Reading Post: Sweet Valley High Reissues #3, #4

Books 1 and 2 were reviewed on 5/11/08 and 5/14/08, if you're curious.

 My short, unspoilered version remains pretty much the same: they're about as good as the originals.  My only caveat is that Jessica seems more malicious, and Elizabeth seems a little less goody-goody.  (Yes, I identified more with Elizabeth as a teenager, go figure.)  This one is fairly shallow, and more prone to being dated than, say, Nancy Drew, but other books in the series did handle tougher teenage subjects without necessarily getting all Afterschool Special on us.  The third book has some language use that deserves a higher rating than the originals.  The fourth book has somewhat of a “moral” at the ending – almost Elizabeth Wakefield doing a PSA.  There’s definitely a slightly harder edge on these, and this series is definitely aimed at teens, not tweens

Getting into the spoilers:

SVH #3: Playing With Fire (the book where Jessica Wakefield gets her wish to be Bruce Patman’s girlfriend, then finds out the truth in the old saying, “Be careful what you wish for”…)

 

( Jess is still Jess, and Bruce is still Bruce )

 

SVH #4: Power Play (the book where Liz and Jess square off, over Jess’s treatment of Robin Wilson).  This is one I really enjoyed in the original, and it’s still pretty well-done.

( Wakefield vs Wakefield )

 Worth buying if you enjoy YA, waiting for the next 2 in December.  Except for the part where they're going to leave us with the cliffhanger of #6 for probably 3-4 months, I'm looking forward to seeing more.

 DV