good you read at least one book from the Sweet Valley High Series. This series followed teenage twin sisters Elizabeth and Jessica Wakefield. The two girls lived in a fictional town in California called Sweet Valley and the books follow them and their friends through all kinds of drama and fun.
These books have been on my mind since reading about author Francine Pascal who died Sunday at the age of 92. She created the series and authored the first twelve books before going on to oversee ghost writers who stretched the series to a total of 181 books over twenty years.
I was already a reader when I discovered the series in the late eighties and was quickly hooked. I collected many and borrowed some from the library. Somewhere in this house there is a tote filled with these once treasures paperbacks.
The series inspired some spin offs as well as a tv show that ran for four seasons in the late nineties. I don't recall reading any of the others and the tv show was awful but the kids at Sweet Valley High entertained me for several years before I discovered other authors and deeper stories.
I can't be the only one who can say that these books kept me reading at an age when a lot of kids stop reading at all. I wonder if Francine Pascal had any idea what sort of influence her books would have on an entire generation of young readers. It may seem like a silly little series but what Francine Pascal achieved is so much more than the sum of 181 paperback books.
I bet there are a lot of readers out there who can thank Francine Pascal for their love of books and storytelling. I know I can.
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