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Sweet Valley Twins Super Chillers #7
The Haunted Burial Ground
Fixing up a run-down shack for their Halloween party, the Unicorn Club is horrified when Ellen finds a skull, Jessica gets lost in a bat cave, and a mysterious ghost girl appears with a warning for them all. Original.
182 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1994
2 people are currently reading
175 people want to read
About the author
Francine Pascal
1,146 books1,851 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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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
October 18, 2024
The title is the spoiler.
A new girl of Native American descent conveniently comes to town to serve as the plot point person and, I guess, to make the random references to different cultures okay. But it still comes off as kind of offensive?
There are almost no chills or good Halloween vibes. I appreciate the house band The Skeletons though.
The Unicorns and friends spend 75% of the book cleaning up an old shack and whining about it. Endless chapters of cleaning.
A new girl of Native American descent conveniently comes to town to serve as the plot point person and, I guess, to make the random references to different cultures okay. But it still comes off as kind of offensive?
There are almost no chills or good Halloween vibes. I appreciate the house band The Skeletons though.
The Unicorns and friends spend 75% of the book cleaning up an old shack and whining about it. Endless chapters of cleaning.
October 15, 2025
well spooky time is here and this was a good time to read this book. As usually Jessica annoyed me but then that isn't anything new. But it was as bad as normal.
But certain things confused me and I understand why the author wrote it as they did. It was about a Native American burial ground that at the moment the builders didn't know it was one but once it was found out the company owner changed his mind right away. Now only if that could happen in real life.
But certain things confused me and I understand why the author wrote it as they did. It was about a Native American burial ground that at the moment the builders didn't know it was one but once it was found out the company owner changed his mind right away. Now only if that could happen in real life.
October 18, 2022
3.5 stars
September 13, 2024
Didn’t hold up. At least the cover is cute.
Read
April 11, 2022I don’t remember marking this as read, but I have read this one- I think my mom got it from her school library for me when I was about 8, and I remember liking it!
October 21, 2023
The first of this year's read-alongs with Marian! :) I finished this book yesterday and pretty much none of it has stuck with me, so I'm glad she put lots of details in her review, LOL.
This book was fine: not great, not awful. It starts with Steven-being-an-asshole shenanigans, but (pleasantly enough) does not end with them.
Jessica has decided that she wants to throw a Major Unicorn Party with the hottest local high school band around, the Skeletons, and even finagle a way to sing a song with the band. The dreamy lead singer Scott participants in Steven's opening practical joke on her, but she decides he's cute enough to instantly forgive. She convinces the Unicorns to hold a masquerade party at an old abandoned shack on some of Lila's father's property. The Unicorns think costume parties are babyish, but are too excited by the idea of having the Skeletons play their party to complain too much. They even agree to clean up the lot around the shack (the condition Mr. Fowler gave them to use it).
Jessica gets Elizabeth to help because Liz thinks it'd be the perfect place for the Nature Scouts to have a clubhouse. (Really, Liz? An abandoned shack in the woods is the best you can do? This is even more hilarious because Mr. Fowler wants to redevelop the property ASAP but he's willing to move the shack elsewhere for the Nature Scouts to use. Like, just build them a new clubhouse instead of hauling around a dilapidated/rotting structure??) Liz has made friends with a new kid in the Valley named Kala. She's only going to be in SV for a month and then she's leaving with her dad to explore her family history. Kala is obsessed with Native American history and of course she has some personal ancestry, and it is all very 1990s after-school-special cringe.
Liz and Kala help the Unicorns (minus Jessica) clean up the lot. Janet Howell decides to have a couple of seances to ~reach out to the spirit world~ during which time Kala falls into a weird trance and starts having dreams about an eagle, a wolf, and a bear, who deliver messages from the "old ones" warning the kids off the property where the shack is. The Unicorns and Mr. Fowler's development company think "the old ones" refers to the elderly people living next door to the shack, and thus summarily dismiss the warnings Kala tries to give them. Lots of creepy things happen , but these are dismissed as pranks being played by Bruce Patman & co. Liz is also involved in Houses for the Homeless (aka Habitat for Humanity, but a version that lets 12-year-olds actually handle building supplies). The leader of the project is a Native American, but of course he conveniently goes off to Chicago when Liz wants to contact him the most and basically misses everything that happens, even though he asked her to keep an eye out for "weird things."
As it turns out, the shack is indeed on the stereotypical haunted burial ground, and Mr. Fowler instantly changes his mind about developing the property, which would never happen in real life (or even SVH) but obviously needed to happen here because after-school-specials have happy endings.
Not great, not terrible, perfectly "meh" and a fine way to open our nostalgic re-reads.
This book was fine: not great, not awful. It starts with Steven-being-an-asshole shenanigans, but (pleasantly enough) does not end with them.
Jessica has decided that she wants to throw a Major Unicorn Party with the hottest local high school band around, the Skeletons, and even finagle a way to sing a song with the band. The dreamy lead singer Scott participants in Steven's opening practical joke on her, but she decides he's cute enough to instantly forgive. She convinces the Unicorns to hold a masquerade party at an old abandoned shack on some of Lila's father's property. The Unicorns think costume parties are babyish, but are too excited by the idea of having the Skeletons play their party to complain too much. They even agree to clean up the lot around the shack (the condition Mr. Fowler gave them to use it).
Jessica gets Elizabeth to help because Liz thinks it'd be the perfect place for the Nature Scouts to have a clubhouse. (Really, Liz? An abandoned shack in the woods is the best you can do? This is even more hilarious because Mr. Fowler wants to redevelop the property ASAP but he's willing to move the shack elsewhere for the Nature Scouts to use. Like, just build them a new clubhouse instead of hauling around a dilapidated/rotting structure??) Liz has made friends with a new kid in the Valley named Kala. She's only going to be in SV for a month and then she's leaving with her dad to explore her family history. Kala is obsessed with Native American history and of course she has some personal ancestry, and it is all very 1990s after-school-special cringe.
Liz and Kala help the Unicorns (minus Jessica) clean up the lot. Janet Howell decides to have a couple of seances to ~reach out to the spirit world~ during which time Kala falls into a weird trance and starts having dreams about an eagle, a wolf, and a bear, who deliver messages from the "old ones" warning the kids off the property where the shack is. The Unicorns and Mr. Fowler's development company think "the old ones" refers to the elderly people living next door to the shack, and thus summarily dismiss the warnings Kala tries to give them. Lots of creepy things happen , but these are dismissed as pranks being played by Bruce Patman & co. Liz is also involved in Houses for the Homeless (aka Habitat for Humanity, but a version that lets 12-year-olds actually handle building supplies). The leader of the project is a Native American, but of course he conveniently goes off to Chicago when Liz wants to contact him the most and basically misses everything that happens, even though he asked her to keep an eye out for "weird things."
As it turns out, the shack is indeed on the stereotypical haunted burial ground, and Mr. Fowler instantly changes his mind about developing the property, which would never happen in real life (or even SVH) but obviously needed to happen here because after-school-specials have happy endings.
Not great, not terrible, perfectly "meh" and a fine way to open our nostalgic re-reads.
October 4, 2022
Tis spooky season, so that means it's read-along time with the lovely and talented EuroHackie! First up, SVT The Haunted Burial Ground. I had memories of not liking this one when I read (reread?) it as an adult and so we figured we'd start here as the other options are bound to be better or at least more insane.
In reality, this one isn't terrible but it's probably going right back in my easily forgotten pile. So forgettable that I'd forgotten that the book's twist is given away in the title of the book. Seriously, this whole book leads up to the gang finding out that the shack they're cleaning up for a Halloween party (and so Lila's father can move to another location so as to turn the land into an office building ASAP) is built on/near a Native American burial ground. Right there. In the title. Thanks, Bantam?
It's probably not as insensitive as it could've been considering the whole ancient Native American burial ground trope was pretty par for the course back in 94 but also skirts the whole Liz's costume isn't a costume but something given to her to wear by her Native friend Kala. Basically set expectations accordingly for that. And allow for a peace pipe joke that I could totally see a sixth grader making.
Story-wise, it's definitely on the Chiller side as there are spooky happenings and they aren't all pranks. I do love when Sweet Valley leans into the spooky things and doesn't have it all easily explained with logic and reasoning. Kid!me wanted ALL the spooky.
But just because I didn't want everything explained away with logic doesn't mean I wanted less logic in general. There's absolutely no way Lila couldn't have conned her father, who was shown to be pretty mellow in this book, into getting some people to clean up the shack for their Halloween party. None. It wasn't even done as a "teach the kids the value of somethingorother" it was just 'we need the plot to happen, k?' and I've always hated that. Especially once the Unicorns started complaining about having to do actual work. Seriously, Lila, hit Daddy up for someone to do the work for you.
Didn't love Liz telling Ellen to wash her hands free of the chemicals in the freakin' creek/brook/whatever running through the land. LIZ. Pollution isn't just the Unicorn Club literally throwing garbage over the fence into the neighbor's yard! I'd argue the water thing is worse because the trash is at least treated like a "WTF is wrong with these girls" moment while the water is more of "great idea, Liz!" thing. Oof.
On the flipside, I did kind of love the boys being dumb enough to put themselves into those jack-o-lantern leaf bags in an effort to scare the girls and the freakout of them maybe being thrown in the trash truck. The reader knows it probably didn't happen but the book keeps the suspense real and it holds up until Bruce and company actually think Kala could just easily lift an older boy in a bag and easily cart him around. Twice. We're never given the impression that Kala's impressively strong here so... Bruce in SVT is frequently dumb as a box of hammers. Mandy reading Jake the riot act about putting himself in a plastic bag is priceless and a good reminder to kids not to do something that dumb.
I also liked the callback to SVH's Mr. Fowler basically reshaping the Sweet Valley skyline, even if maybe it means losing the charm that makes Sweet Valley.
When Jessica was tuning out during Liz's opening ramble about Houses for the Homeless, I legit thought Jessica said, "Right, horses for the homeless." Had she actually done so, I'd be forced to love this book for that line alone.
Ellen Riteman is annoying as hell in this one, but I do like that she calls Jessica out on her BS regarding the party. She's 100% correct that Jess just wants to wear something cute to impress a boy and as a result the Unicorn Club (and Elizabeth) are going to have to work their asses off while Jessica absolutely does not. Seriously, how did Jess explain her ducking out all the subsequent clean-the-shack afternoons? She couldn't tell them the truth since she was acting like she already had the band in the bag soo... it's probably mentioned and I missed it.
I can't tell if it's annoying or comforting that the SV series as a whole, but especially SVT, can't remember whether the Wakefield twins can sing or not.
And in worst excuse not to use the already previously established haunted house, we're told they can't just use the old Mercandy place because, and I quote, "But the Mercandys live there," and, "yeah, they probably wouldn't lend it to us for a party." Way to point out the obvious, Janet, and Mandy, just loop Nora in and ask. Seriously, it's not that hard.
Also, I refuse to believe that Mary and Mandy would go along with the rest of the Unicorns in putting an actual human skull on a tree (I'm hoping they didn't actually nail it to the tree but the odds of there being a nail in the tree are mixed at best, I suppose) and leaving it there.
Kinda annoyed that the cover art gives us Lila in the cat costume instead of her Snow White getup, when it's supposed to be Tamara but then I realized that after 30-odd years, I have no idea what Tamara looks like so I guess that could be her, especially since the other three are fairly accurate aside from Jessica's hair.
Alas, I didn't love this one. But I didn't hate it either and it brought us this gem:
Lizzie Wakefield took an axe and gave Jake Hamilton forty whacks. When she saw what she had done, she gave Bruce and Rick forty-one!" all while carrying a fake axe. A+ Halloweening there, ghosty.
In reality, this one isn't terrible but it's probably going right back in my easily forgotten pile. So forgettable that I'd forgotten that the book's twist is given away in the title of the book. Seriously, this whole book leads up to the gang finding out that the shack they're cleaning up for a Halloween party (and so Lila's father can move to another location so as to turn the land into an office building ASAP) is built on/near a Native American burial ground. Right there. In the title. Thanks, Bantam?
It's probably not as insensitive as it could've been considering the whole ancient Native American burial ground trope was pretty par for the course back in 94 but also skirts the whole Liz's costume isn't a costume but something given to her to wear by her Native friend Kala. Basically set expectations accordingly for that. And allow for a peace pipe joke that I could totally see a sixth grader making.
Story-wise, it's definitely on the Chiller side as there are spooky happenings and they aren't all pranks. I do love when Sweet Valley leans into the spooky things and doesn't have it all easily explained with logic and reasoning. Kid!me wanted ALL the spooky.
But just because I didn't want everything explained away with logic doesn't mean I wanted less logic in general. There's absolutely no way Lila couldn't have conned her father, who was shown to be pretty mellow in this book, into getting some people to clean up the shack for their Halloween party. None. It wasn't even done as a "teach the kids the value of somethingorother" it was just 'we need the plot to happen, k?' and I've always hated that. Especially once the Unicorns started complaining about having to do actual work. Seriously, Lila, hit Daddy up for someone to do the work for you.
Didn't love Liz telling Ellen to wash her hands free of the chemicals in the freakin' creek/brook/whatever running through the land. LIZ. Pollution isn't just the Unicorn Club literally throwing garbage over the fence into the neighbor's yard! I'd argue the water thing is worse because the trash is at least treated like a "WTF is wrong with these girls" moment while the water is more of "great idea, Liz!" thing. Oof.
On the flipside, I did kind of love the boys being dumb enough to put themselves into those jack-o-lantern leaf bags in an effort to scare the girls and the freakout of them maybe being thrown in the trash truck. The reader knows it probably didn't happen but the book keeps the suspense real and it holds up until Bruce and company actually think Kala could just easily lift an older boy in a bag and easily cart him around. Twice. We're never given the impression that Kala's impressively strong here so... Bruce in SVT is frequently dumb as a box of hammers. Mandy reading Jake the riot act about putting himself in a plastic bag is priceless and a good reminder to kids not to do something that dumb.
I also liked the callback to SVH's Mr. Fowler basically reshaping the Sweet Valley skyline, even if maybe it means losing the charm that makes Sweet Valley.
When Jessica was tuning out during Liz's opening ramble about Houses for the Homeless, I legit thought Jessica said, "Right, horses for the homeless." Had she actually done so, I'd be forced to love this book for that line alone.
Ellen Riteman is annoying as hell in this one, but I do like that she calls Jessica out on her BS regarding the party. She's 100% correct that Jess just wants to wear something cute to impress a boy and as a result the Unicorn Club (and Elizabeth) are going to have to work their asses off while Jessica absolutely does not. Seriously, how did Jess explain her ducking out all the subsequent clean-the-shack afternoons? She couldn't tell them the truth since she was acting like she already had the band in the bag soo... it's probably mentioned and I missed it.
I can't tell if it's annoying or comforting that the SV series as a whole, but especially SVT, can't remember whether the Wakefield twins can sing or not.
And in worst excuse not to use the already previously established haunted house, we're told they can't just use the old Mercandy place because, and I quote, "But the Mercandys live there," and, "yeah, they probably wouldn't lend it to us for a party." Way to point out the obvious, Janet, and Mandy, just loop Nora in and ask. Seriously, it's not that hard.
Also, I refuse to believe that Mary and Mandy would go along with the rest of the Unicorns in putting an actual human skull on a tree (I'm hoping they didn't actually nail it to the tree but the odds of there being a nail in the tree are mixed at best, I suppose) and leaving it there.
Kinda annoyed that the cover art gives us Lila in the cat costume instead of her Snow White getup, when it's supposed to be Tamara but then I realized that after 30-odd years, I have no idea what Tamara looks like so I guess that could be her, especially since the other three are fairly accurate aside from Jessica's hair.
Alas, I didn't love this one. But I didn't hate it either and it brought us this gem:
Lizzie Wakefield took an axe and gave Jake Hamilton forty whacks. When she saw what she had done, she gave Bruce and Rick forty-one!" all while carrying a fake axe. A+ Halloweening there, ghosty.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 9, 2016
Guys, it's very hard to do this review, but I have to distract myself from these nonsense election results.
Synopsis: So this book, while advertised as a Super Chiller, is not Super or Chiller-y. I think they got their holidays mixed up (easy to do when you've had about 40 Christmases and 20 Halloweens as a twelve-year-old), because this certainly felt WAY more like an April Fool's book than anything else. (Also it feels like that today. Anyone else with me on this?) Also, remember the seance thing two books from now in the last Super Chiller, Evil Elizabeth? Yeah, it's back in this one. So it felt like they were recycling plot in this book but actually I just read the other one first. Who am I kidding, though? They always recycle plot.
So, like all the books I've been reading lately, this one took five million years to get started. The plot, genuinely, is A. The boys pranking the girls (Unicorns), B. The Unicorns holding multiple seances and C. The Unicorns cleaning up a shack.
Oh, yeah, and there's a moral plot about a haunted burial ground. Because the Native Americans needed a middle-aged, rich white woman to come in with this book for their children about how their elders have been (literally and figuratively) trampled all over.
Anyway, you're probably asking, "Why is the burial ground haunted? And how do we get to that point?" (Actually, I'm quite certain you aren't asking that. But fuck all if I'm not going to tell you anyway).
I mean, it's Halloween (surprise), and the boys around SVMS are playing tricks on all the girls, including the Unicorns and newcomer Kala who, astonishingly unsurprisingly, has Native American blood in her. The Unicorns condescend to her and Liz loves her. Honestly, these plots write themselves. Essentially everything comes about when Jessica meets Tim or Tommy or Todd or some fucking name who plays in the band The Skeletons. He thinks she's 13, which is the new 21 in Sweet Valley, and she's so smitten that she immediately decides to throw a Halloween Party and have his band play at it. I know; stifle your vomit.
So the whole burial ground thing comes into play when Jess needs a place to hold the party. She has a rich best friend, so the problem basically solves itself. Lila's dad, Mr. Fowler, turns them down for the first place they ask, but he mentions he has a place up on Sleepy Hollow Road. The girls hesitate for .5 seconds before realizing this creepy place, full of stories, is the perfect place for a "Monster Ball." Lila wheedles and Mr. Fowler gives in, on the conditions that they fix the place up themselves and don't disturb the neighbors.
Liz is working at Houses for the Homeless where Jack Whitefeather, a Native American, happens to also be working. Liz has some kids or something that need a place to stay, and so it's agreed that after the Halloween party they can use the Sleepy Hollow property for their clubhouse.
So, much like Mandy did in Evil Elizabeth, Kala begins to come to life during more Janet-led seances. She mentions "the old ones" over and over, which Janet and the other Unicorns assume to mean the old couple next door. But then Kala begins dreaming about eagles, bears, wolves, etc. Liz finds an arrowhead and tooth on the Sleepy Hollow property. The Unicorns, while doing actual work at the shack (jaws on the floor, I know), begin to see shadows everywhere. Particularly Ellen. She's hysterical, as usual. Until she actually does find a human skull in the river. Liz confirms this (because nothing's true until Liz says it is) and they hang the skull up, as if that will make things better. Jessica gets attacked by bats in a cave. The best part is that they actually follow her OUT of the cave and start attacking Janet's ponytail. THEN Liz finds a buried pot with the eagle, bear, wolf, and eagle on it, and that just confirms everything for her. Well, what it confirms she still doesn't know. Kala continues to dream about the old ones and warn Elizabeth that they aren't happy.
Then the girls find out that the shack, after the Halloween party, will become a Fowler tower. Liz won't have her nature center or whatever for the homeless kids. But, more than that, Kala knows they can't build there. These two are so convinced that they are mouthpieces for the Native Americans that they storm right up to tell Mr. Fowler himself that he must halt construction at once. I mean, he doesn't listen. Obviously.
So then the Halloween party goes off without a hitch. Kind of. Jessica has to promise to stay the night in the shack before the Skeletons agree to play. She does (along with all the Unicorns plus Amy, Maria, and Liz). Then Tom/Timmy/Future Statutory Rapist says Jessica also has to agree to sing a song with him. Ugh. Jess doesn't really give a flying fuck what happens to the shack as long as she can have her party there. Kala doesn't come because she is worn out from being possessed by spirits all the time. I don't blame her. However, she loans Liz traditional Native American garb to wear to the party because she believes it will honor the old ones. A white, upper middle-class 12-year-old girl will be the one to honor the spirits by wearing their traditional clothing? Yes, I see nothing wrong with this.
So, yeah, Jessica sings with the Skeletons and FSR lavishes all his attention on her. Liz is proud but also terrified once the Native American pot falls and breaks. Skeletons (real ones this time) appear out the window and tell everyone to GTFO. Kala shows up, possessed again, saying the same thing. Then the shack - no kidding - starts shaking like all hell and collapsing around them. The old ones have spoken! But who cares! Jessica got to have her party!
Jack Whitefeather comes back to town and gives Mr. Fowler a talking to. He agrees to keep the area as a nature preserve, while Liz's kids build their clubhouse away from the burial ground (but still on the same land). And then an eagle flies by to let them all know he approves, on behalf of all eagles everywhere.
That's it. It's just a huge morality bid with white people saving the day, AGAIN. Also further proof that age matters not.
Alternate Title : "White People are the Worst (A Recurring Theme)"
Tagline: "Haunted... or tricked?"
On a Scale of 1-10, How Annoying is Elizabeth?: Actually, 0. I liked her no-nonsense and bossy self in this one.
On a Scale of 1-10, How Sociopathic is Jessica?: Eh. She's just chasing after a guy. Pretty standard.
The Big Deal: Halloween Party "Monster Ball" in the Love Shack, Baby
Cover: Good or Bad?: It's decent. I'm pretty neutral about it.
What Ghost are we dealing with?: The ghosts of the "Old ones."
Any psychopaths?: Not unless you count the SVMS boys.
Quotes from the Book: "The twins were twelve years old, but sometimes it seemed to Jessica that her mother treated them as though they were ten." - Yes, THANK YOU. You were ten TWO YEARS AGO. A lead singer of a high school band should be nowhere near your Lolita ass.
"Suddenly, she had an idea. An incredibly good idea. An idea that was just incredibly incredible." - So her idea was... incredible?
Liz: Jessica's pretty nice most of the time, too. But I'll admit that I may be slightly prejudiced about Jessica. - YA THINK?!
"I would think any self-respecting ghost would have better things to do than hang out at a Unicorn slumber party." - I sure fucking hope so.
"It figures, Elizabeth thought. The Unicorns totally forget they were scared out of their mind the second the skeletons turn out to be two cute guys." - Please note for the record that the Unicorns share one mind and one mind only.
Moral of the Story: Ellen Riteman is a useless fuck.
Final Rating: Zero. I realize I can't give it zero... but zero. This one was a huge fucking snooze, AND they recycle the seance thing two SC's later.
Synopsis: So this book, while advertised as a Super Chiller, is not Super or Chiller-y. I think they got their holidays mixed up (easy to do when you've had about 40 Christmases and 20 Halloweens as a twelve-year-old), because this certainly felt WAY more like an April Fool's book than anything else. (Also it feels like that today. Anyone else with me on this?) Also, remember the seance thing two books from now in the last Super Chiller, Evil Elizabeth? Yeah, it's back in this one. So it felt like they were recycling plot in this book but actually I just read the other one first. Who am I kidding, though? They always recycle plot.
So, like all the books I've been reading lately, this one took five million years to get started. The plot, genuinely, is A. The boys pranking the girls (Unicorns), B. The Unicorns holding multiple seances and C. The Unicorns cleaning up a shack.
Oh, yeah, and there's a moral plot about a haunted burial ground. Because the Native Americans needed a middle-aged, rich white woman to come in with this book for their children about how their elders have been (literally and figuratively) trampled all over.
Anyway, you're probably asking, "Why is the burial ground haunted? And how do we get to that point?" (Actually, I'm quite certain you aren't asking that. But fuck all if I'm not going to tell you anyway).
I mean, it's Halloween (surprise), and the boys around SVMS are playing tricks on all the girls, including the Unicorns and newcomer Kala who, astonishingly unsurprisingly, has Native American blood in her. The Unicorns condescend to her and Liz loves her. Honestly, these plots write themselves. Essentially everything comes about when Jessica meets Tim or Tommy or Todd or some fucking name who plays in the band The Skeletons. He thinks she's 13, which is the new 21 in Sweet Valley, and she's so smitten that she immediately decides to throw a Halloween Party and have his band play at it. I know; stifle your vomit.
So the whole burial ground thing comes into play when Jess needs a place to hold the party. She has a rich best friend, so the problem basically solves itself. Lila's dad, Mr. Fowler, turns them down for the first place they ask, but he mentions he has a place up on Sleepy Hollow Road. The girls hesitate for .5 seconds before realizing this creepy place, full of stories, is the perfect place for a "Monster Ball." Lila wheedles and Mr. Fowler gives in, on the conditions that they fix the place up themselves and don't disturb the neighbors.
Liz is working at Houses for the Homeless where Jack Whitefeather, a Native American, happens to also be working. Liz has some kids or something that need a place to stay, and so it's agreed that after the Halloween party they can use the Sleepy Hollow property for their clubhouse.
So, much like Mandy did in Evil Elizabeth, Kala begins to come to life during more Janet-led seances. She mentions "the old ones" over and over, which Janet and the other Unicorns assume to mean the old couple next door. But then Kala begins dreaming about eagles, bears, wolves, etc. Liz finds an arrowhead and tooth on the Sleepy Hollow property. The Unicorns, while doing actual work at the shack (jaws on the floor, I know), begin to see shadows everywhere. Particularly Ellen. She's hysterical, as usual. Until she actually does find a human skull in the river. Liz confirms this (because nothing's true until Liz says it is) and they hang the skull up, as if that will make things better. Jessica gets attacked by bats in a cave. The best part is that they actually follow her OUT of the cave and start attacking Janet's ponytail. THEN Liz finds a buried pot with the eagle, bear, wolf, and eagle on it, and that just confirms everything for her. Well, what it confirms she still doesn't know. Kala continues to dream about the old ones and warn Elizabeth that they aren't happy.
Then the girls find out that the shack, after the Halloween party, will become a Fowler tower. Liz won't have her nature center or whatever for the homeless kids. But, more than that, Kala knows they can't build there. These two are so convinced that they are mouthpieces for the Native Americans that they storm right up to tell Mr. Fowler himself that he must halt construction at once. I mean, he doesn't listen. Obviously.
So then the Halloween party goes off without a hitch. Kind of. Jessica has to promise to stay the night in the shack before the Skeletons agree to play. She does (along with all the Unicorns plus Amy, Maria, and Liz). Then Tom/Timmy/Future Statutory Rapist says Jessica also has to agree to sing a song with him. Ugh. Jess doesn't really give a flying fuck what happens to the shack as long as she can have her party there. Kala doesn't come because she is worn out from being possessed by spirits all the time. I don't blame her. However, she loans Liz traditional Native American garb to wear to the party because she believes it will honor the old ones. A white, upper middle-class 12-year-old girl will be the one to honor the spirits by wearing their traditional clothing? Yes, I see nothing wrong with this.
So, yeah, Jessica sings with the Skeletons and FSR lavishes all his attention on her. Liz is proud but also terrified once the Native American pot falls and breaks. Skeletons (real ones this time) appear out the window and tell everyone to GTFO. Kala shows up, possessed again, saying the same thing. Then the shack - no kidding - starts shaking like all hell and collapsing around them. The old ones have spoken! But who cares! Jessica got to have her party!
Jack Whitefeather comes back to town and gives Mr. Fowler a talking to. He agrees to keep the area as a nature preserve, while Liz's kids build their clubhouse away from the burial ground (but still on the same land). And then an eagle flies by to let them all know he approves, on behalf of all eagles everywhere.
That's it. It's just a huge morality bid with white people saving the day, AGAIN. Also further proof that age matters not.
Alternate Title : "White People are the Worst (A Recurring Theme)"
Tagline: "Haunted... or tricked?"
On a Scale of 1-10, How Annoying is Elizabeth?: Actually, 0. I liked her no-nonsense and bossy self in this one.
On a Scale of 1-10, How Sociopathic is Jessica?: Eh. She's just chasing after a guy. Pretty standard.
The Big Deal: Halloween Party "Monster Ball" in the Love Shack, Baby
Cover: Good or Bad?: It's decent. I'm pretty neutral about it.
What Ghost are we dealing with?: The ghosts of the "Old ones."
Any psychopaths?: Not unless you count the SVMS boys.
Quotes from the Book: "The twins were twelve years old, but sometimes it seemed to Jessica that her mother treated them as though they were ten." - Yes, THANK YOU. You were ten TWO YEARS AGO. A lead singer of a high school band should be nowhere near your Lolita ass.
"Suddenly, she had an idea. An incredibly good idea. An idea that was just incredibly incredible." - So her idea was... incredible?
Liz: Jessica's pretty nice most of the time, too. But I'll admit that I may be slightly prejudiced about Jessica. - YA THINK?!
"I would think any self-respecting ghost would have better things to do than hang out at a Unicorn slumber party." - I sure fucking hope so.
"It figures, Elizabeth thought. The Unicorns totally forget they were scared out of their mind the second the skeletons turn out to be two cute guys." - Please note for the record that the Unicorns share one mind and one mind only.
Moral of the Story: Ellen Riteman is a useless fuck.
Final Rating: Zero. I realize I can't give it zero... but zero. This one was a huge fucking snooze, AND they recycle the seance thing two SC's later.
November 7, 2019
I meant to read this on Halloween, but time got away from me. Oh, well.
I know I’ve read this one, but nothing about it seemed familiar. It was cute, but definitely not one of the better super chillers. I love that the title spoils the entire book, though, since we don’t find out it’s a burial ground until the very end. Also, I’m pretty sure we never hear from Kala again after this book.
I know I’ve read this one, but nothing about it seemed familiar. It was cute, but definitely not one of the better super chillers. I love that the title spoils the entire book, though, since we don’t find out it’s a burial ground until the very end. Also, I’m pretty sure we never hear from Kala again after this book.
November 22, 2021
Kinda racist. New girl comes to town, happens to be Native American. And she’s the one that hears the spirits? Hmmmkay.
January 24, 2026
I read every single Sweet Valley Twins and High book back in the day. randomly found this in a box, decided on a little slice of nostalgia and a quick read. still fun. :)
July 13, 2020
I don't expect realism from my Sweet Valley but they shouldn't also be so disrespectful. My common complaint is that the ghostwriters do no research, as is common for book-a-month series. But to completely disrespect ALL Natives, as if they are an extinct monolith, is willful negligence.
Construction would never have happened on the site because new builds have inspections and would have found the arrowhead, which would have given reason for an archaeological dig. They would have found the burial pot and skull, and save them for being decoration for a party.
Construction would never have happened on the site because new builds have inspections and would have found the arrowhead, which would have given reason for an archaeological dig. They would have found the burial pot and skull, and save them for being decoration for a party.
June 22, 2013
I remember the cover just not the story
January 2, 2018
This book was good
February 1, 2016
Still a little creepy for a night time read.
October 15, 2016
Not my fav "scary" SVT book, but still a good Halloween read!
September 12, 2016
Bound to send shivers up the spines of some readers. For young mystery lovers.
January 24, 2016
Still a little creepy for a night time read.
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