Sweet Valley High Books In Order

Publication Order of Sweet Valley High Books

Publication Order of Sweet Valley Confidential E-Serial Books

Publication Order of Sweet Valley High : Super Editions Books

Publication Order of Sweet Valley High : Super Thrillers Books

Publication Order of Sweet Valley High Omnibus Books

Publication Order of Sweet Valley High TV Novelizations Books

Publication Order of Sweet Valley High: Magna Editions Books

Publication Order of Sweet Valley High: Senior Year Books

Publication Order of Sweet Valley High: Super Romance Books

Publication Order of Sweet Valley High: Super Stars Books

Publication Order of Sweet Valley Junior High Books

Publication Order of Sweet Valley Twins Books

Publication Order of Sweet Valley Twins Diaries Books

Publication Order of Sweet Valley Twins: The Unicorn Club Books

Publication Order of Sweet Valley Twins : Magna Editions Books

Publication Order of Sweet Valley Twins: Super Editions Books

Publication Order of Sweet Valley Twins: Super Chillers Books

Publication Order of Sweet Valley University Books

Publication Order of Sweet Valley University: Thriller Editions Books

Publication Order of Sweet Valley University: Super Thriller Books

Publication Order of Sweet Valley Junior High Books

Publication Order of Sweet Valley Kids Books

Publication Order of Sweet Valley Kids: Hair Raiser Super Special Books

Publication Order of Sweet Valley Kids: Super Snooper Books

Publication Order of Sweet Valley Kids: Super Special Books

Publication Order of Team Sweet Valley Books

Sweet Valley High is a series of novels for children and young adults from Francine Pascal. The books follow the exploits of Jessica and Elizabeth Wakefield, two beautiful twins that live in Sweet Valley in California.

+The Story

When they were first published in 1983, the Sweet Valley High books were a must-read for young girls. The series looks at the lives Jessica and Elizabeth, identical twins with vastly different personalities.

Elizabeth is a good girl with good grades who generally walks the straight and narrow path. Jessica, on the other hand, is pretty naughty and is almost always in trouble. The girls attended Sweet Valley High where they experience love, loss, heartache and the occasional adventure.

The books have been described as soap operas for young readers. With plots such as Jessica stealing her sister’s crush and Elizabeth surviving a motorcycle accident only to recover with a personality similar to that of her sisters, the books are essentially literary junk food.

There are no real stakes to speak of and the melodramatic episodes of each novel have predictable endings. Because the novels were written in the 1980s and 1990s, they have a couple of dated concepts, which is why Random House tried to update some of them in 2008 by adding elements like email and cell phones.

However, some young readers have admitted to loving the Sweet Valley High series in its original state because it gives them a glimpse into the lives of kids from the 80s and 90s.

The Sweet Valley High books were so wildly popular that they gave birth to a litany of spinoffs in later years.

Francine Pascal has never tried to pass the books off as literary fiction. She agrees that the plots of the series border on the ridiculous. Pascal believes that the draw of the Sweet Valley High series wasn’t its literary quality but the manner in which the books turned contemporary romance on its head by featuring female characters who took proactive roles in the search for romance rather than sitting around and waiting for the hero to claim them.

The books were not Pascal’s first attempt at writing for young adults. The author already had a couple of series under her belt at that point. The Sweet Valley High series was born from a desire to not only appeal to teenagers of the 1980s but to also explore the dark and light sides of the human mind.

That is what Elizabeth and Jessica Wakefield represented to Pascal, the good and the bad sides of the same coin. Pascal went on to write over a hundred books in the series; though, it is worth noting that the author did not actually pen each of the books herself.

Rather, after writing a couple of outlines for the first few books and getting them sold, Francine Pascal allowed the responsibility of actually producing each of the Sweet Valley High books to fall on the shoulders of a ghostwriter.

Pascal didn’t think the books would sell if she wrote them. The author had more of a sophisticated writing voice that she doubted would appeal to teenagers. With ghostwriters, Pascal was sure she would attract universal appeal, and she was right.

Though, it would be wrong to presume that the author was somehow distant from the creative process. Pascal was responsible for creating the plots of each of the books. She did all the outlines and, more importantly, every character in the Sweet Valley High series was her creation.

She also worked closely with the ghostwriters to ensure that each book met her strict specifications. When Pascal did finally sit down to do her own writing, it was years later when the Sweet Valley High series had ended and fans were hounding her for more stories because they wanted to know what happened to the twins.

Even though the author initially struggled with the idea of going back to that world, once she got down to the business of writing, she found that she was more compatible with what was essentially the Sweet Valley epilogue because all the protagonists where now adults and she could relate to them.

Pascal knows that the Sweet Valley High series was largely derided by reviewers and critics. But it has never bothered her. She was satisfied knowing that her books were making many teenage girls around the world happy. After all, they were always the target of her books.

+Adaptations

The Sweet Valley High books were adapted into a television show that aired in 1994. The show lasted four years during which 88 episodes were produced. Elizabeth and Jessica Wakefield were portrayed by Brittany and Cynthia Daniel.

While the television show shared a lot of aspects with the books, the two mediums were also quite different. Not only where certain book characters absent but the TV show was also much simpler, only ever lightly touching upon the romance and the fantasy or even the adventure.

Francine Pascal wasn’t especially amused by the adaptation. In fact, she eventually came out and disowned it. She didn’t appreciate that it deviated from her books in so many places. She also didn’t like the fact that all of her suggestions were largely ignored.

+Double Love

Elizabeth and Jessica Wakefield are twins. And physically, they are identical, equally gorgeous and, thus, equally popular. However, their personalities couldn’t be further apart.

Unlike her snobbish and evil-intentioned twin, Elizabeth is warm and friendly.

Their differences come to a head when they both set their sights on Todd Wilkins. Todd is the only boy at Sweet Valley High that Elizabeth really likes. But Jessica always gets what she wants and she doesn’t care if her sister suffers as a result.

The first book in the Sweet Valley High series introduces the Wakefield twins to readers, two physically identical girls that are determined to lay a claim on a handsome basketball star.

+Secrets

Jessica Wakefield knows she will be crowned Queen of the Sweet Valley High Fall Dance. Nothing will stop her from taking the top spot, not when it means securing her grasp over Bruce Patman.

When Elizabeth learns that Enid Rollins is the only person standing between her sister and the crown and that Jessica has uncovered a secret that could destroy Enid’s life, she makes it her goal to stop her twin.

The Second Sweet Valley High book finds Elizabeth Wakefield fighting to protect her best friend from her conniving twin sister.