The Surprise Party (Fear Street #2)

The Surprise Party (Fear Street #2)

R.L. Stine

Archway, 1989

Genre: Horror

Description

The story opens up with a prologue in which an unidentified “he” shoots Evan in the woods so he will have “her” to himself. Readers learn that it was exactly a year ago that Meg's cousin, Brian, found Shannon's brother, Evan, shot to death in the woods. Meg, Shannon, and Tony run into Lisa and Corey who mention that Ellen is coming back to town. Ellen had dated Evan since junior high. Meg, Ellen, and Shannon were inseparable until Evan died. Meg suggests a party to show Ellen that they don't blame her for what happened and still care about her. Everybody agrees that a surprise party sounds like an excellent idea. Later that night, Meg receives a phone call from someone warning her not to hold the surprise party. Unfortunately, Lisa has already told a bunch of people about the party. She calls Tony, her boyfriend, and he tells her that he just got a call too that warned him not to help out or he wouldn't even make it to the party because he'd be in the hospital.

The party is to be held at the old mansion in the woods. It is these very woods that Evan was killed in. Supposedly Evan was dared, by who no one knows, to spend the night in the woods. Evan decided to take his father's rifle with him even though Ellen tried to get him to leave it at home. People assumed that he possibly got scared or tripped and fell which caused the gun to go off killing him.

During study hall the next day Meg gets sent to the office to retrieve a message. When she gets there she finds that no one sent one. She heads back to a study hall to find that all of her invitations have been cut into tiny pieces. She is then called back to the office for another message—this time warning her not to hold a party or she will get hurt. When she reaches her locker later Tony is there. He also received a warning note. Tony wants to cancel the party. She mentions to him about the invitations and how Shannon said that she left the room and hadn't seen anyone around Meg's desk. Tony informs her that Shannon never left the room. Tony calls her later that night and says that he was walking home from his dad's gas station and was pretty sure that someone was following him. She tries to convince him that there seems to be more to these threats than a silly surprise party. He gets mad at her and says that he is out of the party and out of the relationship with Meg.

She decides to call Ellen whom she saw back in town for the first time the other day. She decides not to when she remembers that Ellen was acting a little too enthusiastic and happy as if she was possibly trying to hide something. She instead decides to talk to Lisa who convinces her to confront Shannon about the invitations. Shannon gets upset at Meg. When Meg opens her lunch she reaches inside her bag and pulls out an arm now covered in blood. It turns out to be a prank as the blood is really just red paint. Meg tries to apologize to Shannon. She then remembers a time when Evan hit a car and everyone was joking with him. He got really serious and began to sword fight Tony with a pool stick. Tony accidentally hit him on the shoulder and Evan, in retaliation, hit Tony on the head causing five stitches. She remembers how Evan seemed to go wild sometimes for no reason. Shannon accepts her apology and agrees to help with the party. She also says that Mike, her half-brother, will be there that night and will be around to help.

As Meg is walking home from Shannon’s a car tries to run her down. Readers are then given a glance into “he's” perspective. He had borrowed his cousin’s car and nearly ran Meg down. It was only meant to scare her. But when he saw her he knew that he couldn't let the party take place and he couldn't let Ellen tell everyone what happened last year.

Later that night, Tony is out in the rain and sees Dwayne, an annoying boy who always wanted to ask Shannon out. He says that he was kind of glad when Evan died because it finally meant that he was free to go after Shannon since Evan always hated him. Tony gets pissed off and throws the basketball Dwayne was playing with right at him.

On Friday night Meg goes to see Tony. His dad says that Tony went out with Brian to play some fantasy game. She is shocked as Tony doesn't really like Brian. Later that night she gets a call from Tony's dad. It is 4 a.m. and Brian and Tony never returned home. Meg and her father go out to search the woods with the police. They have found footprints but not the boys. Meg accidentally wanders off into the woods and gets separated from her father. She sees something and runs but somebody grabs her from behind and whispers another warning about the party. She pulls free but falls down a ravine. When she comes to a moment later she sees a body at her feet. It's Brian. He is alive but bleeding heavily. Tony shows up and says that Brian fell down the ravine and he went to get help but got lost.

The following day Meg visits Brian in the hospital but he's pretty messed up. He's talking nothing but nonsense about the fantasy game. He says that the warrior (Tony) came and fought for his place but the wizard (Brian) has many tricks that the warrior does not know about. He also says that the battle is not won yet. He then blabs about thinking he has the power to call Evan back from the dead and confesses to Meg about the phone calls. Supposedly he called to warn her but hung up before she ever answered. Meg is more confused than anything. She's further shocked when Ellen shows up in Brian's room. She goes home and calls Tony and tells him about Brian's weird behavior. Tony says that he and Meg will talk tomorrow at David's party.

After hanging up the phone, Tony admits that he's not surprised Brian has talked. He always knew that he would. He knows that he must prevent him from talking anymore. Tony is the one who pushed Brian down the ravine. Now Brian has squealed and Meg knows that Tony killed Evan. He was fighting that night with Evan and the gun went off. But Tony doesn't know if it was an accident or if he had actually wanted to kill Evan. Brian has left him no choice. When he talks to Meg at David's party he's going to have to push her off of River Ridge and kill her.

The next day Shannon and Meg visit Ellen but it is all very awkward and is like losing a friend all over again. Later that night, they all go to David's party. Dwayne hits on Shannon who gets very annoyed and Tony and Meg leave the party alone. He takes her to Lovers’ Ledge. Tony is surprised at how trusting she seems. Maybe Brian didn't actually say anything to her. He then switches his mind and becomes determined that Brian and Ellen are actually the problem.

It is Saturday night and Ellen is completely shocked at the surprise party. Unbeknownst to anyone, Tony is hiding a gun in case Brian or Ellen decides to cause problems. Brian shows up at the party ranting about being a wizard who can bring Evan back from the dead. Everyone screams when someone who looks exactly like Evan walks in. Tony freaks out. Shannon tries to calm everyone down by saying that it is Mike, her half-brother. As Tony is about to confess to Evan's murder the lights go out. When they come back on Tony has been shot. They see Dwayne run outside with Tony's gun. He grabs Ellen and says that she will come with him as she helped him kill Evan anyway. Meg tries to stop him and gets taken too. Thinking everyone will think that they went outside, Dwayne doubles back and leads them into an old kitchen. He says that he shot Tony because he could tell everyone that Dwayne was the person who killed Evan. Ellen is confused because she saw Tony kill Evan.

Ellen tells Meg the story. That night that Evan died Tony and Ellen had followed him into the woods because they were worried about him. Ellen had just broken up with Evan. She and Tony had been cheating with each other on Evan and Meg. Tony and Evan fought over the rifle and it went off. Brian arrived and said that he would make it all look like an accident. Dwayne proceeds to tell the real truth of what happened that night. He and Brian had been playing the fantasy game when they heard the gun go off. When Brian, Tony, and Ellen left Dwayne with Evan's body Dwayne discovered that Evan was alive. He wasn't even shot. He had fallen and hit his head on a rock and was unconscious. Dwayne had always hated Evan for keeping him away from Shannon so he decided to shoot him.

Meg, knowing that she and Ellen were in trouble, remembers an old screaming game the girls used to play called, “Eek-a-mouse!” She signals to Ellen and she proceeds to scream that she saw mouse which distracts Dwayne enough for Meg to hit him over the head with a frying pan.

Later on the next day, Meg discovers that it was Tony who was trying to stop the party all along. He is in the hospital but he will be okay and he and Meg are officially over as a couple. Ellen didn't even stick around and disappeared back home. Meg discovers that Brian had approached Mike and asked him to show up at the party and pretend to be Evan. He wanted the truth to come out. He and Ellen actually knew about the surprise party and decided that they couldn't handle the guilt anymore and wanted Tony exposed. Luckily for everyone the truth is now out and Evan's real killer has been brought to justice.

Thoughts and Nuggets of Wisdom for Research

This is another typical Fear Street story. Most of the evidence usually gathered from this series typically falls under the values and traditions of gender stereotypes, economics, and attitudes towards the horror genre for young readers. It was actually quite interesting to note that what I originally thought, and what I remembered from when I read the books as a tween, was a loosely connected series about odd supernatural happenings on a street in Shadyside actually does feature some recurring characters. In this book we discover the main character Meg is actually friends with Lisa and Cory who were the main characters in the first book of the series, The New Girl. There is also mention later in the book of a character named Suki Thomas, who happens to be the town's resident stereotypical slut and will appear as the main character a few books later.

While Meg is slightly commended for refusing to back down from the threats and cancel the party, she is a main character who at the beginning of the book complains about her appearance and personality (for no apparent narrative reason except to complain) compared to her friends. Here are some examples:

Meg stared at her friend. Shannon didn't have any extra pounds to take off. Her figure was perfect. With her coppery hair, blue eyes, and full, pouty mouth, Meg thought, Shannon looked just like that actress in movies, Molly Ringwald. (p. 4)

Everyone was always teasing Meg for being too gung ho, too enthusiastic, too bright and chirpy. She was short and, to her constant regret, still hadn't developed much of the figure. And with a round face, short blonde hair, and big blue eyes, she was sometimes mistaken for a kid, which drove her bananas! (p. 4)

At first Meg thought maybe it was her fault. Maybe Tony was getting tired of her. They’d been going together for more than two years. Maybe he was angry because he wanted to dump her and didn't know how. But every time she mentioned it, he got a hurt look on his face and swore that nothing was wrong. (p. 5)

There are other occurrences in the book in which characters are described in stereotypical ways. Shannon complains about Brian, effectively dismissing him because he is a nerd who plays a D&D like game: “Well, he’s [Dwayne] still a creep. He's always hanging out with your cousin Brian, playing Wizards and Dungeons in the woods. Oh—I didn't mean to say that your cousin is a creep” (p. 6).

On pages 21-22 a huge character analysis is given of everyone involved:

Her eyes roamed from face to face. There was Shannon, Evan's sister. She seemed to lose some of her life when Evan lost his. She had always been so enthusiastic about everything, so spirited, so ready to have fun. Evan's death had caused her to withdraw. She didn't seem to need her friends as much. It was as if she was pulling into herself, hardening herself, forcing herself not need anyone else so that she could be hurt by another loss in the same way.

Tony sat near the back, writing intently in a notebook. He and Evan had been buddies. Tony admired Evan, looked up to him, Meg realized, for his wildness, for the fact that Evan didn't care what people thought of him, for his need to do what he felt like when he felt like it. Tony wished he could be that way. But he was too hung up to be that free and easy, too worried about being poor at school where most kids were better off, too concerned about being accepted by other kids.

Tony had tried to act tough when he learned that Evan was dead. But at the funeral he broke down and sobbed. Ever since he'd been so moody.

On the other side of the room was her cousin Brian. With his wavy blonde hair, blue eyes, and dimpled grin, Brian looked like an innocent kid. But Meg knew that Brian wasn't as happy-go-lucky as he looked. He was a strange guy who kept mostly to himself.

Right now he wasn't studying. He was reading a copy of Dragon magazine. He spent most of his time playing that game Wizards & Dungeons, hanging out with his friend Dwayne, talking about Fourth-Level Warriors and dragons and stuff Meg wasn't the least bit interested in.

Brian and Evan hadn't been friends. But Brian had been in the Fear Street woods that awful day. Brian heard the shot and came running. Brian told everyone that he found Evan lying dead on the ground, Ellen sitting beside him, crying, unable to talk, unable to say a word, unable to explain.

What had Brian been doing alone in the Fear Street woods? No one knew. But Brian had changed, too, because of Evan's death. Afterward, he seemed to become even more involved in the strange fantasy games he played. His grades, which had been excellent, began to slip. His parents, Meg's aunt and uncle, were very worried. They felt helpless. They didn't know what to do about Brian.

One death, Meg thought. One boy dies in the woods, and so many lives are affected.

The highlight of the book though was Meg’s inner monologue that gives homage to stupid, stereotypical girls in horror movies after she receives her first threats (p. 12):

Whoever it was had seen too many bad horror movies, she decided. Halloween V! Freddy Returns! Friday the 13^th, Part 400! How dumb. Girls in those films were either tramps or frightened idiots. They get one scary, whispered phone call and fall to pieces, frightened out of their wits. Well, this was real life, not a dumb movie. And whoever it was certainly didn't know Meg very well. Maybe she was small and young looking. Maybe she wasn't as sophisticated as a lot of kids at Shadyside. But she wasn't easily pushed around. She had a stubborn streak a mile long. At least that's what her mother always said. And Meg took that as a compliment.

Stay Out of the Basement (Goosebumps #2)

Stay Out of the Basement (Goosebumps #2)

R.L. Stine

Scholastic, 1992

Genre: Horror

Description

Casey and Margaret's father is acting more distant lately. They moved to California so their dad could work at PolyTech, a biological science company, but he was fired four weeks ago for some plant experiments that went wrong. For the past four weeks their father has been sequestered in the basement working. He's been doing all kinds of experiments with different equipment and plants that have been delivered to the house. One day they decide to try and see what he's working on and go down to the basement. Their father very uncharacteristically yells at them and tells them to never come back down there again.

Two weeks after receiving the warning to stay out of the basement, Casey and Margaret are told that Mrs. Brewer is leaving for Tucson as she's received a phone call that her sister is in the hospital. Their dad leaves to take her to the airport. Diane, Margaret's best friend, is over and says that now is the perfect time for them to look in the basement. Margaret is a little hesitant but Diane calls her chicken. They all follow her downstairs for just a quick peek.

The basement is like a sauna. It is hot and moist and there are tall, jungle like plants and trees in a swampy atmosphere. Diane touches one and says that its leaves feel like a glass. Casey inspects one plant that he swears is breathing. Margaret listens closely and thinks she hears it too, but Diane thinks that they're going crazy. Suddenly one of the plants releases tendrils with a moaning sound. They head back upstairs just as Mr. Brewer is returning. Casey realizes that he left his shirt downstairs, which he took off because it was so hot. He decides to run back down to retrieve it quickly before their dad comes into the house. After a few moments the girls realize that he is taking a long time to come back up. When Casey went downstairs and was reaching for shirt he once again heard the breathing and moaning from the plant. As he reached for his shirt the tendrils grew and grabbed him around the waist like an animal. They weren’t hurting him, just not letting go. Margaret finally appears to help him break free only to be confronted by a very angry father at the foot of the stairs. He tells them that he will talk about the plants someday soon and locks them out of the basement.

The next morning Casey and Margaret discover a brand-new lock on the basement door. A few days later they discover that their father has taken to wearing a Dodgers baseball cap and won't take it off. Home alone, Margaret decides to get some lunch when she spies her father in the kitchen devouring something from a plastic bag. Margaret is intrigued because he has been refusing to eat with them for a long time. She waits until he goes back downstairs and discovers that the bag she saw him eating from contains plant food. She tells Casey about it but he just laughs and thinks that she's crazy that she might be suggesting that their father is turning into plant. Diane informs Margaret that her father says that Margaret's father was fired because the University told him to stop his experiments and he actually refused.

A few days later on their way home Diane's, Casey and Margaret are shocked to see their father outside. Casey throws a Frisbee at him for fun but accidentally knocks his hat off. They discover that their father is totally bald and in place of hair he's begun to grow green leafy sprouts out of the top of his head. Their father sits them down and tells them that he has talked to their mother who informed him that they are worried about him. He says that the leaves are just a side effect from his experiments that will soon go away. He finally admits to them what he's trying to do—build a brand-new plant that is not only a plant but is also part animal.

That night Margaret can't sleep. She hears her father in the basement early in the morning and decides to ask about the plant food. She ends up seeing him unwrap his hand which she’d seen him cut the day that he had told them long ago to stay out of the basement. Margaret is freaked out when she sees that he's bleeding green blood. She can't sleep so she goes to the kitchen for some water. Casey ends up scaring her. They hear sad moaning from the basement and Casey admits that he thinks that their father is lying to them.

Margaret wakes up in the morning and goes into her father's room but he's already down in his basement. She notices that his bed has huge clumps of black dirt and is crawling with earthworms. As Margaret and Casey try to decide what to do, they notice of their father has come upstairs and has made lunch. He wants them to try his new dish. It does not look very appeasing as it looks like mushed green mashed potatoes. They are scared to eat it and are saved by the doorbell. It is Mr. Martinez, their father's old boss. He has come to see their father's work and so they head down into the basement.

The next afternoon their father agrees to help the neighbor install a brand-new sink. Casey and Margaret decide that this is their best chance to get back into the basement. Once again, they hear moaning and apparently breathing plants. They finally hear something that sounds like someone banging on the door. Under a table Casey finds Mr. Martinez’s clothes and they recall that they didn't actually see him leave the house yesterday. They hear footsteps and escape out the basement window. Their father knows that they were down there. He gathers them and tells them that Mr. Martinez got hot and actually left his clothes but he plans to return them to him today. Once again, he tells them to stay out of the basement as it could be dangerous.

The following Saturday their father leaves to pick up their mom from the airport. Casey decides that he wants to go flying kites but all the kites are in the basement. Despite numerous warnings, Casey breaks into the basement again to get his kites. As he is searching on a shelf for them he finds a pair of trousers with a wallet containing Mr. Martinez's ID. Soon he hears the banging in the closet again. He and Margaret manage to remove a 2 x 4 nailed in place and then jimmy the rest of the door open. Inside are moving, breathing, moaning plants with human parts growing out of them. There is even one with a human face. At the far back of the closet Margaret sees a human. She goes inside and finds her father tied up. He says that the man who left for the airport was actually a plant copy of him. Mr. Martinez is also in the closet. Suddenly their father and mother show up and Margaret is left to question which man is really her dad.

The man from the closet calls her Princess. That suddenly gives her an idea. Casey tosses her a knife and she proceeds to stab the father that she found in the closet in the arm. Red blood trickled out. She is pretty sure that closet dad is the real one. She goes ahead and hands him an ax and he succeeds in chopping the other father in half. Green blood slips out of his body as they realize the plant father was just one gigantic stem—he had no bones or organs.

By the end of the week most of the suffering plants have been destroyed. Margaret is happy to know that her father is going to stop his weird experiments. However, she doesn't expect to discover a flower outside in the yard that calls her by name and tells her that it is her real father.

Thoughts and Nuggets of Wisdom for Research

Not much evidence in the second installment of the Goosebumps series. What is available is about parental relationships. In this case, the mom is actually physically absent for most of the story while the father is mentally absent.

Early on on page two, Margaret narrates that “she felt sorry for Casey. He and their dad were really close, always playing ball or Frisbee or Nintendo together. Then Dr. Brewer didn't seem to have time for that anymore. . . . Dad hadn’t been the same to her, either. In fact, he spent so much time down in the basement, he barely said a word to her. He doesn't even call me Princess anymore, Margaret thought. It was a nickname she hated. But at least it was a nickname, a sign of closeness.” She also notes how “having Dad home has made Mom really tense, too. She pretends everything is fine. But I can tell she's worried about him” (p. 4). Their mother eventually says, “Your father's experiments are very important to him,” to which Meg cries, “More important than we are?” (p. 42).

There is also a brief gender stereotype in passing as Margaret calls Diane the science freak and says she loves math and science—the two subjects Margaret hates the most (p. 13). Even though this took place in the 1990s there was still the idea that girls shouldn’t like or enjoy or be good at math or science.

Jerry Todd and the Whispering Mummy (Jerry Todd #1)

Jerry Todd and the Whispering Mummy (Jerry Todd #1)

Leo Edwards

Grosset & Dunlap, 1933

Genre: Mystery, Humor, Adventure

Description

Jerry Todd and his best friends, Scoop Ellery, Red Meyers, and Peg Shaw, are out selling ice cream sandwiches for five cents a piece to make some money. Jerry's gang is rivals with the Stricker gang of Jimmy and Bid, two cousins who do nothing but play evil tricks. A rowdy college student coming back into town at the train depot offers to buy their entire ice cream cart. Scoop demands five dollars and the college student actually gives him $5.25. Scoop isn't too upset about losing his cart and tells the boys that they'll wait until nightfall and head up to the college campus to retrieve it. While they're heading back home Peg discovers a funny gold pin with a mummy that has a Sphinx head on it. The boys recall last fall a certain item in the local newspaper about the Golden Sphinx frat house with crazy initiation rites. Red thinks that the odd writing on the pin must be the mummy's name. The boys immediately think of the mummy name Ramses who is up at the college museum. The boys decide to go and check out the mummy. This mummy was donated to the museum by Mr. Dickson White, a man on the waterpower committee with Jerry's father, who acquired the mummy originally for $2,000.

On their way to see the mummy they encounter an old man on the side of the road polishing police stars. He tells the boys that they are detective badges and asks them if they would like to join his Jupiter Detective Agency. He introduces himself as the president, Mr. Anson Arnoldsmith. The boys all agree to spend their five dollars on membership and their very own detective badges. Jerry especially can't wait for everyone to find out about it because he knows that they will be jealous and look at him in an appreciative and respectful way as not every boy gets to be a junior detective. Unfortunately, the boys wonder when they'll get a chance to detect since their town is rather small and notorious for having absolutely no crime or anything of interest happening.

On their way to the museum they stop by the frat house first and return the mummy pin. In gratitude the frat boys offered to call on Jerry and his friends to work on small jobs around the frat house and get paid. The boys finally make it to the museum and see the hideous mummy of Ramses II who reigned during the XIX Dynasty. While they are staring at the mummy they hear a sudden groan and a voice whispering that it is not just sleeping. The boys run away. Peg thinks that was just a trick of the frat boys whereas Scoop ventures a guess that this might be the mystery that they are looking for. They decide to go back but on their way they stop at the police station and speak to Bill who, after hearing about the mummy, agrees to give them some old handcuffs to take with them because he would like to see the frat students get caught by one of their own tricks. Right then Bill gets a phone call stating that a man at the museum has gotten hurt. Since it is an anonymous phone call he sends Red to the train depot where the call came from a payphone to see if he can possibly get a clue to the caller. Peg is sent to go get the doctor while Jerry and Scoop accompany Bill to the museum.

They reach the museum and find a man lying unconscious in front of the mummy case. Jerry realizes that it is Mr. Arnoldsmith. Next Jerry notices that the mummy is gone. Bill is confused because the name that the anonymous caller gave him was Ramses. The only type of “clew” they find is a small wooden statuette that is on the floor behind the case. They deduce that that is probably what knocked the old man unconscious. Jerry crawls behind the case and discovers a handkerchief. Unfolding it he discovers a gold watch, gold hairbrush, and a fancy gold comb. He shows them to Scoop who notices a Sphinx-headed mummy just like the frat boys' pin. Bill automatically believes that the students are responsible, but Scoop thinks that that is illogical because why would someone bother to take a mummy and leave behind a bunch of evidence? Jerry agrees because he believes that the college kids just like having some clean fun but they wouldn't have hurt someone. The big mystery seems to be how the mummy has disappeared. The boys remember the frat boy who bought their ice cream cart and set off to look for it in a nearby bush where they last saw it. It is now gone. After a few phone calls Bill discovers that the golden items were just reported stolen from the frat house tonight while students were off at dinner. The university is willing to up pay $200 for any information regarding the mummy so the boys are determined to solve this mystery.

The boys head to the hospital but are informed that Mr. Arnoldsmith has not regained consciousness. Jerry wants to spend the night in order to interview him the moment he wakes up but his parents make him go home. His dad compromises though and lets him set his alarm for 4 a.m. to head to the emergency room first thing in the morning. On his way to the hospital he runs into a milkman who mentions something about seeing an old man that he nearly ran over. When Jerry finally gets to the hospital the nurse decides to go in and check on her patient when they discover that he is missing. Jerry remembers what the milkman said and they know that that must've been Mr. Arnoldsmith. The gang gets together and heads toward the old Morgan house, an abandoned house were they do indeed find Mr. Arnoldsmith.

Mr. Arnoldsmith tells the boys a fantastic story about the mummy itch, a weird type of bug that causes extreme cases of itching that can live for years and years. He warns the boys that they need to find the mummy as soon as possible because he believes that these bugs are hiding in the corpse. Jerry has a little bit of a hard time believing this tall tale. Mr. Arnoldsmith says that he is the chief mummy inspector for the US division of the American Egyptian Mummy Importing Association. He tells the boys that he has no idea who hit him over the head and stole the mummy, but that he needs the boys’ help to find the mummy so that he can inspect it. The boys promise to try to find the mummy and he gives him one last warning not to let the mummy get wet because that will cause that itchers to come out. The boys head back to where they last saw their ice cream wagon and follow the trail which leads all the way to a concrete sidewalk in the cemetery.

The boys read in the detective handbook that Mr. Arnoldsmith gave them that criminals are notorious for returning to the scene of the crime so they decide to set a trap. The boys stakeout the museum and hide. A man eventually approaches where Jerry is hiding and in a panic he hits him with a kitchen poker. The boys decide to handcuff him and give him the third degree. They drag him to an empty boxcar and attempt to start asking questions when the train starts to take off. Having no other choice, they are left to abandon the man and jump off.

The next after school Jerry sees the Stricker gang and overhears one of them mention that they found a map that says something about a mummy being concealed. Supposedly the mummy is being kept at Deacon Pillpopper's barn in the old incubator. Jerry decides that he needs to get to the barn before the other boys. Unfortunately, the rest of Jerry's friends are nowhere to be found so he is going to have to head off the Stricker gang himself. Jerry gets to the barn and crawls inside the old incubator. Right then he hears feet running and discovers that he has been duped as the Stricker boys proceed to lock him inside. After about 15 minutes Scoop shows up—not to rescue Jerry but in fact to fall for the same exact trick. They're halfway home when they intercept Red and Peg headed towards the barn because they have also fallen for the trick.

The next day Jerry and his friends get out of school early to attend the wedding of Bill and Jerry's teacher, Ms. Skinner. Unfortunately, they discover that Bill was supposed to have left town to get the marriage license yesterday but hasn't returned yet. All the women assume that poor Bill has decided to abandon Lulu. The mayor finally arrives and appears very anxious. He announces that he just received a telegram saying that Bill is confined to the insane asylum at the county infirmary. They said that they had found a man handcuffed and “blacked up like a negro” (p. 166) aboard the boxcar. The boys quickly realize their mistake as Jerry's father heads out of town to go retrieve Bill. Scoop doubts that they will get into much trouble and speculates that at most their badges will be taken away. Jerry can't help but notice all the trouble that they seem to have been getting into since becoming detectives. When Jerry's father and Bill get back to town Jerry overhears Bill relate a story about how he was overtaken by a gang of “hunkies” who hit him over the head when he wasn't looking.

The following Tuesday Jerry and his friends realize that they almost forgot that they had promised to work a dinner at the frat boys fraternity for their latest initiation. Jerry and Scoop secretly watch the initiation process and are shocked when two students bring in Scoop's missing ice cream cart. They deliver the cart to the frat's basement door. They discover the mummy inside the cart and later overhear the students say that they are glad that they didn't hurt the man too much. They follow the two frat boys as they cart the mummy to the graveyard and start setting up an elaborate hoax where they string the mummy up alongside a tombstone in the attempt to later pull the strings and make the mummy appear alive.

When the frat boys disappear after having set up their trick Jerry and Scoop quickly unrig the mummy and go and retrieve Red and Peg. They decide that they're going to take the mummy back to Mr. Arnoldsmith so he can inspect it. The easiest way to get to the Morgan house is by the river so the boys grab a boat, load the mummy into it, and push off. As they're floating down the river they pass by the Stricker gang's hideaway. They immediately decide to use the mummy to pay them back for trying to lock them all in incubator. They unload the mummy and walk him in front of the window while making moaning sounds. The boys succeed in scaring the crap out of them. On the way back to the boat the boys stumble and the mummy ends up getting wet.

Mr. Arnoldsmith discovers that the mummy is wet and says that the itchers will be out in no time. He thinks the only thing to do is to bury the mummy in the celler and demands the boys go down and begin digging a grave. After digging for a while, Scoop looks up and screams—the trap door to the celler has been closed and Mr. Arnoldsmith has left them down there with the mummy. They hear him moving around upstairs and can tell that he has started a fire but he won't answer the boys’ cries for help. The boys began to panic and start to feel themselves get bit by the itchers (they later find out that it is just in their imagination). After what appears like hours the boys finally hear other footsteps. It is Jerry's father and Bill. Bill proceeds to arrest Mr. Arnoldsmith who had been burning the mummy.

It turns out that the mummy was made of wood and paper. Mr. Arnoldsmith is actually a man named Amos Herzog and he happens to be running a scam where he sells fake mummies to people for lots of money and then proceeds to steal them back and burn up the evidence. It was the light from the fire that had finally attracted everyone's attention to the old house. Mr. Arnoldsmith is sent to jail.

Thoughts and Nuggets of Wisdom for Research

I was very lucky to come across a copy of this book as all the books that Leo Edwards wrote are among some of the most highly collectible youth series fiction books out there. Many of his books do not go for less than $40 a piece. I was lucky to get this book, which is the first in the Jerry Todd series, along with the sixth book for about $10—sans dust jackets. The reason why a lot of collectors really like Edwards's work is because he really knew how to write from a boy's perspective and most of his series were well-known not only for excellent writing but also for being some of the funniest series books in the history of series books. Of course, being that the books are printed in the 1930s, the Jerry Todd books are best used to present evidence of racism. No matter how well-written a book it was still the 1930s, a point in American history where Americans were unfortunately very racist.

Mr. Arnoldsmith, the Chief Mummy Inspector, is stereotypically described as a bum. When they first find him they think he is a hobo and it’s shocking that they actually trusted him to be an important government employee when he talks in horrible dialect which in series books is used to designate black servants, “savage” people, or the bad guys. On pages 17-18 he says:

Fur membership in my detective agency. Mebby as how I ain't told you 'bout me tourin' the United States and Canady app'intin' Juvenile Jupiter Detectives in the cities and towns what I stop off in. Thought at first you boys might be able to qualify and become detectives in my company, with sole and exclusive rights to do detectin' in Tutter. But I reckon you're a bit too young fur such a great responsibility. Then, too, you might not be able to pay the 'nitial membership fee, which fur one week only is reduced to a dollar and a quarter and you git a star and membership card and a book tellin' how to disguise yourselves and how to do detectin'. All fur only a dollar and a quarter, which is a big bargain. But when I see four smart, wide-awake young fellers like you be I ain't carin' if I was a little money if I kin git you in my company. I like to see smart boys like you be take a leadin' part in the affairs of your community; and every community the size of this ought to have four Jupiter Detectives. Of course if you could afford to pay the membership fee, which, as I say, is reduced to only a dollar and a quarter fur one week only, I might consider your applications fur membership in my celebrated advance company, even though you're a bit young.

Another piece of evidence in regards to race deals with the boys planning their stakeout in which they accidentally bag Bill whom they think is a black man. When they gathered clothes Jerry says, “We finally decided it would be best to disguise ourselves of the Italians. We can make for mustaches out for our red handkerchiefs about her necks. No one would recognize acidifying the sky like that” and when he hits Bill it reads: “A gasp broke for me when I saw that the fellow was a strange negro. Never had I seen a blacker man. He lay dead still and I was afraid I had killed him” (p. 123, 131). (Complete with horribly racist illustration!)

Bill with coal-black skin and puffy white lips

Another common staple of series books is the incompetence of the police force. It’s a wonder how any bad guys where caught in the 1930s because every town seemed to need a young teen detective to get the job done. Bill, the sheriff in the Jerry Todd books is no different. When Jerry is thinking about poor Mr. Arnoldsmith being in the hospital he thinks to himself (p. 63-64):

Bill is quick to jump to conclusions. I could see where he likely will would suspicion [sic?] Mr. Arnoldsmith. I knew better. Mr. Arnoldsmith wouldn’t do a thing like that. It is easy to tell the kind of people some folks are just by looking them over and listening to them talk. Some people have quality in class and character and show which enacted. Some others try to make you think they have it by saying things and acting things intended to keep you thinking that way, and all the time you know they're bluffing. Mr. Arnoldsmith wasn't the bluffing kind. No, sir-e! He was a kindly, honest man. I could tell it just by looking into his deep blue eyes and listening to his warm, friendly voice.

Later, he comments how if they report finding Mr. Arnoldsmith that “Right way Bill would plunk him into jail. We don't want to put him in jail, do we? Course not. He isn't a criminal like Bill tries to make out. He's a good man but unfortunate and getting mixed up in this thing. It's more manly for us to help an old man like him out of trouble then to help him into jail" (p. 85).

And, lastly, when Jerry overhears Bill’s story of getting attacked he thinks: “Bill had made up an awful yarn. Sometimes a kid with a big imagination gets to tell and things double; but it isn't to be expected that a man would do a thing like that. A man is supposed to have judgment and know always what is right and what isn't, and wasn't right for Bill to let on that he had just been jumped onto by a dozen husky hobos and had only been put out of the fight when he was hit from behind with the gas pipe” (p. 182).

There is an interesting moment from a gender point-of-view in which Jerry, a pretty strong willed boy, admits to feeling embarrassment. It deals with getting caught dressed in the clothes from their stakeout. He narrates:

My thoughts jumped to the Quaker pants and my face burned when I recalled how everybody had laughed at me. A fellow hates to be made fun of that way. Mrs. Meyers said it was all a joke about our wearing Mr. Meyers's pants—she said that boys would be poison for her but she'd rather have Donald doing Juniper [sic] detecting and practicing circus stunts on his gas pipe trapeze and likely to get his neck broken, or something. It would soon be all over town about me wearing the Quaker pants hind side to. And at school the girls would look at me and put their hands over their mouths and giggle. You know how girls act about a thing like that. The boys would poke fun at me, too. I didn't mind that so much. Take the Stricker gang. If they got to fresh record turn in and clean up on them. But you can clean up on a girl, no matter how mean and smart-acting she is. (p. 142-43)

The only other really gendered moment is a comment in passing to Jerry’s teacher marrying Bill: “Miss Grimes was to be our new teacher now that Miss Skinner had resigned to marry Bill. I didn't like to change a bit. Miss Skinner was pretty and good-natured and Miss Grimes was kind of old and awfully cross” (p. 144). This implies that even though Miss Skinner was a good teacher she is leaving the profession just because she is getting married. There is also mention of Jerry’s mom when she is helping Lulu on her wedding day: “Mother wasn't in sight. Very likely she was in the Sunday school room fussing around Miss Skinner with a mouth full of pins and a powder puff. Women like to do those things” (p. 163).

Lastly, for a series book, the Jerry Todd series actually features positive appearances from the parents—both Mr. and Mrs. Todd. Usually, as we know, in series books the parents are either absent or dead.

When Jerry comes home with his fancy new detective badge, Mrs. Todd gets a bit of a laugh at Jerry’s expense:  “‘A—dollar—and—a—,’ Mother didn't seem able to get any further than that. She quit laughing and stared at me, a teacup halfway to her mouth. She acted as though I had dropped into something she couldn’t pull me out of. Dad choked and hid his face in his napkin. After moment mother said: ‘Maybe, Jerry, you won't mind telling your pa and me who stung you for the dollar and a quarter’” (p. 24).

Jerry describes his parents in positive ways: “Dad's a good pal, like Mother, and just as quick as she is to help me out when I get in a scrape. Yes, sir, I bet I got the best pa and ma in the whole state of Illinois” (p. 26).

Lastly, there is a pretty touching moment when Jerry’s dad gives him an impassioned speech about being a man. He says (p. 74):

 “You know, son, in this old world there are leaders and followers. And I kind of figured it out if your mother and I believed in you and let you do things and encouraged you to act and think for yourself, you'd become a leader among your boy pals and then, later on, a leader among men. That's why we won't kick when you go jumping into something that strikes your mother as being a bit risky. We don't do it because we’re careless about what might happen to you; we do it because we've got a lot of confidence in you. We just know that when you're out of sight you'll do only those things that we would want you to do if we were right there with you—things that don't cause you to take foolish risks—things that are manly and clean and on the square. That's the kind of leader we want you to be, Jerry—clean and true and honest and fair all the way through.”

Double Love (Sweet Valley High #1)

Double Love (Sweet Valley High #1)

Francine Pascal

Kate William, Bantam Books, 1983

Genre: Realistic, Romance, School Story

Description

Jessica and Elizabeth Wakefield are awaiting the results, along with a number of other the girls, of whether or not they will be admitted to the Pi Beta sorority. They have endured their dares, such as Elizabeth having to call in a pizza for delivery to Mr. Russo's chemistry class—one of the best but toughest teachers –or sending a singing telegram to Chrome Dome the nickname of the principal, or when they dyed the mashed potatoes in the cafeteria purple. However, it is Jessica who is a little bit more excited about belonging to the sorority. Elizabeth wants to be a writer. She's currently a reporter for the school newspaper the Oracle and is the secret writer of the “eyes and ears” column. Her best friend, Enid, has been asked by Ronnie Edwards, the new guy, to the Phi Epsilon dance. Elizabeth herself is hoping that Todd Wilkins will ask her. When Todd asks Elizabeth to meet him after school she is late because of work she had to do in the Oracle office and is disappointed to see him and Jessica drive off together. She is shocked to find out the next day the gossip going around school—that Jessica and Todd are the hot new couple.

While Jessica is interested in Todd she is also quite a bad girl, such as when she accepts a ride from Rich Andover, a 17-year-old dropout. He takes her to a local dive bar where he gets in a fist fight with the patron and the cops show up. Jessica, ashamed of being out with him, doesn't contradict the police officer when he accidentally calls her Elizabeth. When Elizabeth asks who she was on a date with and Jessica won't tell her, Elizabeth assumes that it must've been Todd. Unfortunately for Elizabeth Caroline Pearce, the resident gossip queen, witnesses Jessica getting out of the police car and being called “Elizabeth” so she spreads rumors around school that Elizabeth got arrested. Elizabeth doesn't understand why everyone is talking about her behind her back until Enid tells Elizabeth the rumor.

Todd is depressed at the thought that Elizabeth would get arrested and is doubly disappointed when Jessica tells them that Elizabeth already has a date to the dance. He hangs out with Ronnie and Enid and is shocked at how Ronnie is a total asshole who flatly denies Enid's protesting of Elizabeth's innocence and demands that Enid not hang out with Elizabeth anymore. (Considering how straight-laced Elizabeth is and how Jessica is seen as the bad girl usually it is pretty infuriating to read this and to see that no one—including Elizabeth's best friend—even considers the fact that it could have been Jessica, Elizabeth's twin sister, who was really the one arrested!)

A few days later Jessica tells Elizabeth it will blow over. In fact no one even talks to her about it anymore. Elizabeth, on the other hand, is supremely pissed off. She tells Jessica that she is a walking conversation stopper. Everyone hints at it when she's around. In the Oracle office someone even wrote on the board about how the big shot editor makes the news but it isn't even mentioned in the school paper. Elizabeth is tired of her reputation being dragged through the mud. Elizabeth tries to focus on one of the biggest stories currently happening. Sweet Valley High might lose their football field. George Fowler wants to take the football field and turn it into another factory while the Patman's supposedly want to turn it into an amusement park. Basically the two rivals are using the football field to continue their longstanding family feud. The Patman family made all their money in the canning industry while the Fowlers are of “new” money and made it on silicon chips. The reason why they might win the football field is because the school leased the land through the city and the lease is coming up. It turns out that the rumors are partially true. The Fowlers do indeed want to build a factory while the Patmans want to re-create the Vanderhorn garden as it was in 1916. The football team convinces everyone to stage a sit in which is successful until people start to accost Lila and Bruce. Bruce says that if they want to talk about a disgrace to Sweet Valley Jessica should look at her own family as her dad and his assistant, Marianna West, are clearly fooling around.

To try to make it up to Elizabeth, Jessica tries to come clean to Todd and admit that it was her that was at the bar and got arrested. Todd thinks she's being noble and trying to take the blame for Elizabeth. He kisses her that asks her to the dance. Elizabeth meanwhile is being bugged by Bruce Patman and finally tells him that she has a date to the dance and won't go with him. When Bruce asks who, Winston pipes up and says him. Bruce, being an egotistical jock, can't believe that Elizabeth would rather go to the dance with a nerd. Jessica tells Elizabeth that she told Todd everything and that Todd forgives her (Jessica) and asked her to the dance. However, she fails to tell Elizabeth that Todd thanks Jessica was just trying to cover up for Elizabeth.

Jessica and Elizabeth talk with their older brother, Steven, about rumors that are going around about their father and Marianna. Stupidly, Jessica admits that they know that Steven is seeing Betsy Martin, the town druggie. Steven says that they've got it wrong as he is actually seeing Tricia, her sister. Unfortunately since he was hiding the relationship she realized that he was ashamed of her family and dumped him. When Elizabeth tells Jessica that she is going to the dance with Winston Jessica can believe that she chose that clown over Bruce who she would kill to go with. When the day of the dance arrives Elizabeth makes a stunning entrance into the living room while Winston acts like a dork and causes Jessica to get mad that he spoiled her own entrance. At the dance Jessica is jealous that Todd seems disinterested in her so she points to Bruce and claims that he is just one of the many boys who asked Elizabeth to the dance. Winston easily notices Elizabeth interest in Todd and urges her to talk to him. Meanwhile, Steven is depressed and confronted by his parents after they forced the truth out of Elizabeth and Jessica. They encourage him to go and make up with Tricia. On his way over to her house later Steven sees his father and Marianna driving in the car and he follows them to a house.

After the dance Jessica, in her jealousy towards how Todd was paying attention to Elizabeth, tells Elizabeth that Todd is a player that has nothing but sex on his mind. So with Todd now showing an interest in Elizabeth she wants absolutely nothing to do with him because of what Jessica said. Todd eventually calls her to apologize for his behavior and says that he will forgive Elizabeth if she promises never to see that creep Andover again. He says that everyone “knows” it was Elizabeth. Elizabeth can't believe that Todd is taking a bunch of rumors for truth and says that she never wants to speak to him again.

Elizabeth focuses on the court case to take her mind off of things. It is Marianna who does most of the speaking and ends up getting the lease awarded to the Sweet Valley High Board of Education. When she discovers that Marianna is being invited over to dinner and that her father has a huge announcement to make she immediately decides that it has to be about a divorce. The announcement in fact happens to be that Marianna is now a new partner at her father's firm.

Elizabeth eventually tries to go on other dates as she sees Todd out with other girls. One day after a meeting of the sorority Jessica and Elizabeth discover that their car is being followed. It is a drunk Rick Andover who gets in their stalled car, fixes it, and races away with them. It causes havoc at the Dairi Burger and Todd gets in his car to try to save the girls. They end up in the pub parking lot were Todd and Andover get into a fight. Todd wins and Elizabeth kisses him. Todd takes them home and that is where he reveals that he should've known that Jessica was the one who got arrested and Elizabeth learns that Jessica told him that she was supposedly uber popular and had tons of dates to dance. Elizabeth learns that Todd at the end of the dance was hardly grabby and all he did was give Jessica a kiss on the cheek. Elizabeth is upset at Jessica and has the perfect plan for getting back at her.

Elizabeth and Jessica ride to the rally for the football team with Todd. It is part of her payback plan. While they are getting dressed she accidentally dumps water on Jessica to force her to change clothes. She offers up her own outfit so that Jessica will look like Elizabeth. Once there Elizabeth goes to see Dana, lead singer of the Droids. Pretending to be Jessica she tells Dana that Elizabeth is the writer of the “eyes and ears” column. Dana makes an announcement to the entire crowd and Jessica gets dumped in the pool as per the tradition that if the writer of the column gets ousted they get dumped in the pool.

Later that night Enid shows up at Elizabeth's door. She says that something awful has happened and Ronnie will never talk to her again.

Thoughts and Nuggets of Wisdom for Research

Sweet Valley is best known as being full of gender and physical stereotypes. When I was younger I read the Sweet Valley Twins spin off but this was actually my first Sweet Valley High. On the very first page we get numerous accounts of how the perfect Jessica Wakefield with her “All-American” good looks thinks she’s disgusting (p. 1-3):

“Oh, Lizzie, do you believe how absolutely horrendous I look today!” Jessica Wakefield groaned as she slipped in front of her sister, Elizabeth, and stared at herself in the bedroom mirror. “I'm so gross! Just look at me. Everything is totally wrong. To begin with, I'm disgustingly fat. . . .” With that, she spun around to show off a stunning figure without an extra ounce visible anywhere.

She moaned again, this time holding out one perfectly shaped bronze leg. “Isn't that the grossest? I swear I must have the skinniest legs and America. And the bumpiest knees. What am I going to do? How can I possibly go to school looking like this today? Today of all days!”

Jessica stared at herself in the full-length mirror and saw a picture of utter heartbreak and despair. But what was actually reflected in the glass was about the most adorable, most dazzling 16-year-old girl imaginable. Yet there was no stopping Jessica Wakefield when she was in this mood.

“Why couldn't I at least have an oval face? It looks like someone stuck a pumpkin on top of my neck. And this hair—a dull yellow mess of split ends. I hate it!”

In a gesture of absolute hopelessness, she ran her hand under her silky blonde hair, lifted it up, and watched as it drifted lightly back to her shoulders.

“Only thing duller are my eyes. Look at that color, Liz.” She put her face under her sister's nose and fluttered long eyelashes over almond-shaped eyes the blue-green of the Caribbean. “They're so blah.”

Both girls had the same shoulder length, sun streaked blond hair, the same sparkling blue-green eyes, the same perfect skin. Even the tiny dimple in Elizabeth’s left cheek was duplicated in her younger sister's—younger by four minutes. Both girls were five feet six on the button and generously blessed with spectacular, all-American good looks. Both wore exactly the same size clothes, but they refused to dress alike, except for the exquisite identical lavalieres they were on gold chains around their necks. The lavalieres had been present from their parents on their sixteenth birthday.

The thing that bugged me the most about this series is how utterly selfish Jessica is. I can’t believe any teens when this series was popular actually liked Jessica. I have always been an Elizabeth girl because I enjoyed school like her (of course there are those readers who complain that Elizabeth, being a nerd, is horribly stuck up). In this one volume alone there are numerous occurrences to how stuck up Jessica is and, quite frankly, how rude she is to others, including her own sister!

Page 4 - 

He wanted her sister! Jessica's eyes narrowed dangerously. One of the cutest boys at Sweet Valley High, and he was calling to talk to Elizabeth! Todd Wilkins was currently the basketball team’s hottest star, and Jessica had been admiring him for some time now as she practiced her cheers in the gym alongside him. The idea that he would prefer Elizabeth to her infuriated Jessica, though she was extra careful to conceal this from him.

Page 8 – 

At noon the Wakefield twins would find out if they had made Pi Beta Alpha, “the positively best sorority at Sweet Valley High,” according to Jessica. That meant “the snobbiest” in Elizabeth's book.

Page 18-19 – 

 

“How can you be best friends with somebody as blah as Eeny Rollins? I don't want you to go over there. Somebody might think it was me talking to her.” (Jessica)

“Enid is a wonderful person. Why don't you like her?” (Elizabeth)

“Eeny is a nerd. And there's something weird about her.” (Jessica)

Page 34 – 

“You wouldn’t think it was funny if you really were gross-looking,” Jessica said, shuddering at the thought of having anything other than an attractive family.

Page 47 – 

“No, really, Todd,” Jessica was saying, “don't laugh. It's not funny. Really. I really am one of the most unpopular girls in school. Everyone else has a date for the dance. Really, everyone. Every single girl I know. Everyone but me.”

Page 49 –

 Jessica felt a tiny twinge of panic. Why was Todd ignoring her? Had something happened to the Wakefield magic? Impossible! she told herself. She was still the most fantastic girl in school. So why didn't Todd know it? Cheers and angry frustration filled her eyes. She decided she would walk home from school. Whenever she was out walking, she never failed to attract a good deal of attention from passing cars. The more the better, she thought, swinging her hips a little as she set off.

Page 75-76 –

“He [Andover] has everything to do with all the kids in school thinking I have a police record and that I'm out on parole!” Elizabeth shouted, for once making no effort to control her temper.

“Oh, that.” Jessica shrugged, flushing guiltily. “I can clear that little thing up in no time.”

“Do it now!” Elizabeth said.

“Later, Liz! I'm talking about something really important. I found out this afternoon why Steve has been coming home every weekend. No wonder he's been so mysterious and obnoxious to everybody. He should be ashamed of himself! My whole life is going right down the tubes! How could he do this, Lizzie?” she began to cry.

“Stop babbling, Jess! And stop crying! Tell me what Steve has done.”

“Our brother, a member of the Wakefield family, has been spending every weekend,” Jessica got out between sobs, “with Betsy Martin!”

“Jess, are you sure? I can't believe it. Betsy's been doing drugs for years—she sleeps around—”

“And her father gets bombed out of his mind every night,” Jessica said wildly.

Page 117-118 –

“Bruce Patman!” Jessica squealed. “Liz Wakefield, how dare you sit there calmly and tell me Bruce asked you out as if it weren't important! You’re incredible! No—you must be dead! No girl alive would turn Bruce down. He's handsome, Liz. He is sooooo rich. And he drives that awesome Porsche!”

“Are you saying you wish you were going to the dance with Bruce instead of Todd?” Elizabeth challenged.

“Of course not. Why in the world would you think that? Todd is terribly good-looking, and he's so sweet. I just wish he didn't drive that gross excuse for car. Bruce's Porsche is so—so . . . I mean, it's a Porsche.”

122-123 –

“Hi, Jess,” he answered. “You look nice—really very pretty.”

Nice! she screamed silently. Three hours of working on my nails, my hair, my makeup and I look “very pretty”? Whatever happened to gorgeous?

“Thanks, Todd.” Maybe he's not good with words, she thought. But she knew from the other day that he was good with kissing—and there certainly would be more kissing that evening!

Page 126 – 

No guy—not even Todd Wilkins—could take Jessica Wakefield to a dance and treat her like a piece of furniture. He wasn't going to get away with it, she vowed.

Page 128-129 –

“Oh, Liz, it was so awful!” Jessica's eyes filled with tears.

“Awful? What are you talking about, Jess?”

“I thought he liked me, Lizzie,” she said between sobs. “I thought he respected me and everything!”

“Jessie, what happened?”

“Oh, Liz, I can't. I can't tell you!” Jessica collapsed, covering her face with her hands. “I'm—I'm too ashamed.”

Elizabeth put her arm around Jessica shoulder. “It's all right, Jess. You can tell me anything, you know that.”

“Maybe I should tell you.” Jessica sniffled. “You really should be warned about him. You might go out with him sometime, and I'd just never forgive myself if I didn't tell you what the real Todd Wilkins is like.”

“What did he do?”

“That rat tried just about everything. The horrible thing was that I could hardly make him stop. I had to beg him and beg him to please stop!”. . .

“He just wouldn't stop. His hands! Oh, God, they were everywhere.”

Page 133 – 

Tricia Martin's family was no bargain, and they knew it. Her father was the town drunk, and her sister Betsy had a horrible reputation. The mother had died of leukemia when the kids were little, which really torn the family apart. It was all understandable, but that didn't make it any easier. And now Steven was mixed up with them. The question was, how seriously?

Page 172 - 

 

“Lizzie, honey. I did it because I felt he was wrong for you. That you wouldn't be able to handle him.”

“Jessie, honey. You're really full of it. You did it because you liked him yourself and you were trying to get rid of the competition.”

Page 174 - 

“I knew if it got around school that I was in a bar with those terrible people, I'd be finished. It's a rule, an absolute rule, that you can't be on the cheering squad if you have any black marks against your name. I couldn't give that up, Liz. You know how much being co-captain of the cheerleaders means to me.”

There is some talk about how affluent and well off the Wakefield family is:

Page 14 – The twins squealed with delight. Only on rare occasions were they allowed to drive to school in the family's second car, a little red Spider convertible.

Page 15 – As she did very often, Elizabeth thought how lucky she and Jessica were to live in Sweet Valley. Everything about it was terrific—the gently rolling hills, the quaint downtown area, and the fantastic white sand beach only 15 minutes away. She and Jessica were even luckier now, with a new in ground pool their backyard.

Page 33 – “They're so busy I hardly see them. Mom's always rushing off to meet a client. Her design business is really booming. And dad—well, he's always out. He's working on a case with a new lawyer in the firm, somebody by the name of Marianna West. She used to be married to the big heart specialist, Gareth West.”

A few interesting non-Jessica occurrences happen in relation to the importance of looks and reputation. When Bruce attempts to ask Elizabeth out thinking she’s the one who was out with Rick the following conversation occurs (p. 104):

“I never thought you were such a fast number until now. But from what I hear, I decided you're my type. I'd like to take you to the dance.”

“Is that so?” Elizabeth snapped.

“Sure. I can't stand most of these wimpy girls. We can put in appearance of the dance, then head for someplace where we can have some real fun.”

Later when Elizabeth asks Winston if he really wants to go to the dance with her he says, “You want to know the sort of girl people fix me up with? It goes like this: 'Win, have I got a girl for you! Was a personality!' that always means 250 pounds and two-foot-five! I have to put her hamburger on the floor so she can reach it” (p. 125).

The biggest and scariest part of the book was Jessica going off with Rick. Here are key elements from that:

She'd heard a number of stories about Rick and the fast lane life he led. He ran around with an older crowd and always had a lot of money in his pocket, even though it didn't look as if he had a job. He spent most of his time either working on his Camaro or cruising around in it—usually with a gorgeous girl at his side. Jessica squirmed with pleasure at having been selected as Rick's companion for the afternoon (p. 51).

Conversation at page 52-53 – 

 

“I'll pick you up at eight,” Rick told her as they were cruising down Calico Drive, doing 50 in a 35 zone.

“What?”

He grinned. “Tomorrow, at eight. We've got a date, Heaven.”

“But you never even asked me,” she complained.

“I told you—I'm used to getting, not asking. Are you saying no?” he challenged, as if the thought were unheard of.

“No.” She frowned slightly, biting her lip. “It's just that I'm not sure my parents –“

“Mommy and Daddy wouldn't like the idea of their Little Red Riding Hood going out with the Big Bad Wolf?” he supplied, sneering. “What do you want?”

He was looking at her in a way that made her skin tingle. His heavy-lidded eyes held a hypnotic hint of the excitement to come and she decided to go out with him. Jessica found it irresistible.

Page 58-60 –

For an instant she wondered if she would be able to keep him at bay, but she quickly dismissed the worry. She had yet to come up against the situation she couldn't handle.

Even so, nothing could squelch the nervous fluttering in her stomach as Rick's car spun to stop in a shower of gravel in front of the seedy-looking beachfront roadhouse. A red, blinking neon sign advertised that it was Kelly's. Loud music spilled from the open doorway, punctuated by harsh bursts of laughter.

None of Jessica's friends had ever been inside Kelly's. It had the most notorious reputation of any bar in the whole valley. A mixture of alarm and excitement raced through Jessica's body. Boy, would she have something to talk about tomorrow!

Jessica had never been so acutely aware of both her age and her appearance before. Several of the men stared at her, and one let forth a low wolf whistle. Her face was burning from anger and embarrassment, and her eyes watered from the cigarette smoke that wreathed the cramped room. As they slid into cracked vinyl booth, she leaned over to tell Rick how uncomfortable she felt, but her words were drowned in a sudden burst of twangy country-western music from the jukebox.

. . .

“And I should have known you were the kind of guy who couldn't keep his hands to himself,” she scolded lightly.

Rick's eyes narrowed. “All tease and no tickle, huh? Didn't your mommy tell you not to put anything in the window that you don't sell in the store?” His fingers groped higher, and she noticed he was beginning to slur his words. “Well, I've seen the merchandise, baby, and I'm sold.”