When I was a kid, I never read any of Ann’s non-BSC books, not until P.S. Longer Letter Later came out. Why, I’m not sure. In my elementary school’s library they were shelved right next to the BSC books, and I would pretty much read any chapter book I could get my hands on as long as it was not fantasy, horror, or sports.

But I’ve started reading them recently, and maybe it’s because I didn’t grow up with them, as other people’s responses, the responses of those who did read them as children, are much more enthusiastic than my own. So far I’ve read Stage Fright, With You and Without You, and Missing Since Monday. I made an unsuccessful stab at Ten Kids, No Pets, but got bored, and plus I was reading a British or Australian edition* and trying to change all the “mum”s to “mom”s was irritating me. Stage Fright was ok, but nothing special, and I felt that the other two weren’t quite as deep, emotionally, as they should have been, considering their serious subject matter. And they both used dates with boys as the bandaid to the really terrible and tragic situations which occurred in the books, which seems odd to me. If my dad died or my little sister went missing, god forbid, I would be FLIPPING MY SHIT. The protagonists of these books seemed to almost take things in stride.

I still really want to read Slam Book. It seems so dark! But reading these early Ann books and comparing them with, say, Main Street (I haven’t read Belle Teal or A Corner of the Universe or any of her other recent books, but they seem to be doing well and winning awards so I assume that they’re pretty good books)… I can really see how Ann has grown and matured as a writer.

What do you think about Ann’s early books? Did you read them as a child or only as an adult or not at all?’

*sorry to my non-American friends, but I really hate reading BSC in non-American English!

Over the past few months I’ve taken to reading 1bruce1 as I am falling asleep. Here’s the thing about the SV universe and me: I read one or two Sweet Valley Kids as a kid (the one about the Orchid Club is the one I really remember), read Elizabeth’s Diary and then one of the ones in the trilogy about modelling/fashion magazines much later. But that’s pretty much it. It seems strange to me now that I never really got into Sweet Valley. I remember really enjoying the Sweet Valley Kids books I had.

I suppose it comes down to the fact that for the other series I read–BSC, GirlTalk, Saddle Club–my mother had enrolled me in book clubs where three books were sent to my house once a month. I also remember her believing that I was a bit too young for Sweet Valley High when I was in elementary school. I suppose the question is would I have like SV better than Stoneybrook, had I ended up actually buying the books and reading them? In BSC, although I suppose I felt differently when I was the age of the clients, I am bored by the baby-sitting and prefer the “Stacey” kinds of plots, dealing with drama and boy troubles and shopping. This is more along the lines of Sweet Valley-esque stuff. But then again there is something that just seems… trashier about Sweet Valley.

I suppose that we’ll never know, as I don’t feel like starting another book collection and reading the 1bruce1 snarks is entertaining enough for me. But for those of you who read both, which do you like better and why? How would you compare them?

Last night I discovered that not only have I read Ann M. Martin books, I’ve also read a book by Jane Read Martin, Now Everybody Really Hates Me:

This was one of my favorites as a kid. Did anyone else read it? Did you realize it was written by Ann’s sister?