SVK #42: Jessica's Monster Nightmare
I’m still waiting for SVH #140, Please Forgive Me, to arrive from the library, so thought in the meantime I would do a quick recap of one of the two Sweet Valley Kids titles I own...
The cover features an early edition of Elizabeth’s sympathetic shoulder-pat.
Basic plot: Jess has scary nightmares about a monster which keep her awake at night until a combination of St Elizabeth-style meddling and SV-style don’t-try-this-at-home psychotherapy cure her. Thrilling stuff! Frankly, I think the monster Jess dreams of is actually, in a deep psychological sort of way, a manifestation of her own future sociopathic self and she is, understandably, terrified by it.
Chapter 1: Keep the Light On
We open with Jessica and Elizabeth listening to a bedtime story read to them by their loving father, Ned Wakefield. The book notes that it’s from ‘the Grimms’ fairy-tale book’ which I think explains the reason for Jessica’s nightmares right from the start. Has not the ghostwriter read the original Grimms’ fairy-tales? They’re full of people getting their toes and fingers cut off (and that’s in the Cinderella story, Ashputtel) and dancing on red-hot coals and being pursued by Death… Wonderful parenting, Ned, as ever.
We then get the SVK version of the twin description blurb. It amuses me to note how it differs from the SVT/SVH version so I will quote. Rather adorably, the book assumes that its readers will be too young to have come across the concept of twin before and so helpfully informs us: ‘Being twins meant that the girls looked exactly alike.’ The physical description is a lot simpler: ‘Both had blue-green eyes and long blond hair with fringes.’ Rather than lavalieres of doom, the girls wear identity bracelets.
Jessica, scared by the story Ned has just read them, refuses to turn the light off. Illustration!
I can see why Jess is frightened when the twins have a picture of a carnivorous horse devouring another deformed horse on their bedroom wall. Anyways, the chapter ends dramatically with Elizabeth turning off the light.
Chapter 2: Nightmare!
Jess (rather sweetly) lists all the crayon colours she likes best in an attempt not to fall asleep. For those that are interested: they are carnation, magenta, aquamarine, apricot and sky. I am glad a purplish sort of colour is included, though the continuity isn’t particularly great here. Anyway, Jess falls asleep anyway (shock!) and has a nightmare about being chased by The Monster. This Monster (as we shall see) is a very particular Monster and is not to be confused with your common-or-garden monsters, which Jessica Wakefield would never deign to dream about, hence the capitalisation.
She wakes up and is comforted by Liz. Jess tells Liz she’s frightened the monster will catch her in the dream and eat her up. Liz apparently ‘says bravely’ ‘Then it’ll have to eat me, too… I’ll go with you next time and maybe if we’re together we can escape from it.’ Unless these are Eva Sullivan (brrr) type dreams, I’m not sure I see the courage (or logic) in that, Liz… The fact Jess is scared that the monster will eat her suggests to me, once again, her inner fear of being engulfed by her own sociopathy.
Chapter 3: Jessica’s Afraid of the Dark
In which Saint Liz strikes again.
Liz and Jess go to school and the other kids comment on how tired Jess looks. Liz has an unfortunate attack of sensitivity and decides to ask Eva (Simpson not Sullivan, or we might have some interesting backstory here - Liz inspires Eva’s reign of terror!) and Amy for help. Her interfering ways require full quoting:
‘"Jessica can’t sleep any more," she explained. "All of a sudden she’s afraid of the dark."
"That’s awful," Eva said. "Did something scare her?"
Elizabeth glanced around again to make sure nobody was listening. She didn’t want to embarrass her sister.*
"She’s been having nightmares. About a monster."
[*bold indicates irony]
Obviously, this is immediately picked up by the rest of the class, who start teasing Jess. I am particularly amused to see future boyfriends/victims of sociopathy turning up left right and centre; Ken Matthews asks Jessica "Isn’t that a bit babyish?" while Todd shuffles like a hunchback across the classroom. The teacher, Mrs Otis, then comes in, and the teasing stops momentarily. We have another dramatic chapter ending:
‘[Elizabeth] pulled a piece of paper from her notebook and drew a happy face on it. Then underneath it she wrote ‘Jessica Wakefield’… Jessica slowly unfolded the note. She stared at it for a moment. Then she picked up her pencil and drew a dark frown over the smile.’
Chapter 4: A Big Scare
At Casa Wakefield. Steven tries to turn the TV to a horror show. Elizabeth stops him, telling him that Jess has been having nightmares. Steven predictably teases Jess. (Why does not someone just gag Elizabeth??) The twins get ready for bed and Mrs Wakefield turns off the light. However, a moment later, Steven bursts through the door wearing a monster mask and roaring. I am not at all impressed by Steven here - I used to be scared by pretty much everything when I was Jess’s age and people frightening you further is really not what you need.
A rare instance of Wakefield parenting is also observed when Ned sends Steven to his room and says he will be in to talk to him later.
Chapter 5: Poster Time
Jess wakes up again in the night terrified about the Monster.
Next day at school: art class. ‘I already know what I’m going to draw.’ Elizabeth announces. ‘A picture of the ocean, with whales and dolphins.’ I can see Todd drooling already.
Chapter 6: Truly Frightening
Still art class. The subject of the Monster comes up again and Jess decides to draw her Monster to show how much scarier it is than the pathetic monsters of other people such as Winston’s. (Winston’s inner self is represented by ‘a big fat frog’ apparently) The artist actually does quite a good job of making it look reasonably scary:
but then, I did use to be so frightened of the Quentin Blake illustration of the Grand High Witch sans mask in Roald Dahl’s The Witches that I had to skip that page every time, so perhaps I am not the best person to judge. Anyway, the class agree it’s fairly frightening and stop teasing Jess.
Chapter 7: A Monster to Laugh At
Jess falls asleep in class and so Mrs Otis sends her to the nurse’s office to have a nap. Elizabeth tells Mrs Otis about Jess’s Monster (has she not already told enough people?) Mrs Otis has a bright idea:
‘The teacher picked up a felt pen from her desk and walked over to Jessica’s poster. She leaned over and began drawing circles coming from the monster’s ears.
"What’s that?" Elizabeth asked.
"Soap bubbles." Mrs Otis chuckled.’
The whole class decide to draw silly things on the monster to make it less scary. Most of the things seem to be girly: high-heeled shoes, a handbag, nail varnish, a skirt etc. Hence, I believe this is Jess’s true self being covered up by her later interest in fashion; a beautiful outer shell with a sociopathic core, in fact.
The real Jessica Wakefield:
Chapter 8: A Surprised Jessica
Jess comes back from the nurse’s room and sees the improved version of the monster, which makes her laugh. "Is it going to the Jungle Prom a party?" she asks. However, the chapter leaves us on a cliffhanger which I find quite hilarious for no particular reason:
‘Then [Jessica] met Elizabeth’s eyes. They were both thinking the same thing.
The final test would be at bedtime.’
Chapter 9: Tinkertops
Jess is getting nervous in the run-up to bedtime. I do sympathise with her here as I remember being a kid when you’re scared of something and getting tenser and tenser as it gets closer to when you have to go to bed. Steven, however, decides to become the family counsellor:
and they decide to name the monster to make it even sillier. A number of silly names are suggested, including Daniella Fromage Magenta Galaxy Flapjack Head and Wilbur, but they settle on ‘Toodle-loo Tinkertops.’ Right. Jess now finds the monster hilariously funny and is happy to turn the bedroom light off herself. Humour is a defence mechanism, Jess. In nine years’ time…
Chapter 10: A Class Effort
Nothing happens in this chapter except that we find out the class painting of Tinkertops has been chosen to represent the class for Parent-Teacher Night. HAHAHA! I wonder how twisted all the parents are going to think their kids are… There’s then a lead-in to the next SVK book, SVK #43, Jessica Gets Spooked. How many SVK books are there? Did they go on interminably? And most importantly, hasn’t Jessica already been spooked?
The cover features an early edition of Elizabeth’s sympathetic shoulder-pat.
Basic plot: Jess has scary nightmares about a monster which keep her awake at night until a combination of St Elizabeth-style meddling and SV-style don’t-try-this-at-home psychotherapy cure her. Thrilling stuff! Frankly, I think the monster Jess dreams of is actually, in a deep psychological sort of way, a manifestation of her own future sociopathic self and she is, understandably, terrified by it.
Chapter 1: Keep the Light On
We open with Jessica and Elizabeth listening to a bedtime story read to them by their loving father, Ned Wakefield. The book notes that it’s from ‘the Grimms’ fairy-tale book’ which I think explains the reason for Jessica’s nightmares right from the start. Has not the ghostwriter read the original Grimms’ fairy-tales? They’re full of people getting their toes and fingers cut off (and that’s in the Cinderella story, Ashputtel) and dancing on red-hot coals and being pursued by Death… Wonderful parenting, Ned, as ever.
We then get the SVK version of the twin description blurb. It amuses me to note how it differs from the SVT/SVH version so I will quote. Rather adorably, the book assumes that its readers will be too young to have come across the concept of twin before and so helpfully informs us: ‘Being twins meant that the girls looked exactly alike.’ The physical description is a lot simpler: ‘Both had blue-green eyes and long blond hair with fringes.’ Rather than lavalieres of doom, the girls wear identity bracelets.
Jessica, scared by the story Ned has just read them, refuses to turn the light off. Illustration!
I can see why Jess is frightened when the twins have a picture of a carnivorous horse devouring another deformed horse on their bedroom wall. Anyways, the chapter ends dramatically with Elizabeth turning off the light.
Chapter 2: Nightmare!
Jess (rather sweetly) lists all the crayon colours she likes best in an attempt not to fall asleep. For those that are interested: they are carnation, magenta, aquamarine, apricot and sky. I am glad a purplish sort of colour is included, though the continuity isn’t particularly great here. Anyway, Jess falls asleep anyway (shock!) and has a nightmare about being chased by The Monster. This Monster (as we shall see) is a very particular Monster and is not to be confused with your common-or-garden monsters, which Jessica Wakefield would never deign to dream about, hence the capitalisation.
She wakes up and is comforted by Liz. Jess tells Liz she’s frightened the monster will catch her in the dream and eat her up. Liz apparently ‘says bravely’ ‘Then it’ll have to eat me, too… I’ll go with you next time and maybe if we’re together we can escape from it.’ Unless these are Eva Sullivan (brrr) type dreams, I’m not sure I see the courage (or logic) in that, Liz… The fact Jess is scared that the monster will eat her suggests to me, once again, her inner fear of being engulfed by her own sociopathy.
Chapter 3: Jessica’s Afraid of the Dark
In which Saint Liz strikes again.
Liz and Jess go to school and the other kids comment on how tired Jess looks. Liz has an unfortunate attack of sensitivity and decides to ask Eva (Simpson not Sullivan, or we might have some interesting backstory here - Liz inspires Eva’s reign of terror!) and Amy for help. Her interfering ways require full quoting:
‘"Jessica can’t sleep any more," she explained. "All of a sudden she’s afraid of the dark."
"That’s awful," Eva said. "Did something scare her?"
Elizabeth glanced around again to make sure nobody was listening. She didn’t want to embarrass her sister.*
"She’s been having nightmares. About a monster."
[*bold indicates irony]
Obviously, this is immediately picked up by the rest of the class, who start teasing Jess. I am particularly amused to see future boyfriends/victims of sociopathy turning up left right and centre; Ken Matthews asks Jessica "Isn’t that a bit babyish?" while Todd shuffles like a hunchback across the classroom. The teacher, Mrs Otis, then comes in, and the teasing stops momentarily. We have another dramatic chapter ending:
‘[Elizabeth] pulled a piece of paper from her notebook and drew a happy face on it. Then underneath it she wrote ‘Jessica Wakefield’… Jessica slowly unfolded the note. She stared at it for a moment. Then she picked up her pencil and drew a dark frown over the smile.’
Chapter 4: A Big Scare
At Casa Wakefield. Steven tries to turn the TV to a horror show. Elizabeth stops him, telling him that Jess has been having nightmares. Steven predictably teases Jess. (Why does not someone just gag Elizabeth??) The twins get ready for bed and Mrs Wakefield turns off the light. However, a moment later, Steven bursts through the door wearing a monster mask and roaring. I am not at all impressed by Steven here - I used to be scared by pretty much everything when I was Jess’s age and people frightening you further is really not what you need.
A rare instance of Wakefield parenting is also observed when Ned sends Steven to his room and says he will be in to talk to him later.
Chapter 5: Poster Time
Jess wakes up again in the night terrified about the Monster.
Next day at school: art class. ‘I already know what I’m going to draw.’ Elizabeth announces. ‘A picture of the ocean, with whales and dolphins.’ I can see Todd drooling already.
Chapter 6: Truly Frightening
Still art class. The subject of the Monster comes up again and Jess decides to draw her Monster to show how much scarier it is than the pathetic monsters of other people such as Winston’s. (Winston’s inner self is represented by ‘a big fat frog’ apparently) The artist actually does quite a good job of making it look reasonably scary:
but then, I did use to be so frightened of the Quentin Blake illustration of the Grand High Witch sans mask in Roald Dahl’s The Witches that I had to skip that page every time, so perhaps I am not the best person to judge. Anyway, the class agree it’s fairly frightening and stop teasing Jess.
Chapter 7: A Monster to Laugh At
Jess falls asleep in class and so Mrs Otis sends her to the nurse’s office to have a nap. Elizabeth tells Mrs Otis about Jess’s Monster (has she not already told enough people?) Mrs Otis has a bright idea:
‘The teacher picked up a felt pen from her desk and walked over to Jessica’s poster. She leaned over and began drawing circles coming from the monster’s ears.
"What’s that?" Elizabeth asked.
"Soap bubbles." Mrs Otis chuckled.’
The whole class decide to draw silly things on the monster to make it less scary. Most of the things seem to be girly: high-heeled shoes, a handbag, nail varnish, a skirt etc. Hence, I believe this is Jess’s true self being covered up by her later interest in fashion; a beautiful outer shell with a sociopathic core, in fact.
The real Jessica Wakefield:
Chapter 8: A Surprised Jessica
Jess comes back from the nurse’s room and sees the improved version of the monster, which makes her laugh. "Is it going to the Jungle Prom a party?" she asks. However, the chapter leaves us on a cliffhanger which I find quite hilarious for no particular reason:
‘Then [Jessica] met Elizabeth’s eyes. They were both thinking the same thing.
The final test would be at bedtime.’
Chapter 9: Tinkertops
Jess is getting nervous in the run-up to bedtime. I do sympathise with her here as I remember being a kid when you’re scared of something and getting tenser and tenser as it gets closer to when you have to go to bed. Steven, however, decides to become the family counsellor:
and they decide to name the monster to make it even sillier. A number of silly names are suggested, including Daniella Fromage Magenta Galaxy Flapjack Head and Wilbur, but they settle on ‘Toodle-loo Tinkertops.’ Right. Jess now finds the monster hilariously funny and is happy to turn the bedroom light off herself. Humour is a defence mechanism, Jess. In nine years’ time…
Chapter 10: A Class Effort
Nothing happens in this chapter except that we find out the class painting of Tinkertops has been chosen to represent the class for Parent-Teacher Night. HAHAHA! I wonder how twisted all the parents are going to think their kids are… There’s then a lead-in to the next SVK book, SVK #43, Jessica Gets Spooked. How many SVK books are there? Did they go on interminably? And most importantly, hasn’t Jessica already been spooked?