Friday Flashback: Sweet Valley High

Oh, how I loved Sweet Valley books, both the Sweet Valley High series as well as the Sweet Valley Twins one. I also loved the Wakefields of Sweet Valley and Patmans of Sweet Valley books.

A few months ago, I found Brokenhearted in the free box at the library. It's been years since I read a Sweet Valley book, so I picked it up.

From Goodreads: "Suddenly she is faced with a very difficult choice -- a choice between the only two boys she has ever loved. What will Elizabeth do?"

The entire book was as dramatic as that line. O.M.G. So. Very. Very. Dramatic. But when you are 16 it all feels so dramatic. Elizabeth, the good twin, has two guys, Jeffrey French and Todd Wilkins, who want to date her. If you remember anything about Liz, she winds up with Todd. Poor Jeffrey.

Sweet Valley Confidential: Ten Years Later is coming out in March. I am SO (ridiculously) excited. Here's an excerpt if you are interested.

The Bobbsey Twins

In addition to Nancy Drew, I really enjoyed another children's mystery series: The Bobbsey Twins. I didn't have as many Bobbsey Twins books growing up as I did Nancy Drew, but I still had many. The Bobbsey Twin series was created and published by the same people that sold Nancy Drew books. The Bobbsey Twins first came out in 1904, more than 25 years before Nancy.

The Bobbsey twins are two sets of twins: Nan and Bert who are 12 and Flossie and Freddie who are 6. I love the name "Nan." I might have had a crush on Bert. They live in the rather generic sounding town of Lakeport, and as expected, find mysteries where ever they go.

As the characters are young, so too is the target audience. The book indicates the suggested reading level is second grade. The Secret of Jungle Park is in the new series and is 87 pages of big print with several drawings throughout.

The story was a bit unrealistic; what parents are going to let their 12 and 6 year olds run around at an amusement park by themsleves? I've got to learn to suspend my disbelief when I'm reading these children's books.

All in all, it was a fun reread of a book that I'm sure I read when I was little. I've also got some of the old Bobbsey Twin books. I'll have to pick one of those up to see how they are.

Check out Lovely Little Shelf for more Friday Flashbacks.

Sleepover Friends

Lovely Little Shelf has a Friday Flashback feature that highlights a book read in childhood.

I recently found a copy of the Sleepover Friends book Kate's Camp-Out in the free bin at the library. I remember loving this series as a kid. I picked it up and read it quickly. It's another childhood series that's out of print.

They are simple books that revolve around a group of fifth grade friends that have sleepovers every weekend. Between the Sleepover Friends and the Babysitter's Club I always wondered why I didn't have a similar group of friends that did things like that. It makes more sense now. Did anyone have something like these groups?

One passage in the book made me gasp though:

"I could stand to walk off some of this breakfast," Stephanie said, licking cream cheese and jam off her finger, "before it collects on my hips."

Eeek! This is a 5th grader saying such things.

Besides that, I thought it was a cute book about friendship.

Friday Flashback: Something Queer Series

Lovely Little Shelf has a Flashback Friday feature. Here's mine for this week:


Elizabeth Levy's Something Queer series is about a salami-loving basset hound, Fletcher, who helps his owner Jill and her friend Gwen solve mysteries.

I think these books started my love of basset hounds. Now, 20+ years later, I have these two crazies.

Sadly, neither one has a map of the world in their spots like Fletcher does. Nor have they helped me solve any mysteries. However, they do enjoy salami.

I remember reading Something Queer at the Haunted School in 2nd grade. Several years ago, I thought about those books again and my friendly librarian helped me figure what series it was based on what I could remember: they were mysteries with illustrations, the basset hound, and the girl that clicked her braces (Jill).

Mysteries are one of my favorite genres. In addition to the basset hound and the mystery, the books have wonderful illustrations by Mordicai Gerstein. The books are for young readers. As I mentioned, I read them in 2nd grade. The mysteries aren't too complex, but the stories are cute and funny.

Sadly, these books are out of print. Levy does have a newer series of Fletcher mysteries in print. These book don't have Gwen and Jill, nor do they have quite as many illustrations. I search used bookstores and books sales and now have most of the series in my collection.

Friday Flashback: From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler

Goodreads Summary:

When suburban Claudia Kincaid decides to run away, she knows she doesn’t just want to run from somewhere, she wants to run to somewhere — to a place that is comfortable, beautiful, and, preferably, elegant. She chooses the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Knowing her younger brother Jamie has money and thus can help her with a serious cash-flow problem, she invites him along. Once settled into the museum, Claudia and Jamie find themselves caught up in the mystery of an angel statue that the museum purchased at auction for a bargain price of $225. The statue is possibly an early work of the Renaissance master, Michelangelo, and therefore worth millions. Is it? Or isn’t it?
Claudia is determined to find out. Her quest leads her to Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, the remarkable old woman who sold the statue, and to some equally remarkable discoveries about herself.

This books is actually a Friday Flashback cheat for me. I never read it as a kid. But, I would have loved it if I had. I'm posting it as a shout to my trip to NYC. I visited the Met in 1999 on a high school trip, so images of the museum came back to me as I read it. And, I'm visiting the Met today!

Check out Lovely Little Shelf for more Friday Flashbacks.

Friday Flashback: My Gal Nancy

Happy Birthday Nancy Drew! The first Nancy Drew book was publish April 28, 1930. Do you think her creators would be stunned to know that for generations of girls, Nancy has been an idol? That her stories have been translated into an estimated 25 languages?

I read many series when I was a kid, but the one I remember most vividly is Nancy Drew.

My godparents bought me a set of the first 5 or 6 books and it was all over. I was hooked. I had to have been 9 or 10, but I still remember where I was when I read them. I even remember being at school reading one of the books during reading time and being upset that it was over and time for math because Nancy was about to solve the mystery!

As a kid growing up in the South, I thought that skiing was the ski jump. Clearly I thought the world was a Nancy Drew novel. Sadly, I found this was not the case and I don't have a blue roadster, nor do I have a father footing the bill on all my adventures. (He's pretty awesome at helping with house projects though.)

I've collected many old Nancy Drew books. Several of them are the first versions written in the 30s and 40s. They were revised in 1959 to be more PC. (The old ones use some very dated language, especially when talking about race.) Some of the stories are the same with minor revisions of language. Some are completely different stories. (Weird.) I've mainly found these old copies online. I look around at used bookstores, but there's not a big selection and they are usually priced much higher than the ones online.

In addition to the books in the series, I've also read several books about the series, including The Mysterious Case of Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys by Carole Kismaric and Marvin Heiferman and Girl Sleuth: Nancy Drew and the Women Who Created Her by Melanie Rehak. The history behind Nancy is quite complex. Carolyn Keene, of course, is a pen name and the original series had two main writers that were Carolyn. She was created by the same people that introduced the Bobbsey Twins and the Hardy Boys. With the '59 rewrites, critics think that Nancy lost a bit of her spunk. I still think Nancy is awesome: brave, independent, and smart. I'm not the only one that thinks so either!

Flashback Friday: The Westing Game

My friend Jacki, the blogger over at Lovely Little Shelf, has a weekly post named Friday Flashback about books she loved as a kid or teenager.

Not surprisingly, I read a lot as a kid.

Since this is my first Friday Flashback, I figured I'd start with my all-time favorite kid's book: The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin. It won the Newbery Award in 1979.

I first read this book in elementary school for a book report. It's a mystery about a millionaire's death. His would-be heirs are trying to solve the puzzle of Samuel Westing's passing so they can receive their inheritance. I loved the mystery and I adore Turtle, one of main characters.

I've reread it several times in the past twenty (yikes!) years. I still love it just as much. I've reread some of the books from my childhood and been disappointed. This one has held up well as I've aged and in the thirty years since it was published.