Sweet Valley High

I have been a bookworm since like forever but when I hit my teens I found that there were no fun books aimed at my age group. There were some wonderful pieces of work by Brits Honor Arundel, Enid Blyton and Jaqueline Wilson, but they were serious books. Then in 1983 a new book series was launched about twin sisters who lived in California; it was called Sweet Valley High and was developed by Francine Pascal. They focused on 16 year old Elizabeth and Jessica Wakefield who were identical in every way except in their persona. Elizabeth was sensible, hard working and nice while Jessica anything but. She was manipulative, self centred, shallow and would stop at nothing to get what she wanted. However, as lousy as she was Jessica made Sweet Valley High compelling and exciting to read. Over 150 titles were published as well as spin off series. During 1983 and 1987 I think I bought every title every month. Oh how I would wait in anticipation for a new book to drop and in many ways it was like waiting for your favourite magazine to come out. In 1995 I was delighted when the show hit the TV screens in the UK, Brittany and Cynthia Daniels were perfect in the roles of the Wakefield twins. Interestingly enough the show was very much like Clueless in it's style and feel and possessed the campiness that is contained in Ugly Betty.

Earlier this week it was announced that, Sweet Valley High is about to be made into a film and the script will be written by none other than Diablo Cody. This is exciting news and has been reported on blogsphere a lot. I think Diablo's kick ass dialogue combined with edgy dark humour will be just what the series needs to take bring it into the 21st century. They have got off to a cracking start already with the major characters having twitter accounts. It feels kind of weird that a book series that I was so obsessed about when I was a teen is hitting the public foray but at the same time it is very exciting and I am curious to see what the Juno creater will bring to the table. While I was doing some googling I came across Sweet Valley Diaries which is a nostalgic look at SVH.

Here is a clip from the TV series. Have a look and tell me if it is not a dead ringer for Clueless.



Image from AP.