Francine Pascal
Bantam-Skylark, 1986
Genre: Realistic, School
Description
Elizabeth is excited that Mr.
Bowman is going to start a newspaper for the sixth-grade and has put Elizabeth in charge. She
asks Jessica if she wants to write a gossip or fashion column but Jessica just
looks bored and says no. Elizabeth
is disappointed. Jessica informs Elizabeth
that her best friend, Lila Fowler, has been asked to join the Unicorn Club. It
is nothing to joke about. It's called the Unicorn Club because unicorns are
beautiful and special and everyone likes them—just like the girls in the club.
Hardly any sixth graders get to join but Lila is in along with Ellen Riteman.
It probably helps that Janet Howell, the president and the prettiest and most
important girl in eighth grade, is Lila's cousin.
The next day at school, Jessica tells Elizabeth that Lila and Ellen asked her to
sit with them at lunch. Elizabeth
says that's okay because she wanted to talk to Amy and Julie about joining the
newspaper. This is the first time that the twins have not sat together at
lunch. On the other side of the cafeteria Jessica is sitting with a bunch of
members of the Unicorn Club and she has never been more excited in her life.
Kids keep looking their way and she’s lost count of how many cute boys are
stopping just to say hello. Lila tells Jessica all about the Unicorn Club. They
talk about gossip and boys. They do everything together as a group, such as sit
together at lunch and hang out after school. They plan things together to like
this year deciding that purple is their favorite color. They also pay weekly
dues to cover expenses. The club currently has 12 members and is very
exclusive. Jessica asks if there is room for anyone else and Janet says maybe.
After school Elizabeth
waits 30 minutes for Jessica to show up so they can go home and clean their
room. However, at that time Jessica is walking with Lila to the Dairi Burger.
Janet informs Jessica that they have two spots open in the club. She says that she
asks only very special people—girls who can keep up with the image of the club
and she thinks that Jessica might be Unicorn material. In order to join,
Jessica has to complete three pledge tasks, which include hiding Mrs. Arnette's
lesson plan book at the beginning of class and then returning it at the end to
class without her seeing, standing outside the girls room between classes and
tell three girls that the bathroom floor is flooded and they are to use the
boys room, and finally she has to come to school one day looking so different
from Elizabeth that no one would know that they’re twins.
Elizabeth
is heartbroken when Jessica changes her look without even telling her. She
doesn't understand why Jessica seems to be moving on and leaving her behind.
She overhears two sixth grade girls talking about Jessica's makeover and Elizabeth knows what she
wants to do. She puts her hair into a hairstyle that she loves and Jessica has
always hated and feels like a new Elizabeth.
All throughout the day both twins get compliments about how great they look and
how is awesome it is that they’re not dressing alike.
When Elizabeth
learns from Caroline, the school gossip, that Jessica has been accepted to the Unicorns
she feels bad. She doesn't understand why Jessica didn't tell her about the
biggest thing to happen in her life. She feels that Jessica will now spend
every free minute with the Unicorns and she’ll be left on the outside. Elizabeth talks to her
mom. She tells her that Jessica kept her membership secret and that she doesn't
tell her anything anymore and they hardly do anything together. Her mother says
that the Unicorn Club sounds like something that Jessica would want to do and
not Elizabeth and she agrees. Mrs. Wakefield tells Elizabeth that twins can’t be together all
the time and that it is good for them to do different things.
Jessica is at her third meeting of the Unicorns when she
decides to suggest Elizabeth
as a member. One of the eighth grade members calls Jessica baby who can't do
anything without her sister. Jessica lies and says that she'll just have to
drop out of the club because her parents think that twins should always do
things together. Janet holds a secret conference says that it is okay for them
to kick people out of the club but it's different if somebody quits so they
will give Elizabeth just one pledge task to complete but it won't be an easy
one.
The next day at lunch Elizabeth
is invited to eat with the Unicorns. For her pledge task they want her to
invite Lois to the Dairi Burger and order to ice cream sundaes. While Lois gets
a table, Elizabeth
is to scrape off the whipped cream on Lois's sundae and replace it with shaving
cream. Elizabeth
refuses to do it as everybody's already mean enough to Lois. Janet tells her to
think about it. Jessica is mad at her thinking Elizabeth made her look like a fool. When Elizabeth says that she
won't do that to Lois, Jessica calls her a first-class priss. Elizabeth
refuses to hurt Lois and Jessica tries to say that it's only a joke and everyone
will laugh but Elizabeth
still refuses. Jessica secretly calls Janet to tell her that Elizabeth will do the task on Wednesday. She
knows that Elizabeth
has a dentist appointment that afternoon so she plans on trading places with
her sister and doing the task in her place.
On Wednesday morning Jessica convinces Elizabeth to wear a certain outfit to school.
The previous night she pretended to be Elizabeth
and called Lois to set up the get-together. After school Jessica watches
Elizabeth drive off for her dentist appointment and then changes into her Elizabeth disguise. Lois
ends up falling for the joke and eats the shaving cream. Jessica starts
cracking up and all Unicorns at a nearby table do the same. Lois, nearly in
tears, can't believe that Elizabeth
could do something so mean to her. Elizabeth
was always nice and now she's acting like Jessica.
Elizabeth
can hardly believe it when Jessica tells her that she is in the Unicorns and is
glad they decided against the task. The next day Elizabeth attends her first Unicorn meeting. After
45 minutes she’s bored to death. However, everybody else seems be having a
great time. As the meeting comes to a close, Ellen congratulates Elizabeth on her task. At
that moment Elizabeth
realizes what Jessica did, yells at her, and storms out. At home she talks to
her mother about everything. Her mom tells her that they are both different
people and she thinks it's time that Elizabeth
stops following Jessica around and does what she wants to do.
The first thing Elizabeth
knows she has to do is call Lois. Elizabeth
convinces her that it was Jessica and that Elizabeth would never do such a thing to her.
She asks her if she wants to sit with Amy and Julie and her at lunch and that
they're starting a newspaper and maybe Lois can join. When Jessica gets home Elizabeth tells her that
she will listen to her for once. The thing that makes her mad most of all is
that Jessica thought it was perfectly fine to pretend to be Elizabeth
and let everyone think that Elizabeth
could do such a horrible thing. She tells her that she told Lois the truth and
she expects Jessica to apologize to her. She tells Jessica that she's going to
quit the Unicorn Club. When Jessica says that is a good idea because she
doesn't think that it was the right fit for Elizabeth,
Elizabeth says
she will only quit if Jessica apologizes to Lois. And, as a loyal Unicorn, Elizabeth will have to
tell all the other members what Jessica did if she doesn’t apologize within a
week.
Elizabeth,
Amy, and Lois plan a way to get back at the Unicorns. One day after
school, Amy and Elizabeth go to the Dairi Burger and get a table near the Unicorns.
Lois soon comes in and goes over to their table and tells them that the trick
they played on her was actually pretty funny. As she is talking to them, the Unicorn’s
table number its called and Lois offers to go get their food. Amy then
approaches their table and asks if she can get a picture of the club for the
newspaper and starts snapping pictures. Distracted, they don't see Elizabeth and
Lois switch the whipping cream on the dishes to shaving cream. As they are
about ready to eat Elizabeth
goes over to warn them that Lois maybe trying to back at them. The girls start
laughing (she’d never have the guts to try something) and start eating their
dishes which are fine until Lila bites into hers. As Lila freaks out over
eating shaving cream, Amy starts snapping more photos and everyone in the
restaurant laughs at the very embarrassed Unicorns.
Thoughts and Nuggets of Wisdom
for Research
Francine Pascal is a real author and she did create the Sweet Valley
franchise. Unlike many series books that are ghostwritten, most of the Sweet Valley
canon, while having Pascal’s name plastered on the front, does give credit on
the title page to the actual author who wrote it. This volume was written by Jamie
Suzanne, who was a main author for the Sweet Valley Twins series.
Out of all the series books I’ve read so far for
my research this one (and it really isn’t that big of a surprise) is just full
of juicy tidbits, especially about physical discrimination and economic issues.
Elizabeth doesn’t like Jessica’s friends
as they always act “as if they were stars and the people around them
where the audience.” However, Jessica feels the same way about Elizabeth’s friends and isn’t scared to voice
her very nasty point of view sometimes. When Elizabeth tells her parents about the new
school newspaper and how she's going ask Amy Sutton and Judy Porter to be on it
with her Jessica says,“All you need is Winston Egbert and you can call it the
Nerdpaper. I mean, honestly. Amy Sutton does her homework at recess and she
wears such boring clothes and Julie—.” Elizabeth
gets mad at Jessica and screams, “You are really unbelievable! Amy and Julie
are a lot smarter and more interesting than the snobby girls you think are so
great. And what gives you the right to say that—you don't even want to be on
the paper!” Elizabeth
just can’t believe that Jessica actually wants to spend time with snobby girls
like Lila Fowler.
However, Elizabeth
isn’t immune to making some snide comments about some classmates. As she, Amy,
and Julie are brainstorming ideas for the newspaper, Caroline Pearce sits down
next to them. The narration reads, “Elizabeth
groaned inwardly. Caroline Pearce lived two doors away from the Wakefields and
was the prissiest person in the world. Caroline also had the biggest mouth in Sweet Valley.
Telling her a secret was like posting it up on a billboard.”
Jessica, now that she’s a Unicorn, has gotten the attention
of Bruce Patman. The twins get into a ballet class at the dance studio. On
their way to their first meeting, Jessica tells Elizabeth that she caught Bruce looking at
her again. Elizabeth
tells her, “I don't know what you see in him. He's a jerk and is always picking
on people. He calls Lois 'the pig.' The other day in the cafeteria he stood up
and shouted out everything Lois had on her lunch tray. All the kids were
laughing at her.” Jessica says, “Well, it must have been pretty funny. She gets
enough food to feed an army.” Elizabeth
can’t get Jessica to see that that doesn't give Bruce the right to make fun of
her in front of everybody.
On the afternoon that Jessica has her first meeting of the
Unicorns, Elizabeth
invites Amy over. They come up with a name for the school newspaper and Amy
suggests that they try to write a book. Elizabeth
says that she hasn't been doing much of anything except the newspaper and
ballet. Amy says that her mother wants her to take ballet to be more graceful
and ladylike. Elizabeth
says that her mother wants her to be more independent. Amy says, “Why can't our
mothers just let us grow up by ourselves? We're not stupid. We could do it.” Amy
then asks Elizabeth
how she feels about Jessica making the Unicorn Club and Elizabeth admits that
she's a bit mixed up. Amy says that the Unicorns are glamorous but “most of
them have as much personality as a hairbrush. All they can think about is what
clothes to wear or who is going to win the football game.”
The
Unicorns are the epitome of school cattiness among girls. After hearing
some gossip from Caroline that she doesn’t think Jessica knows, Elizabeth shares the
gossip that Roberta Manning was grounded for staying out late with a high
school boy. Jessica says that she got kicked out of the Unicorn Club for it.
Supposedly that was the last straw as Roberta and Janet were not getting along
very well and the boy she was seeing kept putting the Unicorn down. A few weeks
later, Steven, their older brother in high school, confesses that he was the “older
man” involved with Roberta and that she dumped him because he was too immature.
Elizabeth tells
him that Roberta might not have meant what she said because she was supposedly upset
about getting grounded and kicked out of the Unicorns. That's when Steven says
that she wasn't kicked out—she quit the club because she was annoyed that Janet
had asked Steven to go to a party with her. Jessica can't believe that the Unicorns
were fighting over her brother. Elizabeth
says that they're a bunch of mean girls.
Of course, the way that physical looks are most represented
is in the whole character of Lois Waller—the stereotypical fat and unpopular
girl. As mentioned in the plot description, the Unicorns decide to let Elizabeth in if she gets
Lois to the Dairi Burger and substitutes whipped cream with shaving cream on
her ice cream sundae. This isn’t the only cruel thing that the popular kids do
to Lois. Early on in the book, Jessica and Elizabeth have this conversation:
“Did you see Lois Waller in gym class today? She was
practically oozing out of her leotard. Fat everywhere. They shouldn't let a tub
like that take ballet.”
“Jessica, she can't help it if she's fat.”
“She can too. She could loose some weight and she can help
looking so ugly. I mean, she doesn't have to wear those baggy dresses and let
her hair hang in her face. She was ruining our class. Ballet is supposed to be
beautiful and graceful, and she was crashing around like a rhinoceros. It's
tough on kids with real talent.”
When
Jessica decides to do the pledge task disguised as Elizabeth and calls Lois to set up the meet
at the Dairi Burger, the narration says, “Jessica could barely believe
she was actually making a date with Lois Waller, the school hippopotamus.
Eating in public with Lois would be about as much fun as having her head
shaved.”
When Elizabeth
comments on the fact that Lois has been out of school for the past four days,
Jessica is a little worried about Lois—but only a little. She wonders for a
second is eating shaving cream could be poisonous but then thinks, “Oh, don't
be silly . . . Lois's parents probably just get tired of looking at her and
sent her off to a fat farm. That was much more likely.”
The second biggest American belief or value that is present
in this SWT book is all about economics. The twins are from a well to do family
as they live in a “big split-level house.” Their mother works part-time at
Sweet Valley Design while their father heads a busy law practice.
Lila Fowler is the epitome of the rich spoiled brat. She is
described as having “the biggest wardrobe in Sweet Valley.
Her father was rich and bought her everything she wanted. Jessica had been
spending a lot of time with her lately, although Elizabeth couldn't understand why.”
The Unicorns are all expected to keep up a good image
of being pretty girls with the most fashion sense. When Jessica sits with them
for the first time she can hardly contain her excitement as so many people pay
attention to them. But “she could hardly blame them. Every girl at the table was
sensational looking and dressed in great clothes. Jessica knew she could hold
her own looks department. With her silky blonde hair, blue green eyes, and
perfect features, there was no doubt about it.”
Readers are also introduced to Jessica’s on again off again
love interest, Bruce Patman. The narration says, “He was a really cute seventh
grader from one of the richest families in town. Unfortunately, he thought he
was the most important person in the world, and he often acted like a bully and
a jerk, at least in Elizabeth's
opinion.” A perfect example of this was Bruce calling both of them “Blondie”
because he thought that it was easier than trying to tell them apart.
When Jessica starts getting smitten with him she tells Elizabeth that she thinks
he likes her because their mother told Jessica that boys only tease girls they
like. Elizabeth
is dumbfounded because she thought Jessica hated boys and all summer long was
saying how gross they were.
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