Is it Still Sweet?

If you are unfamiliar with the Sweet Valley High series of 156 books, ask your Mom about them, she might know. Originally published from 1983-2003, the books are being reissued, but first they're getting modernized. Instead of a Fiat, the Wakefield sisters now drive a Jeep Wrangler. Instead of working for the school newspaper, Elizabeth works for the school website, and, of course, there are cell phones, text messaging, blogs, etc. One change I notice just from the covers of these books is that it used to be a lot easier to tell which was the "good" sister and which one was more likely to get into trouble.

According to vice president and publisher of Bantam Delacorte Dell Books for Young Readers, "Girls today are still drawn to stories about the bad girl and the good girl, sister relationships, friendships, family and high school life. And has any of those things changed much? I don't think so." Now it is up for debate if the SVH books really said anything useful bout sister relationships, friendships, family, or high school life, but that sure didn't stop my friends and me from devouring these books when I was a kid.

How will these reissued books stand when compared to the Clique series? The Unicorn Club seems kind of tame in comparison to the Clique.