SVT #85 - Elizabeth the Seventh-Grader

Apr 21, 2010 21:00

This is going to sound crazy, but this cover actually depicts a scene from the book (with clothes that match the book’s description!).


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party!, mary wallace, sweet valley twins, bruce patman, janet howell, recapper: tommckayisgay, tom mcgay, bad parenting, scheming jessica, oh hi steven

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Comments 34

hanfastolfe April 22 2010, 04:33:03 UTC
That cover? I thought it was Toddles, not Bruce. Darn.

Then again I think the cover would have had to show Todd doing his Toddpunch on Bruce if it featured him, so probably it's for the best. :P

Good recap. :)

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redacted April 22 2010, 05:24:48 UTC
Am I the only one that thinks it's stupid that SVMS had two newspapers? Or that the 6th graders were originally just left out of the newspaper completely?

Ah well. It's not nearly as weird as Steven's repeated references to "wild" 7th & 8th grade parties. Or the fact that Elizabeth has never even heard of Spin the Bottle.

(Also: unrelated question: does anyone know in which book Tom McKay officially comes out as A Gay? Because I would love to read that one.)

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tommckayisgay April 22 2010, 20:06:20 UTC
I know - why are there two newspapers?? And how has Liz never heard of Spin the Bottle??

I don't think Tom McKay ever officially comes out as gay to anyone other than Mr. Collins and Liz, but the book where he realizes he might be gay is SVH #75, Amy's True Love

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redacted April 22 2010, 22:55:54 UTC
Thanks!

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irinaauthor April 28 2010, 16:33:28 UTC
And it's confirmed in #79, The Long-Lost Brother when Liz crashes Tom's gay teen support group and then writes about it in The Oracle.

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hellobrisvegas April 22 2010, 07:50:08 UTC
”Bruce! Bruce! Kiss me! Kiss me!” Tom McKay said as he clasped his hands to his chest.
Real stealth, Tom McKay.

If I lived in Sweet Valley, I'd be VERY successful in both seventh grade and life.

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finsaur_venusy April 22 2010, 20:14:08 UTC
Well, if kissing Bruce Patman is all it takes, then, yes, I do believe I'd be successful, too. (Hell, I'd kiss Rick Hunter, too. He always seemed to me like he'd be cute, back when I was young and impressionable.)

eta: That is, I'd kiss Rick Hunter in order to rock the 7th grade. I wouldn't kiss him now that I'm 20 and he's eternally 13. I'm not a (fictional) pedophile the majority of the time. Blaaar!

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pip3r April 22 2010, 08:13:23 UTC
I LOVED!!! this one when it came out!

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glitterberrys April 22 2010, 11:12:01 UTC
Okay, is it REALLY likely that a kid would be skipped ahead in junior high? I could understand if they were in kindergarten or first grade, but by the time you hit junior high, each year has a TON of crap to learn that's going to be built on in the next year that I can't see how you could just skip ahead. And even if she's "smart enough," she's not going to KNOW those things. Plus...do they really just skip kids ahead because they CAN? I dunno, is it me or is the premise a little wobbly?

Gotta say, though, I never quite understood the HUGE grade divides present in kidlit. If someone had skipped up a grade in my school it would've been, oh, hey, you're in this class now. Hi! *everyone goes back to whatever they were doing* Like, there wasn't a huge amount of intergrade hanging out because of the different class schedules, but pretty much everyone had SOME friends or friendly acquaintances in grades above and below theirs. None if this SIXTH GRADERS ARE BAAAAABIES or THE SEVENTH GRADERS ARE SO INTIMIDATING crap.

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melody_power July 22 2011, 17:17:04 UTC
I had a genius friend who skipped seventh AND eighth. She was 12 and in the 9th grade... socially, it was hell for her. Academically it was a breeze.

Also, this one is probably the only Twins book that makes a huge deal about grade division. In other books, the kids have friends in other grades - Like Bruce Patman, Rick Hunter, Janet Howell, Kimberly Haver, Tamara Chase... okay maybe it's just Jessica who tons of older friends, but still. Liz and Jess even went to Kerry Glenn's birthday party -- the same Kerry Glenn who acted like Liz was a baby at the lunch table, and Lizzie felt all strange hanging around her and her more "mature" friends (read: stacked.) Hello, they've been friends for ages!

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glitterberrys July 22 2011, 17:27:38 UTC
Your friend was a real-life Chiyo-chan! That's really impressive, though, it seems like you would have tons to catch up on, even if you're very smart. Especially if, like Elizabeth, you're skipped in the middle of the school year with basically no preparation time. Wouldn't it make more sense to wait until summer and then just promote her an extra grade then? Then she'd have three months to at least review the material she missed out on. And, um, Liz is reasonably nonstupid, as far as Sweet Valley goes, but she's no supergenius. I find it hard to believe that it would be so easy. I don't know.

I love that maturity and boob size are synonymous in so many of my favorite kidlit series. Sooooo weird.

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melody_power July 22 2011, 17:42:37 UTC
Yeah who skips in the middle of the year? Totally contrived.

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