When news broke that Francine Pascal, creator of the “Sweet Valley High” universe, died last weekend at the age of 92, appreciations began rolling across the internet like a certain red Spider through a high school parking lot.
Nostalgic and bereaved, I drove to the library to check out a few, only to discover they had been removed from the catalog.
“But I loved them.”This backhanded praise would have been familiar to Ms. Pascal, whose literary talents were either sneered at or dismissed for decades.
Even as her franchise blanketed best-seller lists — 200 million books and counting, thanks to teenage readers like me — she, and they, received astonishingly little media coverage.
For those affected by the blackout, the Sweet Valley universe comprises hundreds of novels and numerous spinoffs, all set in the eponymous Southern California town and starring Jessica and Elizabeth Wakefield, identical twins with blue-green eyes, shining blond hair and sky-high ambitions — Elizabeth’s literary, Jessica’s social.
Persons:
Francine Pascal, appreciations, Pascal, Jessica, Elizabeth Wakefield, —
Organizations:
Guardian, Playboy
Locations:
Sweet, Southern California