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Sweet Valley Twins #50
Jessica and the Secret Star
The role of her dreams...
Maria Slater has been an actress since she was three years old, but now that she's twelve she can't find any work. So Maria hopes to forget her past and start life again at Sweet Valley Middle School, where she can play the role she has always wanted: the typical sixth-grader.
But for Maria, being typical becomes harder and harder, especially when Jessica Wakefield discovers Maria's secret past. Everyone wants to be friends with a movie star, but will anyone want to be friends with plain old Maria?
Maria Slater has been an actress since she was three years old, but now that she's twelve she can't find any work. So Maria hopes to forget her past and start life again at Sweet Valley Middle School, where she can play the role she has always wanted: the typical sixth-grader.
But for Maria, being typical becomes harder and harder, especially when Jessica Wakefield discovers Maria's secret past. Everyone wants to be friends with a movie star, but will anyone want to be friends with plain old Maria?
135 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 1991
About the author
Francine Pascal
1,139 books1,879 followersFrancine 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.
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January 25, 2025Jessica and the Secret Star
Jessica is complaining about not understanding some poetry Mr. Bowman assigned. As usual, she’s waited until the last minute to get her assignment done. (They’re in homeroom). Caroline tells them there’s a new girl in school. She’s in the sixth grade and will be in their homeroom. Caroline says her name is Maria. She’s really pretty and wears funky clothes. Mr. Davis makes the announcement and then she comes into the room. She’s black and has on a trendy suede skirt. She’s from LA and her family just moved there last week. Jessica has a feeling she knows her from somewhere and decides to speak to her after class. Jessica is able to catch her in the hallway and offers to help her with her locker. Then she introduces herself and they talk a little about her having a twin. Jessica then offers to show her to social studies and tells her about Mrs. “Hari net”.
Maria says she reminds her of her tutor. She was taking an advanced class (geometry and calculus). Jessica asks why her family moved from LA but she vaguely says business. Jessica says she’s seen her someone before. Maria says “she just has one of those faces”. Jessica thinks to herself there’s something mysterious about this girl and she’s going to find out what it is. The next day (because of Steven) Jessica comes down with a cold and has to miss school. Liz says she’ll be working at Amy’s after school. As Steven and Jessica try to agree on what to watch, they decide on a movie called “The Visitor”. Jessica recognizes one of the three children as Maria Slater.
Jessica wonders why she didn’t say anything. Then she realizes she’s seen her in other movies and commercials. Steven says its probably because she didn’t want Jessica bugging her to be introduced to all her movie star friends. Jessica decides to keep her secret. The next day, Jessica decides to go to school. She catches up with Maria after English class. She vents to her about the poetry and Maria says she doesn’t mind it. She likes to write. Liz tells her if she likes to write they can always use some help on the Sixers. Jessica is dumbfounded why a famous actress would want to waste her time on writing for their school paper when she could be doing so many other glamorous things. Liz says she’ll get back to her on what to write.
Not to be outdone, Jessica invites her over to swim. (Because stars like to lounge around by pools). Maria agrees But Jessica thinks shouldn’t she be busy signing contracts. In gym, they have a unit on square dancing. Jessica says to Maria too bad she didn’t move there later. She could have avoided square dancing. Maria says she square danced once in a m (she’s about to say movie) but says another school. Mandy also thinks she looks familiar when introduced. Mandy says she’s going to try out for the drama club. She invites Maria to go with her so she can write an article on it.
Maybe she can convince her to try out. She asks if she’s interested in acting. Maria says she guesses everyone is at some point. Mandy tells her about her grandparent’s vaudeville background. Then Mandy says she was meant to be on stage. She has to carry on the family tradion. Maria tells her it’s hard to make it in Hollywood and asks if she’s ever acted before. So, she tells her about the skit she and Jessica did. After school, Maria tells Jessica she’s lucky to have grown up there. Jessica says it probably couldn’t compare to LA and asks if she knows any stars. Maria says not really. Then she changes the subject to homework. Jessica says she just got there. Maria admits she’s out of practice. At her last school she didn’t have many friends.
Only Maria isn’t interested in boys and clothes. Luckily Liz comes home and Maria is more interested in talking about the article she’s writing for the drama club. Jessica wonders why Maria’s acting like a nerd. Maria is supposed to be *her* new best friend but she has more in common with Liz. After Maria leaves, Jessica realizes she left her backpack. She looks in it “for her number” and sees a red notebook and a blue notebook. In one of them she finds Maria’s daughter. It shows she’s at SVMS undercover researching to play an “All American” girl role.
When Maria gets home, she talks about her day with her sister (Nina whose 16). She tells them she actually felt normal today and then tells them about the twins. She says she’s a lot like Liz and she might actually share a story she wrote with her. She tells her about writing an article for the Sixers. She tells her about Jessica and the Unicorns and how flattered she is that she’s paying so much attention to her. Nina asks if Jessica recognized her and she says she doesn’t think so. She says she wants them to like her for who she is. Her sister says she’s right. She hasn’t worked since the Macaroni ad. Then points out what she’s accomplished. Maria says IN THE PAST are the key words. She says she doubts anyone will hire her anymore now that she’s skinny and gaggly. Her sister says it’s just a phase. She went through it and look at her. She’s great! The look at one of the momento boxes and there’s a signed picture of the alien from “The Visitors”
Maria says don’t put any of them up. She wants that to be in the past. Nina says she can always study acting in college and Maria tells her she might just try out for the play coming up. She talks about loving being in SV now and then realizes she’s left her backpack and says she’ll call Jesica. Nina teases Maria about a picture of her wrapped up in toilet paper. She says if she shows that to anyone she’ll tell them she kissed Henry (the alien). Jessica calls and asks if Maria wants her backpack but she says no that’s ok. There’s something strange in Jessica’s voice. She tells her to just meet her before school. Jessica says sure. She asks what she’s going to do. Maria says just study.
After the call, Maria thinks the Wakefield’s might be twins but she prefers Liz. Jess is a little weird. Jessica gets to school early and waits for Maria (deciding to let her tell her about her movie research). She tells her she’s guarded her bag just like any typical American kid. Jessica asks her how long she’ll stay there. She says forever she hopes. Maria says there’s so much she wants to know about SV like where they go shopping. Jessica says the mall but it’s probably not as glamorous as what she’s use to. Maria says they have malls in LA. Jessica asks what else does she want to know. She says where do they hang out, what do they do for fun, and who are their favorite teachers. Jessica says she always heard they did stuff like this but not in SV.
Maria asks in confusion what she’s talking about. Jessica says she’s so convincing. She’ll play a normal kid perfectly. Then she admits she glanced at her diary while looking for her phone number. Jessica explains that she recognized her from when she stayed home to watch “The Vistor” and found out about why she was here from her diary. Maria thinks she read her story and asks does Liz know but Jessica says no. She wonders if this is why Jessica tried to be her friend. Maria thinks if she wants a star that’s what she’ll get. She makes Jessica promise not to tell anyone and she won’t be mad.
Then Jessica tells her about her acting connection. Maria says as an actor then she’ll understand that she won’t be able to do her research if people know. Jessica starts asking her who she knows (and if she knows Johnny Buck). She says she knows him but he’s just an average guy and goes on to tell him that he’s lonely and wishes he has friends. Jessica asks if next time she sees him she can introduce her. Maria says she’ll have to treat him normally and not like a groupie. At lunch, Jessica asks her to see at the Unicorner but Liz asks her to sit with her. At least she’s not treating her differently.
Jessica asks if Maria is going to join the drama club after school, but she says no. She’s given up on it now that Jessica knows. Mandy says she’ll convince her to so she won’t make a fool of herself. Jessica says she has a Boosters meeting and says she might want to come with her sometimes she might find it useful (which Mandy thinks is odd). Mandy tells Maria all about her having cancer. Maria is surprised. She played a girl having a cancer once and wonders could she have been as brave. The drama club teacher (Mr. Drew) asks if any of them have any acting experience and Maria takes notes. Only 4 raise their hands. He says WRONG!
They all put on “a role” every day of their lives. He tells them he wants them to audition for the short reading so he can tell what’s what. The tryouts will be in a week. It all comes back to her how much she loves acting and Maria thinks how unfair it is that she had to give it up because she out grew parts. She never acted in front of a live audience. Mandy asks her if she’ll try out but Maria says she can’t. She can’t act. Mandy says she won’t know unless she tries. Plus it’ll be more fun with a friend. Maria says ok. What has she got to lose?
Boosters practice gets cut short. Jessica isn’t able to concentrate and keeps dropping her baton. She tells Janet she has more important things on her mind. Lila and Janet says like what. Jessica says it’s privledged information and she doesn’t think she can trust them to keep a secret this big. They all make guesses but don’t come close. Jessica says her lips are sealed. Amy goes to work on the Sixers and she’s now with her friends. She tells them all to guess. Janet says give them a hint. Jessica says it involves them all and its something exciting. Tamera says someone famous is coming to visit. Jessica says she’s getting warmer. They all think Johnny Buck is coming.
She tells them she’ll tell them but if they tell they’re expelled from the Unicorns. They all agree and Jessica asks if Maria seems familiar and then sings the Princess Macaroni commercial. Then they all realize and start to recognize her from different movies and commericals she’s done. Janet says if they’d known they would paid more attention to her. Jessica tells them she’s there undercover and researching for a new movie. Of course, they think if they get close to her she’ll introduce them to all her celebrity friends. Especially when Jessica tells them she knows Johnny Buck. They all agree that they can’t let her know they know and agree to treat her like a regular person. Jessica just hopes they can be trusted.
Maria decides not to tell her sister about Jessica. She considers telling Jessica the truth for a second, but she decides against it. She wants to fit in and be liked so much. She gets teary when thinking of her new friends (especially Mandy). Then decides to just work on her article. At lunch, Maria tells Liz and Amy, Ellen’s been following her around all day. Liz says maybe she’s just being nice. Amy says YEAH RIGHT. Unicorns aren’t nice unless they want something (and she would know). Then Janet and Jessica come over and ask her to sit with them. Maria says she’s good where she is. Janet says they’re having a typical lunch (mystery meat) and she knows Jessica told. She tells Jessica (looking her in the eye) she’ll pass. She needs to talk to Liz about her article. Amy tells her don’t pay them any attention. All Unicorns have a screw loose (part of the requirements of joining).
Maria wants to tell them but… Fighting tears she just shows them the article she’s worked and tells them about Mandy convincing her to try out. Liz loves her rough draft and says she can’t wait to read the article. Maria feels better and Liz asks if she’s written anything else. She admits she’s been working on a short story. Liz says if its anything like the article she bets its great. So, Maria shows her and Amy the story. They both love it and asks how she thought of the plot. She says she just thought of it. Liz says she can’t wait to see how it ends. Maria finds an expensive, purple, bracelet in her locker. She remembers when a fan sent her a charm bracelet and her mother made her return it because gifts are only good when they’re from friends and Maria knows they didn’t send her the bracelet out of friendship.
There’s a meeting of the Unicorns and they discuss making her an honorary Unicorn. They agree that they have to tell Maria they know but subtly. Janet says they’ll get her to play “Truth Or Dare”. They’ll have a sleepover tonight. Mandy can’t believe she was fooled into thinking she was normal. Jessica says that’s what she does. At the party, they ask her if she’s a famous actress and she answers yes. For the next few minutes, she basks in all their attention. She even admits to herself it’s fun. She makes up all this stuff about “the new movie”. She tells them all their favorites will be in it (Kent Keller, Melanie Powers, Johnny Buck, etc). She adds their all just regular people and their all invited to the movie set when filming starts. This makes the Unicorns lose their minds. She even says they can watch the actors do their thing. They talk about it the rest of the night and by the time they go to sleep, Maria’s tired of the topic.
Jessica asks if she’s mad. She says no. It would have come out anyway. Jessica says she’s glad. She hates keeping secrets. Mandy asks why she didn’t tell her. She says she couldn’t. She wanted to. Mandy asks will she still try out for the drama club and Maria says if she wants her too. Mandy says is she kidding. How can she fail with her as an acting coach. But Maria doesn’t feel good about all the lies and knows that when the truth comes out they’ll all be disappointed. Jessica relays everything to Liz after the party. Liz remembers the story and thinks something strange is going on. She remembers she says Maria doesn’t write stories about her own life. Liz says she wishes she would have told her but Jessica says she couldn’t.
At school, at first Maria likes the attention but it starts to get old quickly. Liz now says she understands why she wanted it to be kept secret and tells her she still likes her for her and not her fame. She says she’ll still feel the same no matter how long she stays. Maria decides to tell Liz the truth. She says she’s glad they’re friends. Liz says she thinks some of the kids would like to know her better and then asks if she’ll do an interview for the Sixers (rolling my eyes). Maria says let’s wait on that. She’ll let her know when she’s ready.
There’s a girl named Palmela that seems to have an obsession with Liz and keeps following her around. Mandy and Maria pick a scene from Romeo and Juliet. Liz’s eye is caught by a essay contest on being an individual. Maria and Mandy don’t have a Romeo tho. Lila and Jessica come up to Maria and tell her they’re throwing a party for her and the cast of the movie Saturday. They reherse their Juliet lines later for Maria’s mom, sister, Liz, and Amy. Nina points out what I was thinking that both of them as Juliet isn’t working. Liz finds out Jessica read Maria’s notebook. She goes to her house but she and her mother are gone. Her sister says she thinks she can trust her to tell her something. Later, at Casey’s Maria confesses there is no movie to Liz. She hasn’t been able to get a part in a long time because she’s not little and cute anymore. Liz says they’ll still like her anyway. Maria says she doesn’t think the Unicorns will.
Maria and Mandy switch back and forth for the auditions and it’s a success. At the party, Maria confesses that she made up the movie and Jessica tells her it’s ok. Sometimes she exaggerates. Lila says it’s ok. It gave her to throw a party on her dad’s yatch. Mandy and Maria both pass the auditions.
My Thoughts:
Wow! 50 books in and we’re JUST getting to the black character. From the cover tho, she’s very pretty. They get credit for that. This book just made me think a lot about how I don’t think I’d ever want to be famous. I think I’m too private a person to want to deal with what came along with that shown in this book. Like for instance, the people that started to come around me because of who I was. I got better at deciphering who people were as I grew older and when they showed me who they REALLY were to leave them alone, but I wasn’t always as good at it. Maria was A LOT better at 12 in figuring out what Jessica and the Unicorns were about than I was in my 20’s. So, I was impressed with her in this way despite her getting carried away and going overboard. I definitely would have to have an alias. Then did anyone else think it was strange that she and Mandy *both* tried to switch back and forth playing Juliet. 1) Was there REALLY no other play in the library (or book for that matter) that one of them couldn’t have picked to audition with? 2) I can see that MAYBE there weren’t that many boys auditioning for the drama club BUT they couldn’t have just idk paid one of the boys a few dollars just to read lines to help them out? When they both started reading Juliet’s lines I know I was thinking how are they gonna do that. They made it work. Still.. I kind of wonder after this if Maria will show up again and if she’ll ever get another shot acting.
Rating: 6
Jessica is complaining about not understanding some poetry Mr. Bowman assigned. As usual, she’s waited until the last minute to get her assignment done. (They’re in homeroom). Caroline tells them there’s a new girl in school. She’s in the sixth grade and will be in their homeroom. Caroline says her name is Maria. She’s really pretty and wears funky clothes. Mr. Davis makes the announcement and then she comes into the room. She’s black and has on a trendy suede skirt. She’s from LA and her family just moved there last week. Jessica has a feeling she knows her from somewhere and decides to speak to her after class. Jessica is able to catch her in the hallway and offers to help her with her locker. Then she introduces herself and they talk a little about her having a twin. Jessica then offers to show her to social studies and tells her about Mrs. “Hari net”.
Maria says she reminds her of her tutor. She was taking an advanced class (geometry and calculus). Jessica asks why her family moved from LA but she vaguely says business. Jessica says she’s seen her someone before. Maria says “she just has one of those faces”. Jessica thinks to herself there’s something mysterious about this girl and she’s going to find out what it is. The next day (because of Steven) Jessica comes down with a cold and has to miss school. Liz says she’ll be working at Amy’s after school. As Steven and Jessica try to agree on what to watch, they decide on a movie called “The Visitor”. Jessica recognizes one of the three children as Maria Slater.
Jessica wonders why she didn’t say anything. Then she realizes she’s seen her in other movies and commercials. Steven says its probably because she didn’t want Jessica bugging her to be introduced to all her movie star friends. Jessica decides to keep her secret. The next day, Jessica decides to go to school. She catches up with Maria after English class. She vents to her about the poetry and Maria says she doesn’t mind it. She likes to write. Liz tells her if she likes to write they can always use some help on the Sixers. Jessica is dumbfounded why a famous actress would want to waste her time on writing for their school paper when she could be doing so many other glamorous things. Liz says she’ll get back to her on what to write.
Not to be outdone, Jessica invites her over to swim. (Because stars like to lounge around by pools). Maria agrees But Jessica thinks shouldn’t she be busy signing contracts. In gym, they have a unit on square dancing. Jessica says to Maria too bad she didn’t move there later. She could have avoided square dancing. Maria says she square danced once in a m (she’s about to say movie) but says another school. Mandy also thinks she looks familiar when introduced. Mandy says she’s going to try out for the drama club. She invites Maria to go with her so she can write an article on it.
Maybe she can convince her to try out. She asks if she’s interested in acting. Maria says she guesses everyone is at some point. Mandy tells her about her grandparent’s vaudeville background. Then Mandy says she was meant to be on stage. She has to carry on the family tradion. Maria tells her it’s hard to make it in Hollywood and asks if she’s ever acted before. So, she tells her about the skit she and Jessica did. After school, Maria tells Jessica she’s lucky to have grown up there. Jessica says it probably couldn’t compare to LA and asks if she knows any stars. Maria says not really. Then she changes the subject to homework. Jessica says she just got there. Maria admits she’s out of practice. At her last school she didn’t have many friends.
Only Maria isn’t interested in boys and clothes. Luckily Liz comes home and Maria is more interested in talking about the article she’s writing for the drama club. Jessica wonders why Maria’s acting like a nerd. Maria is supposed to be *her* new best friend but she has more in common with Liz. After Maria leaves, Jessica realizes she left her backpack. She looks in it “for her number” and sees a red notebook and a blue notebook. In one of them she finds Maria’s daughter. It shows she’s at SVMS undercover researching to play an “All American” girl role.
When Maria gets home, she talks about her day with her sister (Nina whose 16). She tells them she actually felt normal today and then tells them about the twins. She says she’s a lot like Liz and she might actually share a story she wrote with her. She tells her about writing an article for the Sixers. She tells her about Jessica and the Unicorns and how flattered she is that she’s paying so much attention to her. Nina asks if Jessica recognized her and she says she doesn’t think so. She says she wants them to like her for who she is. Her sister says she’s right. She hasn’t worked since the Macaroni ad. Then points out what she’s accomplished. Maria says IN THE PAST are the key words. She says she doubts anyone will hire her anymore now that she’s skinny and gaggly. Her sister says it’s just a phase. She went through it and look at her. She’s great! The look at one of the momento boxes and there’s a signed picture of the alien from “The Visitors”
Maria says don’t put any of them up. She wants that to be in the past. Nina says she can always study acting in college and Maria tells her she might just try out for the play coming up. She talks about loving being in SV now and then realizes she’s left her backpack and says she’ll call Jesica. Nina teases Maria about a picture of her wrapped up in toilet paper. She says if she shows that to anyone she’ll tell them she kissed Henry (the alien). Jessica calls and asks if Maria wants her backpack but she says no that’s ok. There’s something strange in Jessica’s voice. She tells her to just meet her before school. Jessica says sure. She asks what she’s going to do. Maria says just study.
After the call, Maria thinks the Wakefield’s might be twins but she prefers Liz. Jess is a little weird. Jessica gets to school early and waits for Maria (deciding to let her tell her about her movie research). She tells her she’s guarded her bag just like any typical American kid. Jessica asks her how long she’ll stay there. She says forever she hopes. Maria says there’s so much she wants to know about SV like where they go shopping. Jessica says the mall but it’s probably not as glamorous as what she’s use to. Maria says they have malls in LA. Jessica asks what else does she want to know. She says where do they hang out, what do they do for fun, and who are their favorite teachers. Jessica says she always heard they did stuff like this but not in SV.
Maria asks in confusion what she’s talking about. Jessica says she’s so convincing. She’ll play a normal kid perfectly. Then she admits she glanced at her diary while looking for her phone number. Jessica explains that she recognized her from when she stayed home to watch “The Vistor” and found out about why she was here from her diary. Maria thinks she read her story and asks does Liz know but Jessica says no. She wonders if this is why Jessica tried to be her friend. Maria thinks if she wants a star that’s what she’ll get. She makes Jessica promise not to tell anyone and she won’t be mad.
Then Jessica tells her about her acting connection. Maria says as an actor then she’ll understand that she won’t be able to do her research if people know. Jessica starts asking her who she knows (and if she knows Johnny Buck). She says she knows him but he’s just an average guy and goes on to tell him that he’s lonely and wishes he has friends. Jessica asks if next time she sees him she can introduce her. Maria says she’ll have to treat him normally and not like a groupie. At lunch, Jessica asks her to see at the Unicorner but Liz asks her to sit with her. At least she’s not treating her differently.
Jessica asks if Maria is going to join the drama club after school, but she says no. She’s given up on it now that Jessica knows. Mandy says she’ll convince her to so she won’t make a fool of herself. Jessica says she has a Boosters meeting and says she might want to come with her sometimes she might find it useful (which Mandy thinks is odd). Mandy tells Maria all about her having cancer. Maria is surprised. She played a girl having a cancer once and wonders could she have been as brave. The drama club teacher (Mr. Drew) asks if any of them have any acting experience and Maria takes notes. Only 4 raise their hands. He says WRONG!
They all put on “a role” every day of their lives. He tells them he wants them to audition for the short reading so he can tell what’s what. The tryouts will be in a week. It all comes back to her how much she loves acting and Maria thinks how unfair it is that she had to give it up because she out grew parts. She never acted in front of a live audience. Mandy asks her if she’ll try out but Maria says she can’t. She can’t act. Mandy says she won’t know unless she tries. Plus it’ll be more fun with a friend. Maria says ok. What has she got to lose?
Boosters practice gets cut short. Jessica isn’t able to concentrate and keeps dropping her baton. She tells Janet she has more important things on her mind. Lila and Janet says like what. Jessica says it’s privledged information and she doesn’t think she can trust them to keep a secret this big. They all make guesses but don’t come close. Jessica says her lips are sealed. Amy goes to work on the Sixers and she’s now with her friends. She tells them all to guess. Janet says give them a hint. Jessica says it involves them all and its something exciting. Tamera says someone famous is coming to visit. Jessica says she’s getting warmer. They all think Johnny Buck is coming.
She tells them she’ll tell them but if they tell they’re expelled from the Unicorns. They all agree and Jessica asks if Maria seems familiar and then sings the Princess Macaroni commercial. Then they all realize and start to recognize her from different movies and commericals she’s done. Janet says if they’d known they would paid more attention to her. Jessica tells them she’s there undercover and researching for a new movie. Of course, they think if they get close to her she’ll introduce them to all her celebrity friends. Especially when Jessica tells them she knows Johnny Buck. They all agree that they can’t let her know they know and agree to treat her like a regular person. Jessica just hopes they can be trusted.
Maria decides not to tell her sister about Jessica. She considers telling Jessica the truth for a second, but she decides against it. She wants to fit in and be liked so much. She gets teary when thinking of her new friends (especially Mandy). Then decides to just work on her article. At lunch, Maria tells Liz and Amy, Ellen’s been following her around all day. Liz says maybe she’s just being nice. Amy says YEAH RIGHT. Unicorns aren’t nice unless they want something (and she would know). Then Janet and Jessica come over and ask her to sit with them. Maria says she’s good where she is. Janet says they’re having a typical lunch (mystery meat) and she knows Jessica told. She tells Jessica (looking her in the eye) she’ll pass. She needs to talk to Liz about her article. Amy tells her don’t pay them any attention. All Unicorns have a screw loose (part of the requirements of joining).
Maria wants to tell them but… Fighting tears she just shows them the article she’s worked and tells them about Mandy convincing her to try out. Liz loves her rough draft and says she can’t wait to read the article. Maria feels better and Liz asks if she’s written anything else. She admits she’s been working on a short story. Liz says if its anything like the article she bets its great. So, Maria shows her and Amy the story. They both love it and asks how she thought of the plot. She says she just thought of it. Liz says she can’t wait to see how it ends. Maria finds an expensive, purple, bracelet in her locker. She remembers when a fan sent her a charm bracelet and her mother made her return it because gifts are only good when they’re from friends and Maria knows they didn’t send her the bracelet out of friendship.
There’s a meeting of the Unicorns and they discuss making her an honorary Unicorn. They agree that they have to tell Maria they know but subtly. Janet says they’ll get her to play “Truth Or Dare”. They’ll have a sleepover tonight. Mandy can’t believe she was fooled into thinking she was normal. Jessica says that’s what she does. At the party, they ask her if she’s a famous actress and she answers yes. For the next few minutes, she basks in all their attention. She even admits to herself it’s fun. She makes up all this stuff about “the new movie”. She tells them all their favorites will be in it (Kent Keller, Melanie Powers, Johnny Buck, etc). She adds their all just regular people and their all invited to the movie set when filming starts. This makes the Unicorns lose their minds. She even says they can watch the actors do their thing. They talk about it the rest of the night and by the time they go to sleep, Maria’s tired of the topic.
Jessica asks if she’s mad. She says no. It would have come out anyway. Jessica says she’s glad. She hates keeping secrets. Mandy asks why she didn’t tell her. She says she couldn’t. She wanted to. Mandy asks will she still try out for the drama club and Maria says if she wants her too. Mandy says is she kidding. How can she fail with her as an acting coach. But Maria doesn’t feel good about all the lies and knows that when the truth comes out they’ll all be disappointed. Jessica relays everything to Liz after the party. Liz remembers the story and thinks something strange is going on. She remembers she says Maria doesn’t write stories about her own life. Liz says she wishes she would have told her but Jessica says she couldn’t.
At school, at first Maria likes the attention but it starts to get old quickly. Liz now says she understands why she wanted it to be kept secret and tells her she still likes her for her and not her fame. She says she’ll still feel the same no matter how long she stays. Maria decides to tell Liz the truth. She says she’s glad they’re friends. Liz says she thinks some of the kids would like to know her better and then asks if she’ll do an interview for the Sixers (rolling my eyes). Maria says let’s wait on that. She’ll let her know when she’s ready.
There’s a girl named Palmela that seems to have an obsession with Liz and keeps following her around. Mandy and Maria pick a scene from Romeo and Juliet. Liz’s eye is caught by a essay contest on being an individual. Maria and Mandy don’t have a Romeo tho. Lila and Jessica come up to Maria and tell her they’re throwing a party for her and the cast of the movie Saturday. They reherse their Juliet lines later for Maria’s mom, sister, Liz, and Amy. Nina points out what I was thinking that both of them as Juliet isn’t working. Liz finds out Jessica read Maria’s notebook. She goes to her house but she and her mother are gone. Her sister says she thinks she can trust her to tell her something. Later, at Casey’s Maria confesses there is no movie to Liz. She hasn’t been able to get a part in a long time because she’s not little and cute anymore. Liz says they’ll still like her anyway. Maria says she doesn’t think the Unicorns will.
Maria and Mandy switch back and forth for the auditions and it’s a success. At the party, Maria confesses that she made up the movie and Jessica tells her it’s ok. Sometimes she exaggerates. Lila says it’s ok. It gave her to throw a party on her dad’s yatch. Mandy and Maria both pass the auditions.
My Thoughts:
Wow! 50 books in and we’re JUST getting to the black character. From the cover tho, she’s very pretty. They get credit for that. This book just made me think a lot about how I don’t think I’d ever want to be famous. I think I’m too private a person to want to deal with what came along with that shown in this book. Like for instance, the people that started to come around me because of who I was. I got better at deciphering who people were as I grew older and when they showed me who they REALLY were to leave them alone, but I wasn’t always as good at it. Maria was A LOT better at 12 in figuring out what Jessica and the Unicorns were about than I was in my 20’s. So, I was impressed with her in this way despite her getting carried away and going overboard. I definitely would have to have an alias. Then did anyone else think it was strange that she and Mandy *both* tried to switch back and forth playing Juliet. 1) Was there REALLY no other play in the library (or book for that matter) that one of them couldn’t have picked to audition with? 2) I can see that MAYBE there weren’t that many boys auditioning for the drama club BUT they couldn’t have just idk paid one of the boys a few dollars just to read lines to help them out? When they both started reading Juliet’s lines I know I was thinking how are they gonna do that. They made it work. Still.. I kind of wonder after this if Maria will show up again and if she’ll ever get another shot acting.
Rating: 6
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 30, 2014
Synopsis: Maria Slater, the new girl in town, has a secret. Jessica thinks she looks familiar, but can't quite place her. This is because Jessica has about four brain cells. Liz immediately connects with Maria over the Sixers and writing. Maria is assigned to cover the drama club for an upcoming front page article, and she couldn't be more thrilled. Jess gets a cold from Steven, and she has to miss school one day. So, like any other sick kid, she steals the remote from her brother and watches TV. They compromise about a TV movie called "The Visitor" about an alien. There is a close-up on one of the kids, whom Jessica recognizes as Maria Slater. It's confirmed when her name flashes up on the screen at the end. Jessica, in a rare move, decides to keep the truth about Maria a secret, rationalizing that she'll probably come clean soon. In the meantime, Jess starts acting really weird around her, and Maria definitely notices it. But she likes spending time with Elizabeth more anyway, so she's not too worried.
Jessica invites Maria over to swim one afternoon, but it turns out Mrs. Wakefield won't let Jess swim since she is recovering from a cold. So Jessica decides she wants to get to the bottom of Maria's secret, and she hopes she will confess to her. Liz interrupts them, and Maria is relieved, since they can talk about writing. Jessica is nothing but appalled that a movie star would care about something like writing with her boring twin. Liz whisks Maria away, and Maria accidentally leaves her backpack behind. Jessica wants to return it but doesn't know Maria's number and doesn't think it will be listed so soon. She uses this as an opportunity to snoop through Maria's notebook, where Jessica finds what appears to be notes for a "role" Maria is taking on. She has written about coming to Sweet Valley to play the role of typical 12-year-old. Jessica's insane brain takes all of this to be fact, thinking that Maria will be starring in a movie about Sweet Valley which would, of course, include her.
So Jess confronts Maria about it the next day, and Maria is instantly upset. She knew it wouldn't be long before someone would learn about her child star past. But instead of calling Jessica out on her bullshit, Maria decides to give her a star, if that's what she wants. She makes Jess swear to continue to keep it a secret. Meanwhile, Maria befriends Mandy as she does drama club research, and Maria decides to try out with her new friend. I'm not sure how long Jessica keeps the secret, but it isn't very long, because soon enough she has decided to spill the beans after a Boosters practice. Jess makes them guess, reasoning that she won't really be revealing the secret. But the Unicorns are too dimwitted to get it right, so Jessica comes out and tells them how Maria is a movie star who is undercover at Sweet Valley for her next movie. The Unicorns swear they have to act more typical and normal around Maria for her research. This includes Ellen stalking Maria and the Unicorns breaking into her locker to giver her a delicate purple bracelet.
Maria's in deep shit now, because she knows the rumor will spread. She tries to tell Liz in the library, but she can't get the truth out. This whole time Liz has been oblivious; Jess never told her the secret about recognizing Maria. When she does tell Liz, Liz is confused. Elizabeth and Amy both read the same piece Jessica did, but they knew what Maria was writing was fiction. Liz puts on her detective monocle and goes over to Maria's house, swearing to get to the bottom of everything. Okay, Harriet the Spy. Meanwhile, the Unicorns need Maria to confess so they don't have to be "burdened" by her secret. Their brilliant plan? To have a sleepover, invite Maria, and play Truth or Dare. Assuming Maria picks Truth, of course. She does. Jessica ever-so-tactfully asks her if she was once a movie star. Maria is devastated, but she says yes. And the lies keep coming; she gets into the role of girl currently making a secret movie. After that the floodgates open at school. Maria is bombarded for autographs, and no one treats her normally anymore, except Liz, who vowed not to act differently once the truth came out.
Liz takes Maria to Casey's for a Collosus sundae. She not-so-subtly explains about her individuality essay, telling Maria it used to be hard having people see her as part of a twosome instead of an individual person. Clearly this relates to how Maria is one thing, but perceived by everybody else to be something else. She tells Liz the truth, of course, but she is dreading telling everyone else. This is because the Unicorns have already begun planning a party on Lila's yacht for Maria and the stars of her upcoming "movie."
In the meantime she distracts herself with drama club auditions, where she and Mandy kill it as both Romeo AND Juliet. She and Mandy both make the cut. The day of the party, Liz tells Maria to ACT brave, and Maria takes her advice. She gives a stirring speech to all of her gathered friends about how she was once a star, but she's not currently acting, and she's not undercover. Everyone applauds her, especially Jessica, who is happy that Maria was sneaky. She claims that she, too, sometimes exaggerates a little. Good lord.
Alternate Title: "Former Child Star"
Tagline: "What's the new girl hiding?" (That she thinks Jessica is a weird freak. *snicker*)
On a Scale of 1-10, How Annoying is Elizabeth? 3
On a Scale of 1-10, How Sociopathic is Jessica? 5
The Big Deal: A star is in town! Isn't that big enough?! But also, a yacht party is being thrown for said star.
Lingering Questions: Wait, all the Unicorn parties have had purple crepe paper?
Cover: Maria's clothes don't look all that original or awesome. And nothing is ever said about Jessica wearing a yellow blouse. I mean, I'm really shocked it's not purple. Maybe she was trying extra hard to be "typical" for Maria?
Quotes from the Book: "'Do you have a twin sister?' Maria asked.
Jessica nodded. 'Elizabeth.'
'I thought you two looked an awful lot alike!'" (*facepalm*)
"It just wasn't fair, catching this cold. Especially when Elizabeth had somehow managed to avoid it. They WERE supposed to be twins, after all." (Fucking hell.)
"'She probably didn't want you and your friends bugging her to introduce you to all her movie-star friends,' Steven pointed out.
Jessica's eyes lit up with sudden inspiration. Steven was right! Think of the possibilities!" (Damnit, Steven. Just when Jessica managed to not be narcissistic for a day and a half, you had to go and change that. Shame on you!)
"Jessica would have been autographing sneakers and passing out photos of herself if SHE had been the famous actress." (Who are we kidding? We know this happens on a daily basis in Sweet Valley anyway.)
"Maria hung up the phone and sighed. The Wakefields might be twins, but she definitely preferred Elizabeth. Jessica seemed a little weird." (*Snicker*)
"Maria stared at Jessica in amazement. One minute Jessica had been a nice, normal friend, and the next she was just another adoring fan. Maria felt like she had created a monster." (Don't worry, M, she didn't come out of your vagina. Console yourself with that.)
"'Of course I could!' Jessica responded. 'I'm not the groupie type. Things like stardom don't impress me.'" (I guess she's right. Only if it's her stardom.)
"'Don't let them get to you, Maria,' Amy advised. 'All the Unicorns have a screw loose. It's a membership requirement.'" (Hehe.)
"'She's an actress, Mandy,' Jessica replied. 'It's her job to fool people!'" (No, Jessica, that's your job! Don't let it out of your grasp!)
"'I hate keeping secrets!'
So I've noticed, Maria thought as she watched Jessica crawl back in her sleeping bag."
"'I'm beginning to get the picture,' Nina said, nodding her head. 'But you can't really blame Jessica,' she added gently." (Not in Sweet Valley, anyway.)
"'Me, too!' Jessica agreed. She leaned close to Maria and whispered, 'Don't feel bad. You're amazing whether or not you're a movie star. Besides, I tend to exaggerate once in a while, too.'" (Once in a while?!!!)
Moral of the Story: Sweet Valley is a typical town, full of children, teens, parents (and murderers and rapists), and that's why all the movie stars want to film there.
Final Rating: Three stars. Maria is awesome.
Jessica invites Maria over to swim one afternoon, but it turns out Mrs. Wakefield won't let Jess swim since she is recovering from a cold. So Jessica decides she wants to get to the bottom of Maria's secret, and she hopes she will confess to her. Liz interrupts them, and Maria is relieved, since they can talk about writing. Jessica is nothing but appalled that a movie star would care about something like writing with her boring twin. Liz whisks Maria away, and Maria accidentally leaves her backpack behind. Jessica wants to return it but doesn't know Maria's number and doesn't think it will be listed so soon. She uses this as an opportunity to snoop through Maria's notebook, where Jessica finds what appears to be notes for a "role" Maria is taking on. She has written about coming to Sweet Valley to play the role of typical 12-year-old. Jessica's insane brain takes all of this to be fact, thinking that Maria will be starring in a movie about Sweet Valley which would, of course, include her.
So Jess confronts Maria about it the next day, and Maria is instantly upset. She knew it wouldn't be long before someone would learn about her child star past. But instead of calling Jessica out on her bullshit, Maria decides to give her a star, if that's what she wants. She makes Jess swear to continue to keep it a secret. Meanwhile, Maria befriends Mandy as she does drama club research, and Maria decides to try out with her new friend. I'm not sure how long Jessica keeps the secret, but it isn't very long, because soon enough she has decided to spill the beans after a Boosters practice. Jess makes them guess, reasoning that she won't really be revealing the secret. But the Unicorns are too dimwitted to get it right, so Jessica comes out and tells them how Maria is a movie star who is undercover at Sweet Valley for her next movie. The Unicorns swear they have to act more typical and normal around Maria for her research. This includes Ellen stalking Maria and the Unicorns breaking into her locker to giver her a delicate purple bracelet.
Maria's in deep shit now, because she knows the rumor will spread. She tries to tell Liz in the library, but she can't get the truth out. This whole time Liz has been oblivious; Jess never told her the secret about recognizing Maria. When she does tell Liz, Liz is confused. Elizabeth and Amy both read the same piece Jessica did, but they knew what Maria was writing was fiction. Liz puts on her detective monocle and goes over to Maria's house, swearing to get to the bottom of everything. Okay, Harriet the Spy. Meanwhile, the Unicorns need Maria to confess so they don't have to be "burdened" by her secret. Their brilliant plan? To have a sleepover, invite Maria, and play Truth or Dare. Assuming Maria picks Truth, of course. She does. Jessica ever-so-tactfully asks her if she was once a movie star. Maria is devastated, but she says yes. And the lies keep coming; she gets into the role of girl currently making a secret movie. After that the floodgates open at school. Maria is bombarded for autographs, and no one treats her normally anymore, except Liz, who vowed not to act differently once the truth came out.
Liz takes Maria to Casey's for a Collosus sundae. She not-so-subtly explains about her individuality essay, telling Maria it used to be hard having people see her as part of a twosome instead of an individual person. Clearly this relates to how Maria is one thing, but perceived by everybody else to be something else. She tells Liz the truth, of course, but she is dreading telling everyone else. This is because the Unicorns have already begun planning a party on Lila's yacht for Maria and the stars of her upcoming "movie."
In the meantime she distracts herself with drama club auditions, where she and Mandy kill it as both Romeo AND Juliet. She and Mandy both make the cut. The day of the party, Liz tells Maria to ACT brave, and Maria takes her advice. She gives a stirring speech to all of her gathered friends about how she was once a star, but she's not currently acting, and she's not undercover. Everyone applauds her, especially Jessica, who is happy that Maria was sneaky. She claims that she, too, sometimes exaggerates a little. Good lord.
Alternate Title: "Former Child Star"
Tagline: "What's the new girl hiding?" (That she thinks Jessica is a weird freak. *snicker*)
On a Scale of 1-10, How Annoying is Elizabeth? 3
On a Scale of 1-10, How Sociopathic is Jessica? 5
The Big Deal: A star is in town! Isn't that big enough?! But also, a yacht party is being thrown for said star.
Lingering Questions: Wait, all the Unicorn parties have had purple crepe paper?
Cover: Maria's clothes don't look all that original or awesome. And nothing is ever said about Jessica wearing a yellow blouse. I mean, I'm really shocked it's not purple. Maybe she was trying extra hard to be "typical" for Maria?
Quotes from the Book: "'Do you have a twin sister?' Maria asked.
Jessica nodded. 'Elizabeth.'
'I thought you two looked an awful lot alike!'" (*facepalm*)
"It just wasn't fair, catching this cold. Especially when Elizabeth had somehow managed to avoid it. They WERE supposed to be twins, after all." (Fucking hell.)
"'She probably didn't want you and your friends bugging her to introduce you to all her movie-star friends,' Steven pointed out.
Jessica's eyes lit up with sudden inspiration. Steven was right! Think of the possibilities!" (Damnit, Steven. Just when Jessica managed to not be narcissistic for a day and a half, you had to go and change that. Shame on you!)
"Jessica would have been autographing sneakers and passing out photos of herself if SHE had been the famous actress." (Who are we kidding? We know this happens on a daily basis in Sweet Valley anyway.)
"Maria hung up the phone and sighed. The Wakefields might be twins, but she definitely preferred Elizabeth. Jessica seemed a little weird." (*Snicker*)
"Maria stared at Jessica in amazement. One minute Jessica had been a nice, normal friend, and the next she was just another adoring fan. Maria felt like she had created a monster." (Don't worry, M, she didn't come out of your vagina. Console yourself with that.)
"'Of course I could!' Jessica responded. 'I'm not the groupie type. Things like stardom don't impress me.'" (I guess she's right. Only if it's her stardom.)
"'Don't let them get to you, Maria,' Amy advised. 'All the Unicorns have a screw loose. It's a membership requirement.'" (Hehe.)
"'She's an actress, Mandy,' Jessica replied. 'It's her job to fool people!'" (No, Jessica, that's your job! Don't let it out of your grasp!)
"'I hate keeping secrets!'
So I've noticed, Maria thought as she watched Jessica crawl back in her sleeping bag."
"'I'm beginning to get the picture,' Nina said, nodding her head. 'But you can't really blame Jessica,' she added gently." (Not in Sweet Valley, anyway.)
"'Me, too!' Jessica agreed. She leaned close to Maria and whispered, 'Don't feel bad. You're amazing whether or not you're a movie star. Besides, I tend to exaggerate once in a while, too.'" (Once in a while?!!!)
Moral of the Story: Sweet Valley is a typical town, full of children, teens, parents (and murderers and rapists), and that's why all the movie stars want to film there.
Final Rating: Three stars. Maria is awesome.
May 7, 2022
I like Maria so much more in this series than in Senior Year!
Read
May 17, 2016I hope that after this book ended, Maria sent Jessica some flowers or chocolate or something considering the only reason the town didn't turn against her for lying to them was because... Jessica had been doing that kind of thing for years and everyone was used to it. Jessica admits as much at the big party. So get on that, Slater.
August 10, 2009
I liked it a lot! A star goes to school where the twins go to school!
October 24, 2010
I just can't say enough about how much I enjoyed these. I still own all of them. I will reread them sometime just for kicks, but I enjoyed them tremendously as a pre-teen.
May 5, 2021
Loved these books as a child
June 22, 2013
I remember the cover but just not the story.
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