r/books • u/Dorian182 • 1d ago
John Green: ‘I devoured the Sweet Valley High books in the 1980s’
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2026/oct/16/john-green-i-devoured-the-sweet-valley-high-books-in-the-1980s136
u/latelyimawake 1d ago
Sweet Valley High taught me everything I know about love and not doing cocaine because if you have an undiagnosed heart defect it’ll immediately kill you
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u/vintageiphone 1d ago
Was that in the books?! I read a lot of them but the main thing I remember was Jessica having some kind of affair with Liz’s long time boyfriend Todd. Very uncool of your twin sister. I have non idea how it played out.
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u/snazzypantz 1d ago
Damn, I remember cocaine girl but I do not remember this betrayal! Maybe I need to go reread stuff
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u/vintageiphone 1d ago
Apparently there is a novel where they are adults published in 2011. I have absolutely no memory of this book whatsoever but I guess I read it because I googled it and that is when the affair takes place. It’s called Sweet Valley Confidential.
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u/stolenwallethrowaway 14h ago
Liz had an affair with Jess’s Sam too! Then when he died she had to hide her mourning.
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u/snazzypantz 1d ago
Dude I remember that SO. CLEARLY. It was so damn shocking because you're reading Sweet Valley Middle, the Babysitter's Club, and all these cute little things were nothing really bad happens to the people that can't be solved by the end of the book.
BUT THAT GIRL REALLY JUST DIED OUT OF NOWHERE! I swear that book kept me away from coke for a really long time, and I was a server and bartender in major cities so that was a feat!
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u/TheLegendTwoSeven 21h ago
The 1980s college basketball star Len Bias died of a cocaine overdose with an extremely low amount in his blood, the first time he did cocaine. He was supposedly going to have a Michael Jordan level career.
If only he’d read Sweet Valley High.
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u/asurfeitofsugar 1d ago
Those books got so unhinged so fast, I loved it! It was baby's first soap opera for me!
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u/CheerilyTerrified 1d ago
I loved towards the end when they had Margot, who looked just like them, but was brunette and not rich, and therefore very evil. And then it turned out she had an identical twin as well.
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u/mardyoldspinster 1d ago
The evil twins series was incredible. Both evil twins wanted to be Jessica, and then one stabbed Jessica to death in her bed and fucked it up so now no one could be Jessica, except it turned out that she had actually just murdered HER twin who had already replaced Jessica (but had only kidnapped her and decided to get round to killing her after a good night’s sleep, apparently).
I loved that series, definitely stands out in my memory along with that one time a vampire joined SVH and everyone went goth.
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u/anonykitten29 1d ago
Omg that sounds amazing. My epic was the Wakefields of Sweet Valley. Generation after generation of Elizabeth/Elspeth/Elisabeths and Jessica/Jessaminds and their romantic dramas.
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u/Theratha 1d ago
Yesss! I wish I could read this again as a kid. Cemented my love of epic historical sagas.
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u/CheerilyTerrified 1d ago
Oh, I remember loving that too. Didn't one of the Jessicas run away to the circus?
I feel like there was also a Patman's version too or at least they popped up every so often.
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u/anonykitten29 10h ago
Hahaha yes definitely. Pretty sure she rode horses bareback while standing up? And then fell and died.
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u/CheerilyTerrified 1d ago
It was so great. I don't remember the vampire one at all though. I'll have to try to find it.
I know where was one towards the end where they got to be in a actual soap that I loved too.
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u/asurfeitofsugar 1d ago
Yes!! Omg, it's all coming back to me, what an amazing walk down memory lane.
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u/CheerilyTerrified 1d ago
I love stumbling across random SVH plot summaries and being like wtf was I reading as a kid. It was all so insane.
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u/Pheighthe 1d ago
Remember the one where the school fat girl decided to just run laps around the track at school until she got skinny and then she did get skinny and then everyone liked her and she was happy.
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u/CheerilyTerrified 1d ago
I loved that one. She briefly got sad skinny but then Liz talked to her so she added some chicken to her diet so she become hot skinny. Is it any wonder so many of us got eating disorders?
She lost weight because she was black-balled from their secret society/sorority. And why did a High School have a sorority?
(And why do I remember all this off the top of my head but so little info I need in the real world)
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u/booksandbenzos 1d ago
Was their sorority thing the unicorn club that Jessica had?? lol and purple was their favourite colour! Or am I mixing up SVH with the books when they're in junior high?
Also, does anyone remember the SVH TV show?? I still remember the theme song! lol
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u/onein7point8billion 1d ago
The unicorn club was the Sweet Valley Twins. In the high school they have an elitist sorority pi beta alpha where they did things like blackball people who are overweight and make people deny their cultural identity to fit in and have parties with the boys. Elizabeth was a member, but just because Jessica was, as they remind us every time you wonder why she's in such a shallow organization.
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u/carolina822 22h ago
Well Elizabeth was a “perfect size six” so she was a shoo-in whether she liked or not.
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u/PhloxOfSeagulls 21h ago
Lol, every book had the exact same description of their "cornflower blue eyes," blonde hair, and "perfect size six figure."
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u/booksandbenzos 1d ago
Ahh, it's been so long since I've read the books that I've forgotten about this! TY for refreshing my memory!
Elizabeth was a member, but just because Jessica was, as they remind us every time
lol this sounds about right! They had to drive home that Elizabeth would never participate in something like that otherwise! lol. Also as a separate aside, sororities/fraternities aren't really a thing where I live even at the university level and at the age I would have been reading the books I wouldn't have had much context about them. I wonder if that's why it didn't occur to me to think, 'Huh, why is there a sorority at this high school?' and if I thought of it as some sort of shallow student-run club. Obviously it somehow didn't stick in my memory despite reading the full series.
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u/ZoominAlong 11h ago
Wait I don't remember the cultural identity one. I remember Robin who had an eating disorder .
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u/onein7point8billion 5h ago
Rosa who pretended to be Rose until she had to use her Spanish knowledge to help a child.
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u/persimmon9847 1d ago
My high school had 'service clubs' that were basically fraternities and sororities. Even had 'rush' until some parents complained and they had to change it to 'selection'
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u/Opening-Shape-762 1d ago
THE BEST. My school library had them and I started reading them in like second grade. To say I was shook would be an understatement hahaha. 😂
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u/asurfeitofsugar 1d ago
Yup! I remember reading the story where Elizabeth got kidnapped and being SO shocked but also I could not stop reading lmfao
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u/booksandbenzos 1d ago
omg yes!! I read the Sweet Valley, SVH, and SVU books. I absolutely loved them!
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u/ByEthanFox 1d ago
I mean some people read them, but I get it, times were tough
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u/sodabomb93 1d ago
you consume books by digesting them in your brain.
I consume books by digesting them in my stomach.
we are not the same.
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u/Smartnership 1d ago edited 1d ago
Why doesn’t Green, the largest melancholy teen-angst writer, simply eat the other codexes?
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u/DietPepsiEvenBetter 1d ago
It's impossible, the twins are identical size 6 blondes. How could he choose?
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u/devilishycleverchap 1d ago
I cannot remember the books I've read any more than the books I have eaten; even so, they have made me.
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u/deloreaninatardis 1d ago
He's that fuckass alien who eats data from the Ice Cube War of the Worlds movie.
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u/Madame_Jarvary 1d ago
I love the Sweet Valley books when I was a kid!
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u/nari_kang 1d ago
I wish more authors talked about the books they genuinely enjoyed as kids instead of just naming the classics.
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u/_Rainer_ 1d ago
He writes for his target audience. I don't really get the hate. It's not like he's some pompous ass who thinks of himself as the modern day Faulkner or whatever.
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u/prosocialbehavior 1d ago
Anyone with a large enough audience will attract haters. I agree with you John seems pretty humble and well meaning.
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u/oddreytoo 1d ago
I've met him a couple of times, not just for public-facing things, and he really does seem like a good guy. And I really appreciate that he has used being a public face to do genuinely good things.
I agree... I think it's really because TFiOS exploded, so hating him became The Cool Thing.39
u/apgtimbough 1d ago
John Green's fiction is not for me. That's okay, because his other content, YouTube and non-fiction work, is.
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u/_Rainer_ 1d ago
Yeah, I listened to the audiobook of his one about Tuberculosis last year. That was very interesting.
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u/sanctaphrax 1d ago
He made himself too available.
An author who actually interacts regularly with the public will generate extra haters. Wildbow made the same mistake.
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u/Pink_324 1d ago
i hid those under my desk in 6th grade... the tactile thrill of sneaking a paperback past the teacher was insane. it felt dangerous af even though nothing was happening. the smell of cheap paper and the guilt of ignoring homework made the romance hits hit harder imo. pure dopamine loop. case closed on why we still love them despite the cringe factor.
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u/GreenEnhanced 1d ago
Man as a teacher in the year 2026, hearing of a student hiding a book because they wanted to read is hilarious
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u/Reader47b 1d ago
Twist: The teacher knew you were doing it and pretended not to see.
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u/ZoominAlong 11h ago
Teacher was like "whatever, she's quiet and non disruptive, I got a kid over here choking, I don't have time for this shit."
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u/wediealone 1d ago
Sweet Valley High - now that’s a throwback!! I used to read those as a preteen. All I remember from those books is how much time the author spent describing how beautiful the twins were, how blue their eyes were and that their blonde hair was brighter than the sun lol. Those books were pretty shallow, but honestly I never judge kids for reading whatever even if they are trashy soap opera books. At least they’re reading!
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u/anonykitten29 1d ago
Ok but did annyyyoonnneee read the belated Sweet Valley Junior High series, which was actually low-key excellent?
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u/wintermelody83 1d ago
I read some of them! I mostly remember a Halloween one where they went in a haunted house in the woods? And the one where they thought a new girl was a witch lol.
Google says it was just called Sweet Valley Twins but it was when they were like 12.
The first one I'm thinking of is Sweet Valley Twins Super Chiller #7: The Haunted Burial Ground, absolute classic. The witch one was absolutely The Haunted House, book #3.
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u/SilverAnxious2262 12h ago
Elizabeth’s drug fueled - I mean amnesia accident - Class Trip was my favourite 😅
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u/anonykitten29 10h ago
Yup totally different series!! Different vibe too. SVJH was a much more grounded, realistic series, with a diverse cast. Sort of pulls the series out of fantasy/soap opera while still honoring the characters. I loved them.
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u/perdur 1d ago
Yes! I'm not sure if I read all of them, but I was so scandalized by the idea of Jessica not being popular haha. And don't even get me started on Sweet Valley Senior Year...
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u/SilverAnxious2262 12h ago
Senior Year was a trip! That earthquake really did a doozy on the social dynamics of Sweet Valley
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u/Hellalazyusername 1d ago
These are the ones I know! Never read SVH, but loved the Jr High series as a kid
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u/ZoominAlong 11h ago
I remember some of them! There's one where Steven is working fast food and gets a crush on a fellow worker. Can't remember the title though
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u/anonykitten29 10h ago
I just remember Jessica pretending Steven was her boyfriend to impress the kids at her new school, lol.
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u/Zappagrrl02 1d ago
Okay, but did he also play the Sweet Valley High board game?
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u/oddreytoo 1d ago
I MADE a Sweet Valley High board game as a school project in fourth grade. XD Mine was definitely The Worst Idea and Game In the Class.
Thank you for just unlocking a piece of horrible trauma.
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u/Zappagrrl02 1d ago
So sorry! If it makes you feel better, I didn’t actually own it, but my best friend did. But she would always be Jessica and make me be Enid.
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u/carolina822 22h ago
Oh my god, I did too! Well it was a group effort but yeah we absolutely had our own board game I didn’t know there was a real one until I ran across it in a dive bar when I was like 35.
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u/ZoominAlong 11h ago
I own it! It's literally sitting under my 1970s Ouija game and on top of Sailor Moon monopoly. it's a fun game and I get massive nostalgia from it.
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u/BeeTheGoddess 1d ago
You can all thank me later- listen to the SV podcast called Double Love. Two delightfully hilarious Irish ladies dissect Every Single Book and the madness that lies therein.
It’s true brilliance.
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u/onein7point8billion 1d ago
That is the perfect podcast. I am listening to it constantly. Which you can do because the back catalog is huge and they just talk more per book the further they go. It requires the right amount of attention that you can live your life and do things and still follow the story. My favorite parts are when they are over reacting about a perfectly normal piece of America - like being baffled about a baked potato being served in a steakhouse. I wish I knew where I got the recommendation from so I could thank them.
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u/Key-Engine8466 14h ago
I’ll thank you now with an award! I worked in the computer lab at my university and devoured the 1bruce1 Livejournal. Can’t wait to listen to this!
And for anyone interested, the live journal account is still there- https://1bruce1.livejournal.com
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u/gotthatpbnj 1d ago
I still have box full of those books from one of my mom's cousins and I adore how dramatic it got. Ugh, maybe I'll pull them out and read them again.
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u/yeasayerstr 1d ago
My secret shame: I used to cook convince my sister to check out Sweet Valley High, The Babysitters Club, and Fear Street books so I could read them.
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u/perdur 1d ago
I was obsessed with these books! Read pretty much all of them - Sweet Valley Kids, Sweet Valley Twins, Sweet Valley Junior High, Sweet Valley High, Sweet Valley Senior Year, Sweet Valley University... I even read the Unicorn Club books lol! I think the only ones I didn't read were the ones where Elizabeth went to London and ended up with some rando, even in middle school I knew that was bullshit.
Also I did not finish that terrible Sweet Valley Confidential series. Jessica and TODD?!?! Elizabeth and BRUCE?!?! Insanity. Bruce/Lila 4eva!
Oh, and Jessica is a legit sociopath, Elizabeth should have gone no contact with her in like the first book of SVH alone lol.
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u/MarketingChoice6244 1d ago
When I was a young boy I read anything I could get my hands in including my sisters 'babysitters club little sister ' books. Can't remember a word of them but I still read 3 or 4 books a month and its because I read so much as a kid.
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u/BookBoxer161 1d ago
Haven't really followed this man since Fault in our stars. Man we're getting old fast.
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u/Illarie 1d ago
If you’ve ever watched a Crashcourse video or heard of VIDCON you’ve interacted with things he created and is connected to.
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u/Partner-Elijah 1d ago
Or if you've ever received life-saving tuberculosis treatment in Sierra Leone! That too.
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u/ZoominAlong 11h ago
Okay my immediate thought on the title was "a fellow dork!" I loved the SVH books.
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u/Fantastic-Vehicle880 1d ago
Man reads book. More to follow at 5. Now back to you Ollie
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u/scruffigan 1d ago edited 1d ago
I appreciate that he’s unapologetic about reading and loving books that were “for girls”.
They’re fast paced, dramatic as anything, aspirationally set in this idealized world of beautiful people in rich, sunny California (definitely not the Midwest), and there were so, so many of them - what’s not to like as a young reader? But reading “girl books” would have been an embarrassing activity for a boy in the 1980s. He’s not wrong about the social perception at the time. It was very pink vs blue (and “for girls” was often treated misogynistically as less than).
We can say now in 2026 that it doesn’t or shouldn’t matter, but saying it out loud and normalizing ‘boys who like girl stuff’ as well as we’ve normalized ‘girls who like boy stuff’ is what makes it less notable in the future.
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u/captainnah 1d ago
His overuse of the manic pixie dream girl trope turn me off from him ages ago. What solidified my dislike of his writing was when in college we had to read The Fault in Our Stars and the friggin’ cigarette scene was so cringe. Bleh.
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u/Yallberforce 1d ago
Why on earth would you be made to read The Fault in Our Stars in college? My peers and I all read it in grade 7 or 8, which made it much more enjoyable.
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u/lemonadecello 1d ago
soft disagree. There are some valid criticisms of him but he writes books for teens and many teens are dramatic and brooding like that. the cigarette thing would be cringe for an adult to do but it’s something I can see a self-serious angsty teen doing. when I read TFIOS when I was 16 I thought the cigarette metaphor was So Deep.
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u/NeoSeth 1d ago
The thing I think I like the most about John Green's writing is that he captures perfectly how overdramatic and cringe teens can be at the same time. You can read his books as a teen and completely relate to a scene in a profound way, but then reread them as an adult and see how he highlights the triteness of the scene.
And he doesn't do it to mock teens either. It's a very sincere "look how much meaning these characters ascribe to something so small."
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u/captainnah 1d ago
I can softly agree. I did read it as an adult not as a teenager but I did reading Looking for Alaska as a teenager and threw that book across the room. My biggest critique of his writing is relying on female characters be the catalyst of healing for an angsty teenage boy; à la manic pixie dream girl, Alaska. Same issue with Paper Towns.
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u/oddreytoo 1d ago
As a counterpoint, I like that in both cases the girl doesn't actually fix anything, and that's specifically talked about in Paper Towns.
Not a full disagreement, I also read him as an adult. But I feel like he is a bit self-aware of this problem and makes an ATTEMPT to address it, even if it doesn't always carry.5
u/Adamsoski 1d ago edited 1d ago
The whole point of Looking for Alaska and Paper Towns is that they are a critique of the manic pixie dream girl trope. Completely fair to not enjoy the books, but if there is anything to criticise around that aspect it's that he hammers home that point way too strongly.
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u/MilesToHaltHer 1d ago
Yeah, I’ve honestly never gotten the criticism of Alaska as a manic pixie dream girl. Like sure, we see Alaska through Pudge’s eyes. We don’t get a dual perspective to get inside her mind, but that’s most books. For the story to work, Pudge has to be idolizing/getting annoyed when she doesn’t live up to his perception of her in the first half. Then in the second half, he has to realize the ways in which him not seeing her as a full person with problems is a real problem. He learns to be a more active participant in his life. Is it at the expense of us getting to know the real Alaska? Sure, but that’s “the point.” I also think we see quite a lot more than Pudge does.
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u/Partner-Elijah 1d ago
To quote his newest book Hollywood, Ending:
"Cringe" is what people who can't feel things call feelings
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u/captainnah 15h ago
Obviously I’m not a part of this fandom so I’m gonna head out but that quote is so incredibly corny. I work in a bookstore so I’ll try to find it when I’m back at work but oof.
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u/Partner-Elijah 8m ago
Oh wow, we've gone from "cringe" to "corny".
What a deep roster of literary criticisms you have.
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u/Vikinger93 1d ago
I read a lot as a kid. I remember not enjoying the teen-angst books. Kids solving crimes could be fun, but kids having kid drama was not something i wanted to read. I read to get away from that kinda stuff. Tolkien, Lloyd Alexander, Astrid Lindgren.
Not what my middleschool teachers wanted to make me read stuff like that. They were very talented in forcing me to read things I found boring or uncomfortable at a pace that bored me to tears.
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u/horderBopper 1d ago
John green might be the shitty teen author of the century
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u/Partner-Elijah 1d ago
He's also written two excellent non-fiction books, and just released a novel for adults that is getting great reviews.
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u/jarrettbrown 1d ago edited 1d ago
A guy I went to college with devoured the Babysitters Club and Nancy Drew books because of his younger sister, who was 10 years younger than him. Everyone made fun of him, but his answer was always “she can’t read what I want to, so I’m reading what she can read”