And the Winner Is... Jessica Wakefield!

Sweet Valley Kids #66

by Francine Pascal (Creator), Molly Mia Stewart, Ying-Hwa Hu (Illustrator)

Jessica Wakefield just won a CD, two T-shirts, and an autographed photo of her favorite singer. And all she had to do was call KSVR radio station twenty-three times! Jessica is so excited that she's bragging to all her friends. There's only one tiny problem: The winner has to be at least thirteen years old to claim the prize.

Genres: Childrens, Middle Grade

88 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

Francine Paula Pascal was an American author best known for her Sweet Valley series of young adult novels. Sweet Valley High, the backbone of the collection, was made into a television series, which led to several spin-offs, including The Unicorn Club and Sweet Valley University. Although most of these books were published in the 1980s and 1990s, they remained so popular that several titles were re-released decades later.

Reviews

[Tara Calaby]

You definitely have to suspend belief for this one, as it's not very likely that a radio station would go a long with a parents' scheme to punish two seven-year-olds for lying—especially to the extent of making up a competition and talking about it on-air.

The plot here is 100% based around the moral lesson that the twins are supposed to learn. Jess lies about her age in order to collect a radio prize, which leads to several rather farcical attempts to deceive the radio DJ. I think the intended audience would enjoy these... but perhaps enjoy the heavy-handed moral—don't lie!—a little less.

[Ruvi Perera · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it! Jessica wins a prize from a contest on radio but she's not old enough. So twins pretend to be 13 but the host figures this out and decides to pull a prank on them.

[Kylie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, if you’re looking for a book to teach kids a lesson about lying, keep looking 😂 Jessica wins a radio contest with some CDs, tv shirts etc. But she says she is 13 to claim it! Liz is furious, but Jess promises to vote for Liz’s second choice vacation (a dude ranch) if she helps. Jess then convinced Steven to dress like a girl (by promising to vote for his second choice vacation - a dodgers game), but he chickens out when he sees his crush on the street. Jess then tries to get Molly the baby sitter, but she’s too honest. Finally the twins dress up in Alice’s clothes and make up and claim it. The DJ is a little surprised, but after a quick phone call, gives them their prizes. The next day, there’s another contest - with all the previous contest winners in with a chance to win a family vacation to Fantasy Forest - the kids first choice vacation spot! And Jess wins again! They twins have to hustle down straight away to claim their prize - but when the DJ asks their age, Liz can’t lie. Jess is furious - as are their parents when they get home! Only for like 5 minutes though - then they tell the twins they knew about the initial lie, and tricked them with the help of the DJ, and because they (LIZ) told the truth the second time, they still all get to go to Fantasy Forest. Wow. Also, check out the illustrations of the kids as ‘teens’ haha!
My rating - 4/10 - I mean look, it was great until Jess learnt NOTHING about lying because she still got rewarded...

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorites as a little girl! Must be because the thought of dressing up as a grown-up enchanted me. I have good memories of this book:)

[Sheila Read · Rating 5 out of 5]

I remember the cover but just not the story.