The Sweet Valley High Girls Grow Up

Gone are the days of Jessica and Elizabeth Wakefield’s high school tales. The twin blonde bombshells who ruled the California school scene and discussed boys, school dances and first kisses are all grown up and dealing more adult issues, like careers, infidelity, politics and corporate struggles. Welcome to reality, Wakefields!

The beloved identical twins from our teenage years are making a comeback in Sweet Valley Confidential (St. Martin’s Press), due out in March 2011. Confidential is written by the the original Sweet Valley High author Francine Pascal, and follows the cast of characters from the idyllic town of Sweet Valley into adulthood. The reminiscence of Liz and Jess got us thinking about our teenage days… oh, how times have changed.

Gone are the days when Judy Blume served as our sex ed teacher and “research” meant looking up topics in encyclopedias.  Today’s teens are years more advanced than we ever were, and are growing up faster than we can choose Team Jacob or Team Edward. But we have to wonder… will be release of Confidential re-ignite the the teenage book days of bygone decades?

Is it possible we might be able to spark a new kind of interest in our teenage girls that doesn’t involve neck-biting (of the vampire kind).

And even if we can’t tear our kids away from 200-year-old vampires, who says we’re too old to read about two of our favorite teenagers from when we were kids? Who knows what Jess and Liz are doing these days… maybe Jess is jetsetting around the world as a fashion buyer for an elite fashion house while Liz runs carpool for soccer and dance lessons in between her mid-afternoon rendevous with a mystery man. Or, maybe all’s quiet in Sweet Valley…for now.

Thanks to such high interest in the book, St. Martin’s Press is giving fans a sneak peek into the adult lives of Sweet Valley, and is releasing Chapter One of the book online at SweetValleyTenYearsLater.com, which is we’re going right now…

We want to hear from you: What were you favorite books as teenagers? Share your picks in the comments section!