SVT #89 Sweet Valley and the Rise of National Socialism
And once Roseability had many Sweet Valley books, and they were High and Twins and Unicorn Club. Verily, they were placed into the confines of her loft space for many years, and considered lost.
But one remained.
It was the one where they learn about the Holocaust, and it was awful.
This book is dedicated to Isabella Leitner, the author of Fragments of Isabella, a Memoir of Auschwitz, a book which is clearly one hundred times more important and moving than this well-meaning piece of drool.
Warning: Contains scenes where you will identify with Elizabeth.
The cover is a taste display of a knitted gold star, barbed wire with a yellow rose caught on it, and raindrops. OR ARE THEY TEARS?
We begin with the newly-Jewed Aaron Dallas, who is on the phone to Ken, arranging plans to go to the mall with some guys from school. No doubt there will be a group of Unicorns huddled nearby, looking over and giggling, unable to approach them.
Aaron tries to leave, but his granddad, Mr Kramer, wants to know where his twelve-year-old grandson is going by himself on a Friday night. His granddad is visiting Sweet Valley to recover from heart surgery, and normally lives in New Jersey. We are told that Aaron and his granddad used to be close, going on fishing trips and granddad teaching him magic tricks, but now Aaron is twelve year old, he is way too cool for that sort of thing. Grandad says he can’t go, because they’re having Sabbath dinner. Aw man! Aaron declares that he’ll have dinner with the family tomorrow - tonight he wants to go out with his friends, especially the new kid in school, Brian. Mmm, Sabbath dinner doesn’t really work like that. His mum puts her foot down; grandad’s been cooking all afternoon, Sabbath meal it is.
Aaron hold out hope that he can go after dinner; “How long can it take to eat dinner?”
I think it’s safe to say Aaron has been raised as a secular Jew. Or more likely, he had a Jewish name but no home life at all until a Jewish character was needed to learn about the Holocaust. Aaron is confused because he’s never needed to be Jewish in any way.
Meanwhile, Jessica and Elizabeth are planning their own Friday nights. Jessica is stealing Liz’s clothes, and mocking her for doing her Social Studies reading. Liz will be doing something boring, whilst Jessica goes to the mall with the Unicorns and some guys with new kid Brian Boyd. Elizabeth is unimpressed, but Jessica explains he is cool because he has a leather jacket, wears his baseball cap backwards and uses “really hip expressions”. Like racial purity.
Aaron is bored by the Sabbath dinner, especially when he is expected to read a prayer in Hebrew. So… not a lot of preparation for your Bar Mitzvah? He uses the English translation and squirms when Grandpa wants to discuss the meaning of the prayer. Aaron dismisses the persecution of Jews as “all in the past” and that there’s no point in remembering it. Yup, definitely NOT a religious family.
Grandpa correctly tells him that the Holocaust must be remembered so it is not repeated. Aaron tells him “it can’t happen here”. O RLY? Grandpa says it can happen anywhere. Aaron’s response is essentially “whatever.”
Despite Aaron’s contempt for his heritage, past and his elders, Grandpa still offers him a lift to the mall after dinner. Aaron says he’s going to see Dead Thing, Part Four, which Grandpa likes the sound of. So maybe he’ll see it with Aaron, and then buy ice-cream for him and all his friends! Wow, that’s a generous grandpa. Aaron, of course, is horrified by the idea of bringing his grandpa to the cinema, because Brian would think he’s a loser. Feeling momentarily guilty about his grandpa “wearing his tweed cap and happily jingling the car keys in his hand”, he pretends he’s tired and actually isn’t going to the movies at all. Grandpa suggests renting a video at the “tape store”, which annoys Aaron because Grandpa is so weird and old and uses the wrong words!
Aaron spends the night bored in his room, rather than having fun with anyone else. But at least this way he’ll still be cool.
He lies on his bed sulking, thinking about his Grandpa. He is embarrassed by him because of his mannerisms and his German accent. Ugh, grow a pair Aaron.
Jessica and Lila argue over the movie at Caseys. Lila argues there was a love story in it, citing some part where two creatures threw donuts at each other. Brian joins the conversation and disagrees. Both Jessica and Janet agree with him, because he’s super dreamy. Super dreamy means he has thick dark hair, broad shoulders and the hint of a toothbrush moustache under his nose. All the girls think he is charming. He comments that hanging out at an ice-cream parlour on a Friday night is pretty dull, like, what did you expect from TWELVE YEAR OLDS, and by the way, I would have LOVED somewhere like Caseys existing when I was a teenager. Jessica asks what he did at his old school on Friday nights - “Well, we sure didn’t eat ice cream” he flirtatiously replies. Jessica “giggled knowingly, even though she didn’t really have a clue what he was talking about”. Jess, this is exactly the type of attitude which gets you in trouble with college boys later on. Stop it at once.
Brian adds that he’s going to liven things up a bit. By invading Poland.
Sunday evening. Aaron’s watching a Lakers game on tv, and Grandpa chooses this time to walk in with his photo album and talk to Aaron about his family. Even though Grandpa says he likes basketball (after Aaron says he didn’t know they had basketball in Austria - your mother was born in the US, Aaron! Grandpa’s been here a long time!) and watched it a lot after having his heart surgery, Aaron doesn’t suggest they watch the game together and then look at the photo album, instead making a half-hearted effort whilst watching the game. He’s unimpressed, because the photos are black and white and are just “people standing around”. Grandpa tells some sad stories about his sisters Rachel and Sarah who died in the camps, and Aaron feels uncomfortable because he doesn’t like talking about sad things. And he “didn’t really want to know”. Nice, Aaron. When you have children of your own you’re going to care and Grandpa won’t be around to tell you. Because it’s not like his heart operation has made him think about his life and realize he won’t be around forever, so it’s important to talk about it now. Grandpa shows Aaron a picture of his house, and tells him they had to leave it when the Nazis came. Aaron thinks the house isn’t as big as the ones in Sweet Valley. Sometimes reading about teenagers is worse than actually being one.
Monday morning. Brian and Ken ask where Aaron was on Friday night. He says he was ill. Note the complete denial of the existence of his Grandpa and his Judaism. I seriously doubt they’d be all “Ha ha! You have a religion!” Well, at least Ken wouldn’t be. Brian says he had a good time and hey, that Jessica Wakefield’s a looker, amirite?!?!?! Aaron is oddly proud, and feels important now Brian is checking out his “sort-of girlfriend”. They dance together at girl-boy parties. Aw! Brian adds that he was supposed to see the Lakers game yesterday but his tickets fell through. Aaron finds himself saying that he goes to Lakers games all the time, even though it was just once.
Social studies. Jessica is intrigued by an attractive man with “brown curly hair” standing next to Mrs Arnette. Between that and his name being Barry Levin, I think it’s safe to say he’s Jewish. Jessica has a profile on J-Date. She’s weirdly excited that he looks “like twenty-eight or something”. Yay? Barry is here to assist them with their studies of World war II. A show of hands finds that a lot of people have heard of the Holocaust but few know what happened in the second world war. Don’t these kid’s homes have the history channel? Half of their programming is about the Nazis. The other half being about sharks.
Mr Levin explains for the first two weeks they’ll be playing a game to learn about the Holocaust. Brian, being a prick, is all “get to the point!” Jessica is impressed by this. Mr Levin gives the first instruction for the game - everyone has to wear a white shirt tomorrow. If you don’t wear one, you get marked down. Others in the class can get extra points if they see someone in the class not wearing a white t-shirt
Everyone wears the shirts.
Brian is once again a dick in class. He looks at Jessica when he says things and makes her feel all special. Brian and Brooke Dennis are chosen to be leaders of two teams. Brian chooses his side - the Wakefields, Aaron, Ken, Lila, Mandy and others. Brooke gets whose left, including Amy, Winston and Maria. Each leader gets to make up rules for their team. Brian says everyone has to wear a black t-shirt each day.Yes, black shirts! What a good idea! Brooke has no rules yet.
Aaron is proud that Brian picked him first. Brian asks him to be his Special Assistant for the club, because he doesn’t know enough about everyone. He’s not sure what he wants to know just yet, but you know, basic stuff. Who their families are, where they live, do they have one Jewish grandparent. Usual stuff.
Jessica mentions how excited she is about the club’s first meeting at the Unicorner, raising Janet’s ire. If Janet is Stalin, and Brian is Hitler, then what will their relationship be like? Jessica explains it, and Janet suggests that if Brian is in charge, then surely he can include membership to beyond their social studies class to cool seventh and eighth graders like her. Jessica agrees to mention it to Brian, because then he’ll really like her!
Aaron hurries out of school to get to Brian’s meeting in Casey’s car park. Grandpa is waiting to walk home with him. Oh no! A relative meeting you from school! Superlame! Having a legitimate excuse this time, Aaron says he’ll walk half the way with him so he can get to his meeting. Grandpa questions him about the club. Aaron’s answers are vague and positive, seeing as he doesn’t know any more. Grandpa asks if Brian is a nice person, which is probably farthest from Aaron’s mind seeing as he has a little man-crush. Grandpa ominously warns Aaron that clubs can be dangerous things. Like the 4-H club. Scary.
Aaron thinks “Grandpa’s getting weird in his old age. He’s such a downer!” Yeah. Holocaust survivors. Such downers!
Aaron bounds up to the meeting and asks Unity Mitford Jessica, if he’s missed anything. Jessica is too busy staring at Brian in his super-cool leather jacket to notice Aaron. Aaron is made to list everyone present as Brian states the aims of the organization. Basically, they are going to be cool. They will have cool clothes and listen to cool music. Jessica predictably compares them to the Unicorns, but Aaron thinks this club is “more important and powerful somehow.” The club is called IN. Any time someone refers to it, the name is printed in italics. Brian oks non-social studies kids joining, but they’ll need a way of identifying each other… Bandanas? Jessica suggests armbands. That’s it! We’ll wear armbands along with our black t-shirts! That won’t look incredibly fascist! Mandy asks what activities they be doing -there will be none! Only hanging. (At the mall, not from lampposts). As we all know, being a teenager and having interests is totally lame. You have to be vaguely nihilistic, but not nihilistic enough to actually ascribe to Nihilism as a philosophy. That would be lame too.
Randy Mason and Aaron are doing their homework at Aaron’s house. Randy brings up IN. He thinks it sounds really cool and wants to be a part of it. Aaron internally winces, because it’s one thing to be friends with someone when they’re doing homework with you and another thing entirely to acknowledge someone publicly. But he is Brian’s Special Assistant, so why not give it a go. He tells Randy he’ll talk to Brian. Grandpa Kramer slides into the room. Randy introduces himself to Grandpa Kramer and shakes his hand, because Randy is too good for this series. Aaron gets embarrassed again because he doesn’t want people thinking his family is weird. Randy and Grandpa bond over their families both being from Vienna. Randy has to go, but Grandpa says if he comes around again, he’ll show him some magic tricks. Aww. Randy tells Aaron his Grandpa is great, and his died last year. Maybe Grandpa could adopt Randy as his grateful grandchild, and Aaron can get a non-embarrassing dead one instead. Randy adds that he learnt a lot from his Grandpa’s stories. But Aaron thinks he can’t learn anything from “old, faded photographs and stories about some pretty city practically on the other side of the world.” Exactly! It’s not like you can learn anything from the past or other cultures. Everything you’ll ever need is right here in Sweet Valley.
Back at the Wakefield Ranch, Liz and Jess argue about their new assignment over dinner. Jessica, predictably, is loving it. I always thought she had a little fascism in her. Elizabeth is wary of all the rules and doesn’t appreciate being told what she’s supposed to like. Unless her sister is doing it. Brian gives her the creeps. The Wakefield parents have a moment of responsible parenting when they ask what the point of the assignment is, until Elizabeth mentions the Holocaust and they nod knowingly. Perhaps if parents had explained to their children what it’s all about, they’d understand the perils of blindly following someone. But they are teenagers.
Wednesday lunch. Brian asks Aaron about Bruce Patman. He gives a short summary of his character which we’d all agree with. Brian decides he’s the man for him. Aaron comes close to having a doubt, but pushes it away because he gets to be a cool kid. Randy sits with them. He’s nice to Brian, and in return he tells him Jake Hamilton is sitting where Randy is. Randy gets it and moves.
Elizabeth sits with Maria and Amy. They question why she isn’t sitting with the rest of IN. Amy’s cousin Emily was at Brian’s last school, and she says Brian was hugely popular and not a person to cross.
Unicorn meeting in Jessica’s room. Janet and all the other Unicorns have been invited to the next IN meeting. Except Ellen.
Aaron goes to Brian’s gigantic mansion after school. Brian is nonchalant, and says his old house was much bigger. Brian was probably expelled from his old school for racial hatred. And that’s why his parents moved him to Sweet Valley, the whitest place on earth. Brian rings a bell and his English butler Henry brings them food. Even Brian’s servants are white. Their after-school snack consists of six small chocolate cakes, four sandwiches, tortilla chips, guacamole, salsa and six kinds of soda. Brian picks at the chips and Aaron doesn’t take anything because he’s waiting for Brian to start eating. Brian cross Randy Mason of the potential members list, mocking him for bringing Aaron his homework when he was sick. Janet is in. Amy is not, because she is ugly.
Social studies. The two leaders report back on their groups. Brooke’s is called Friends of the Land, and they pick up litter. Brian mocks them and considers it juvenile. Sudden thought: is Brian Hitler, or merely Patrick Bateman? Brian says he is more focused on expanding membership and warns his club that original members could be pushed out for other cooler people. He’ll be basing membership on “gut feeling”. Violations of membership need to be reported to him and dealt with, and the list of members invited to tonight’s meeting will be on his locker. Elizabeth continues to dislike it all. Jessica is desperate for Elizabeth to follow the rules.
The Unicorns question Elizabeth’s commitment to Sparkle Motion.
Aaron is pleased and excited by all the attention he is getting as Brian’s lieutenant. Randy asks him about the club and why he (predictably) didn’t get in. Randy adds that he’s really made an effort with Brian, and invited him to a dinner at synagogue they were having for kids. Apparently they served steak and there were lots of pretty girls. Oh, Randy. One day you’ll go to MIT and run their Jewish society and be like Neill’s brother from Freaks and Geeks who made out with Lindsay and it was awesome, and people will like you. But it won’t be here.
Winston is sad that he wasn’t invited to the meeting, because foolishly he let Brian copy his maths homework three times. Oh, Winston. Obviously he tells Elizabeth this, because who else would care?
Elizabeth tells Jessica that Brian is a dillweed and she shouldn’t go to the meeting. Jessica dismisses all concerns about Brian. Elizabeth refuses to go.
Meeting at Caseys. Brian tells everyone to take one piece of paper from Caseys so they can dump it in the car park where Brooke’s group will be picking up litter. Talk about rebel without a cause. Once again, Aaron feels vaguely bad but says nothing. Brian announces he’s having a party with fancy caterers and a band from LA. People volunteer to help him set up and clean up. After the meeting, everyone throws paper whilst Aaron remains conflicted. He’s worse than Hamlet. Melissa McCormack’s mother picks up her daughter in their crappy car and Brian is unimpressed. Casey, of Caseys fame, runs out to stop the kids littering but Brian cunningly tells him they’re picking it up, and blames Brooke’s group.
Later Brian catches up with Jessica and asks her why Liz wasn’t at the meeting. Jess does her usual bullshit which she pulls out every time this plot occurs. Which is often. Brian has a sparkle in his eye which “excited her and frightened her at the same time.” Jessica is going to have some really bad relationships with men in the future. Brian relents, but stresses that Elizabeth has to make a better effort and attend his party.
Jessica tries to have that talk with Liz, but Liz is busy reading Anne Frank’s diary. Having been lectured on Anne Frank by Liz, even Jessica realises what she has to say can wait till tomorrow.
Friday morning. Elizabeth gets some things from her locker. Anna Reynolds walks by, and Brian asks her if she’s going to his party. Seeing as she’s deaf, she keeps on walking. Ken explains that to Brian, and he is contemptuous. Interestingly, this is shown by him calling her deaf, not hearing-impaired. As far as I’m aware, in Britain people still use deaf. Am I bigoted, or is this an American thing? Brian’s all whatever, I’m not going to stand in front of her to make sure we can communicate clearly, ha ha ha!
Brian gives Aaron a list of people who have been uninvited to his party, and tells Aaron to let them know. Melissa and Anna have been uninvited. If this was written today, he would have carefully evaluated who was going to his party, who was going to be VIP and then had them delivered by belly dancers. But it’s ok that Brian is a dick sometimes, because he asks Aaron to the mall after school. They are certainly BFF.
Elizabeth, Maria and Amy eat lunch. Melissa eats with them too, and Anna looks like she’s been crying. Elizabeth declares she’s going to have her own party, and it’s going to be way better than Dawson’s anti-prom!
Aaron and Brian look at CDs at the mall. Brian is a big fan of The Flying Lizards, saying “The whole album has a clear, crisp sound, and a new sheen of consummate professionalism that really gives the songs a big boost.” Brian steals a whole bunch of CDs and Aaron nearly cries.
Jessica tries to persuade Elizabeth that Brian is great and she should go to the rally, party with everyone else. Elizabeth is unimpressed. Later, she rides through the rich neighbourhood to Amy’s house and is accosted by Brian. She tells him she’s not going and he grabs her by the arm. Elizabeth has a big moment of revelation where she realizes this is way beyond an assignment and Brian shouldn’t be trusted or listened to. Brian is displeased.
Jessica tries once more, and dismisses Liz’s claim that Brian grabbed her. She was just hearing stuff because she doesn’t like Brian. So much for twin loyalty. Elizabeth has another big moment where she questions if Jess wants Brian to like her, or if she’s intimidated by him.
Aaron’s grandpa makes potato pancakes and suggests a fishing trip for the two of them tomorrow. In a shameful turn of affairs which is one of the most appalling in this book, Aaron tells his grandpa he can’t go because he has to work on a project about the Holocaust, knowing grandpa will think that’s more important. He even says he has to go work on the project tonight, which is technically true if this a participant-observer study about fascist rallies. Grandpa makes him up a bag of rolls and fried chicken for him and his work-partner. I fail to see how anyone cannot like grandpa.
Brian’s party. Brian makes Aaron act as a waiter, for some reason. Surely he’d be yelling at the help and telling his guests not to make eye-contact with them? Jessica talks to Aaron about how great Brian is, and how stupid Liz is for not being there. Aaron says maybe Liz should apologize to Brian, to assuage his own fears. Jessica is mortified, not because Brian grabbed her sister, but because Elizabeth called his club “stupid”. Priorities, Jess. Brian asks Jessica to dance with him, and makes Aaron continue serving.
Elizabeth has her little pity party, which consists of eating pizza at her house. The guests wonder why Brian doesn’t like them. Anna admits that yesterday she walked into her maths class and he was making mock sign language symbols and making people laugh. Amy admits that he barked at her in the lunch line, presumably because she is ugly like a dog. Tragically, this is probably the most realistic moment of someone’s teenage years in all the Sweet Valley books. Elizabeth declares war on Brian. Does that make her Churchill?
Monday morning. IN seems to have spread to most of the school, with everyone being appalled that Elizabeth isn’t wearing a black t-shirt. Word is out that Elizabeth is against the club. Seems there’s a mole in the resistance. Jessica is angry at her, because Elizabeth is making it really hard to be her. Bummer. There was even an emergency meeting of IN before school! Brian hears Elizabeth’s tirade against him and applauds, calling her the most paranoid person she’s ever met. Another realistic moment, where Elizabeth confronts him, calling him a bigot and an elitist only for him to laugh at her and shrug off all her concerns. In front of a big crowd of followers.
Aaron has finally done the Holocaust reading. He understands it is important and bad now. Brian calls him into the library stacks and tells him they need to “get” Elizabeth. Aaron must ask Elizabeth to meet at her locker that afternoon, so she can help him with this project. Once again, Aaron feels guilty and does what he’s told.
So does Elizabeth. She gets to her locker, and Brian, Aaron and Kimberley Haver try to push her into her locker. Jessica happens to walk down the corridor and NOW she finally gets it. Blindly following others leads to Nazi and locker-shoving, people. The attackers leg it.
Aaron runs home, looking in all the rooms for his grandpa, hoping he’ll know what to do. Slightly rudely, he bursts into his room and wakes him up from a nap. Aaron cries and explains everything and Brian and the club and the exclusion and the attempted assault. Grandpa explains that Aaron collaborated with Brian, just as people collaborated with the Nazis. Suddenly everything about the game and the Holocaust all falls into place. Grandpa shows Aaron the numbers on his arm from when he was in a camp, which he was planning to do that weekend. He was the same age as Aaron when it happened.
Tuesday morning. Mr Levin introduces Aaron’s special Social Studies project, which is his grandfather (full name: Saul Kramer). He tells the class what happened to him. He lived in Vienna, where his father was a conductor and his mother was a violinist. During the annexation of Austria by Germany, restrictions were placed on Jews, so they had to wear gold stars on their chests. The few Jewish boys at his school sat together at lunch and in class, and were made to use a separate bathroom. Finally, his family packed their bags and were sent to Bergen-Belsen. He was the only family member who survived. He only lived because the Allies liberated the camps before they killed him.
Aaron admits to what happened yesterday. He asks Brian to talk about it, but he denies everything. Aaron does a little speech about power and wanting to be liked, and suddenly everyone sees the light and takes off their armbands. The whole thing turns into a therapy session where everyone talks about how they wanted to be liked, etc. Then it gets related back to Hitler because “the Nazis did what they were told without questioning whether it was evil”, which is surely missing the point a little, because the Nazis (as in the elected officials) did what they did because they thought they were RIGHT. And the many reasons that the citizens of Germany happily elected the Nazis and went along with policies is a very complex matter which go far beyond being impressed by power and a little scared, only one aspect of which is that people are inherently conformist.
But everything’s ok, because Brian’s parents are going to be called in for a parent-teacher conference.
Sweet Valley Middle School closed the next year when parents of traumatised sixth-graders sued the shit out of them.
And now for some serious discussion.
This is an incredibly difficult book to write about. Firstly, because I’m normally mocking the subject matter and I am not at all comfortable with making Holocaust jokes, and secondly because this book is so uneven. Because it’s Sweet Valley. This is a world where the headline of a local newspaper is “Jaywalker arrested”, and any problem is wrapped up in one book. How do you put the Holocaust, something so massive and complex and still having repercussions today, into that kind of world? Especially into a young adult book of under one hundred and fifty pages, in a way that won’t make huge changes to the series?
The main problem here is that the treatment is too simplistic. It is all reduced down to a charismatic leader who people want to be friends with, which works well in a school setting. Let’s face it, Elizabeth isn’t Sophie Scholl here. That’s the kind of plot that is relatable to young people and at the very least, may lead people to reconsider who they are friends with. But that is also the problem. Germany was not a school, and it was not the case of someone new walking in and everyone wanting to be best pals with Hitler. It is true that conformity was part of the ways the Nazis controlled people. But that is not the whole story. There is a wider background of economic problems, repercussions from the first world war and undercurrents of anti-Semitism which are just some of the many factors. (and if I’ve gotten this wrong, then PLEASE say so in the comments. I am not a historian!)
And then there’s Brian. That kid’s Hitler, right? I know I joked about it before, but the kid is supposed to be Hitler, isn’t he? Take a minute to consider how ludicrous that is. The kid is Hitler! It’s embarrassing to even type. And I’m not expecting good characterisation for a character who is essentially a plot device, but it’s all over the place. Is his knee-jerk dislike of a wide variety of people supposed to mirror the Nazi regime’s variety of whom they disliked? Or is it to show he’s an equal opportunities jerk, so the story doesn’t get side-tracked with him only banning Jews or girls? And what’s with the shop-lifting and the dickish behaviour in general? Surely it would be better for him to be a nice person who happens to be massively prejudiced against people?
It’s quite fitting that this book is named “It Can’t Happen Here”, because Sweet Valley is not a realistic place. Sweet Valley is a place which isn’t exactly brimming with details, and it’s difficult to consider it as a place which exists outside of whatever scene is being read. And to understand the Holocaust, you need to understand how different groups in societies, be it groups of people on the street or wider problems of race and religion, can feel prejudiced against and threatened by other groups. There is nothing like that in Sweet Valley. So for it to be addressed in this way is … inadequate. To say the least.
Finally, here are some links to actual decent depictions of the holocaust, both young adult and otherwise.
-For those in Britain, Jerry Springer’s edition of Who Do You Think You Are? Is available on iplayer for the next week. It deals mostly with Polish ghettos, and is very moving.
-Any edition of Who Do You Think You Are dealing with a Jewish person is good in this respect. Check YouTube.
-Anne Frank
- When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit - Judith Kerr
- Starring Sally J Freedman As Herself - Judy Blume
- The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas - John Boyne
-Maus
http://librarybooklists.org/fiction/ya/yahistorical.htm
ETA - links are now working, like they should have been last night. Sorry!
But one remained.
It was the one where they learn about the Holocaust, and it was awful.
This book is dedicated to Isabella Leitner, the author of Fragments of Isabella, a Memoir of Auschwitz, a book which is clearly one hundred times more important and moving than this well-meaning piece of drool.
Warning: Contains scenes where you will identify with Elizabeth.
The cover is a taste display of a knitted gold star, barbed wire with a yellow rose caught on it, and raindrops. OR ARE THEY TEARS?
We begin with the newly-Jewed Aaron Dallas, who is on the phone to Ken, arranging plans to go to the mall with some guys from school. No doubt there will be a group of Unicorns huddled nearby, looking over and giggling, unable to approach them.
Aaron tries to leave, but his granddad, Mr Kramer, wants to know where his twelve-year-old grandson is going by himself on a Friday night. His granddad is visiting Sweet Valley to recover from heart surgery, and normally lives in New Jersey. We are told that Aaron and his granddad used to be close, going on fishing trips and granddad teaching him magic tricks, but now Aaron is twelve year old, he is way too cool for that sort of thing. Grandad says he can’t go, because they’re having Sabbath dinner. Aw man! Aaron declares that he’ll have dinner with the family tomorrow - tonight he wants to go out with his friends, especially the new kid in school, Brian. Mmm, Sabbath dinner doesn’t really work like that. His mum puts her foot down; grandad’s been cooking all afternoon, Sabbath meal it is.
Aaron hold out hope that he can go after dinner; “How long can it take to eat dinner?”
I think it’s safe to say Aaron has been raised as a secular Jew. Or more likely, he had a Jewish name but no home life at all until a Jewish character was needed to learn about the Holocaust. Aaron is confused because he’s never needed to be Jewish in any way.
Meanwhile, Jessica and Elizabeth are planning their own Friday nights. Jessica is stealing Liz’s clothes, and mocking her for doing her Social Studies reading. Liz will be doing something boring, whilst Jessica goes to the mall with the Unicorns and some guys with new kid Brian Boyd. Elizabeth is unimpressed, but Jessica explains he is cool because he has a leather jacket, wears his baseball cap backwards and uses “really hip expressions”. Like racial purity.
Aaron is bored by the Sabbath dinner, especially when he is expected to read a prayer in Hebrew. So… not a lot of preparation for your Bar Mitzvah? He uses the English translation and squirms when Grandpa wants to discuss the meaning of the prayer. Aaron dismisses the persecution of Jews as “all in the past” and that there’s no point in remembering it. Yup, definitely NOT a religious family.
Grandpa correctly tells him that the Holocaust must be remembered so it is not repeated. Aaron tells him “it can’t happen here”. O RLY? Grandpa says it can happen anywhere. Aaron’s response is essentially “whatever.”
Despite Aaron’s contempt for his heritage, past and his elders, Grandpa still offers him a lift to the mall after dinner. Aaron says he’s going to see Dead Thing, Part Four, which Grandpa likes the sound of. So maybe he’ll see it with Aaron, and then buy ice-cream for him and all his friends! Wow, that’s a generous grandpa. Aaron, of course, is horrified by the idea of bringing his grandpa to the cinema, because Brian would think he’s a loser. Feeling momentarily guilty about his grandpa “wearing his tweed cap and happily jingling the car keys in his hand”, he pretends he’s tired and actually isn’t going to the movies at all. Grandpa suggests renting a video at the “tape store”, which annoys Aaron because Grandpa is so weird and old and uses the wrong words!
Aaron spends the night bored in his room, rather than having fun with anyone else. But at least this way he’ll still be cool.
He lies on his bed sulking, thinking about his Grandpa. He is embarrassed by him because of his mannerisms and his German accent. Ugh, grow a pair Aaron.
Jessica and Lila argue over the movie at Caseys. Lila argues there was a love story in it, citing some part where two creatures threw donuts at each other. Brian joins the conversation and disagrees. Both Jessica and Janet agree with him, because he’s super dreamy. Super dreamy means he has thick dark hair, broad shoulders and the hint of a toothbrush moustache under his nose. All the girls think he is charming. He comments that hanging out at an ice-cream parlour on a Friday night is pretty dull, like, what did you expect from TWELVE YEAR OLDS, and by the way, I would have LOVED somewhere like Caseys existing when I was a teenager. Jessica asks what he did at his old school on Friday nights - “Well, we sure didn’t eat ice cream” he flirtatiously replies. Jessica “giggled knowingly, even though she didn’t really have a clue what he was talking about”. Jess, this is exactly the type of attitude which gets you in trouble with college boys later on. Stop it at once.
Brian adds that he’s going to liven things up a bit. By invading Poland.
Sunday evening. Aaron’s watching a Lakers game on tv, and Grandpa chooses this time to walk in with his photo album and talk to Aaron about his family. Even though Grandpa says he likes basketball (after Aaron says he didn’t know they had basketball in Austria - your mother was born in the US, Aaron! Grandpa’s been here a long time!) and watched it a lot after having his heart surgery, Aaron doesn’t suggest they watch the game together and then look at the photo album, instead making a half-hearted effort whilst watching the game. He’s unimpressed, because the photos are black and white and are just “people standing around”. Grandpa tells some sad stories about his sisters Rachel and Sarah who died in the camps, and Aaron feels uncomfortable because he doesn’t like talking about sad things. And he “didn’t really want to know”. Nice, Aaron. When you have children of your own you’re going to care and Grandpa won’t be around to tell you. Because it’s not like his heart operation has made him think about his life and realize he won’t be around forever, so it’s important to talk about it now. Grandpa shows Aaron a picture of his house, and tells him they had to leave it when the Nazis came. Aaron thinks the house isn’t as big as the ones in Sweet Valley. Sometimes reading about teenagers is worse than actually being one.
Monday morning. Brian and Ken ask where Aaron was on Friday night. He says he was ill. Note the complete denial of the existence of his Grandpa and his Judaism. I seriously doubt they’d be all “Ha ha! You have a religion!” Well, at least Ken wouldn’t be. Brian says he had a good time and hey, that Jessica Wakefield’s a looker, amirite?!?!?! Aaron is oddly proud, and feels important now Brian is checking out his “sort-of girlfriend”. They dance together at girl-boy parties. Aw! Brian adds that he was supposed to see the Lakers game yesterday but his tickets fell through. Aaron finds himself saying that he goes to Lakers games all the time, even though it was just once.
Social studies. Jessica is intrigued by an attractive man with “brown curly hair” standing next to Mrs Arnette. Between that and his name being Barry Levin, I think it’s safe to say he’s Jewish. Jessica has a profile on J-Date. She’s weirdly excited that he looks “like twenty-eight or something”. Yay? Barry is here to assist them with their studies of World war II. A show of hands finds that a lot of people have heard of the Holocaust but few know what happened in the second world war. Don’t these kid’s homes have the history channel? Half of their programming is about the Nazis. The other half being about sharks.
Mr Levin explains for the first two weeks they’ll be playing a game to learn about the Holocaust. Brian, being a prick, is all “get to the point!” Jessica is impressed by this. Mr Levin gives the first instruction for the game - everyone has to wear a white shirt tomorrow. If you don’t wear one, you get marked down. Others in the class can get extra points if they see someone in the class not wearing a white t-shirt
Everyone wears the shirts.
Brian is once again a dick in class. He looks at Jessica when he says things and makes her feel all special. Brian and Brooke Dennis are chosen to be leaders of two teams. Brian chooses his side - the Wakefields, Aaron, Ken, Lila, Mandy and others. Brooke gets whose left, including Amy, Winston and Maria. Each leader gets to make up rules for their team. Brian says everyone has to wear a black t-shirt each day.Yes, black shirts! What a good idea! Brooke has no rules yet.
Aaron is proud that Brian picked him first. Brian asks him to be his Special Assistant for the club, because he doesn’t know enough about everyone. He’s not sure what he wants to know just yet, but you know, basic stuff. Who their families are, where they live, do they have one Jewish grandparent. Usual stuff.
Jessica mentions how excited she is about the club’s first meeting at the Unicorner, raising Janet’s ire. If Janet is Stalin, and Brian is Hitler, then what will their relationship be like? Jessica explains it, and Janet suggests that if Brian is in charge, then surely he can include membership to beyond their social studies class to cool seventh and eighth graders like her. Jessica agrees to mention it to Brian, because then he’ll really like her!
Aaron hurries out of school to get to Brian’s meeting in Casey’s car park. Grandpa is waiting to walk home with him. Oh no! A relative meeting you from school! Superlame! Having a legitimate excuse this time, Aaron says he’ll walk half the way with him so he can get to his meeting. Grandpa questions him about the club. Aaron’s answers are vague and positive, seeing as he doesn’t know any more. Grandpa asks if Brian is a nice person, which is probably farthest from Aaron’s mind seeing as he has a little man-crush. Grandpa ominously warns Aaron that clubs can be dangerous things. Like the 4-H club. Scary.
Aaron thinks “Grandpa’s getting weird in his old age. He’s such a downer!” Yeah. Holocaust survivors. Such downers!
Aaron bounds up to the meeting and asks Unity Mitford Jessica, if he’s missed anything. Jessica is too busy staring at Brian in his super-cool leather jacket to notice Aaron. Aaron is made to list everyone present as Brian states the aims of the organization. Basically, they are going to be cool. They will have cool clothes and listen to cool music. Jessica predictably compares them to the Unicorns, but Aaron thinks this club is “more important and powerful somehow.” The club is called IN. Any time someone refers to it, the name is printed in italics. Brian oks non-social studies kids joining, but they’ll need a way of identifying each other… Bandanas? Jessica suggests armbands. That’s it! We’ll wear armbands along with our black t-shirts! That won’t look incredibly fascist! Mandy asks what activities they be doing -there will be none! Only hanging. (At the mall, not from lampposts). As we all know, being a teenager and having interests is totally lame. You have to be vaguely nihilistic, but not nihilistic enough to actually ascribe to Nihilism as a philosophy. That would be lame too.
Randy Mason and Aaron are doing their homework at Aaron’s house. Randy brings up IN. He thinks it sounds really cool and wants to be a part of it. Aaron internally winces, because it’s one thing to be friends with someone when they’re doing homework with you and another thing entirely to acknowledge someone publicly. But he is Brian’s Special Assistant, so why not give it a go. He tells Randy he’ll talk to Brian. Grandpa Kramer slides into the room. Randy introduces himself to Grandpa Kramer and shakes his hand, because Randy is too good for this series. Aaron gets embarrassed again because he doesn’t want people thinking his family is weird. Randy and Grandpa bond over their families both being from Vienna. Randy has to go, but Grandpa says if he comes around again, he’ll show him some magic tricks. Aww. Randy tells Aaron his Grandpa is great, and his died last year. Maybe Grandpa could adopt Randy as his grateful grandchild, and Aaron can get a non-embarrassing dead one instead. Randy adds that he learnt a lot from his Grandpa’s stories. But Aaron thinks he can’t learn anything from “old, faded photographs and stories about some pretty city practically on the other side of the world.” Exactly! It’s not like you can learn anything from the past or other cultures. Everything you’ll ever need is right here in Sweet Valley.
Back at the Wakefield Ranch, Liz and Jess argue about their new assignment over dinner. Jessica, predictably, is loving it. I always thought she had a little fascism in her. Elizabeth is wary of all the rules and doesn’t appreciate being told what she’s supposed to like. Unless her sister is doing it. Brian gives her the creeps. The Wakefield parents have a moment of responsible parenting when they ask what the point of the assignment is, until Elizabeth mentions the Holocaust and they nod knowingly. Perhaps if parents had explained to their children what it’s all about, they’d understand the perils of blindly following someone. But they are teenagers.
Wednesday lunch. Brian asks Aaron about Bruce Patman. He gives a short summary of his character which we’d all agree with. Brian decides he’s the man for him. Aaron comes close to having a doubt, but pushes it away because he gets to be a cool kid. Randy sits with them. He’s nice to Brian, and in return he tells him Jake Hamilton is sitting where Randy is. Randy gets it and moves.
Elizabeth sits with Maria and Amy. They question why she isn’t sitting with the rest of IN. Amy’s cousin Emily was at Brian’s last school, and she says Brian was hugely popular and not a person to cross.
Unicorn meeting in Jessica’s room. Janet and all the other Unicorns have been invited to the next IN meeting. Except Ellen.
Aaron goes to Brian’s gigantic mansion after school. Brian is nonchalant, and says his old house was much bigger. Brian was probably expelled from his old school for racial hatred. And that’s why his parents moved him to Sweet Valley, the whitest place on earth. Brian rings a bell and his English butler Henry brings them food. Even Brian’s servants are white. Their after-school snack consists of six small chocolate cakes, four sandwiches, tortilla chips, guacamole, salsa and six kinds of soda. Brian picks at the chips and Aaron doesn’t take anything because he’s waiting for Brian to start eating. Brian cross Randy Mason of the potential members list, mocking him for bringing Aaron his homework when he was sick. Janet is in. Amy is not, because she is ugly.
Social studies. The two leaders report back on their groups. Brooke’s is called Friends of the Land, and they pick up litter. Brian mocks them and considers it juvenile. Sudden thought: is Brian Hitler, or merely Patrick Bateman? Brian says he is more focused on expanding membership and warns his club that original members could be pushed out for other cooler people. He’ll be basing membership on “gut feeling”. Violations of membership need to be reported to him and dealt with, and the list of members invited to tonight’s meeting will be on his locker. Elizabeth continues to dislike it all. Jessica is desperate for Elizabeth to follow the rules.
The Unicorns question Elizabeth’s commitment to Sparkle Motion.
Aaron is pleased and excited by all the attention he is getting as Brian’s lieutenant. Randy asks him about the club and why he (predictably) didn’t get in. Randy adds that he’s really made an effort with Brian, and invited him to a dinner at synagogue they were having for kids. Apparently they served steak and there were lots of pretty girls. Oh, Randy. One day you’ll go to MIT and run their Jewish society and be like Neill’s brother from Freaks and Geeks who made out with Lindsay and it was awesome, and people will like you. But it won’t be here.
Winston is sad that he wasn’t invited to the meeting, because foolishly he let Brian copy his maths homework three times. Oh, Winston. Obviously he tells Elizabeth this, because who else would care?
Elizabeth tells Jessica that Brian is a dillweed and she shouldn’t go to the meeting. Jessica dismisses all concerns about Brian. Elizabeth refuses to go.
Meeting at Caseys. Brian tells everyone to take one piece of paper from Caseys so they can dump it in the car park where Brooke’s group will be picking up litter. Talk about rebel without a cause. Once again, Aaron feels vaguely bad but says nothing. Brian announces he’s having a party with fancy caterers and a band from LA. People volunteer to help him set up and clean up. After the meeting, everyone throws paper whilst Aaron remains conflicted. He’s worse than Hamlet. Melissa McCormack’s mother picks up her daughter in their crappy car and Brian is unimpressed. Casey, of Caseys fame, runs out to stop the kids littering but Brian cunningly tells him they’re picking it up, and blames Brooke’s group.
Later Brian catches up with Jessica and asks her why Liz wasn’t at the meeting. Jess does her usual bullshit which she pulls out every time this plot occurs. Which is often. Brian has a sparkle in his eye which “excited her and frightened her at the same time.” Jessica is going to have some really bad relationships with men in the future. Brian relents, but stresses that Elizabeth has to make a better effort and attend his party.
Jessica tries to have that talk with Liz, but Liz is busy reading Anne Frank’s diary. Having been lectured on Anne Frank by Liz, even Jessica realises what she has to say can wait till tomorrow.
Friday morning. Elizabeth gets some things from her locker. Anna Reynolds walks by, and Brian asks her if she’s going to his party. Seeing as she’s deaf, she keeps on walking. Ken explains that to Brian, and he is contemptuous. Interestingly, this is shown by him calling her deaf, not hearing-impaired. As far as I’m aware, in Britain people still use deaf. Am I bigoted, or is this an American thing? Brian’s all whatever, I’m not going to stand in front of her to make sure we can communicate clearly, ha ha ha!
Brian gives Aaron a list of people who have been uninvited to his party, and tells Aaron to let them know. Melissa and Anna have been uninvited. If this was written today, he would have carefully evaluated who was going to his party, who was going to be VIP and then had them delivered by belly dancers. But it’s ok that Brian is a dick sometimes, because he asks Aaron to the mall after school. They are certainly BFF.
Elizabeth, Maria and Amy eat lunch. Melissa eats with them too, and Anna looks like she’s been crying. Elizabeth declares she’s going to have her own party, and it’s going to be way better than Dawson’s anti-prom!
Aaron and Brian look at CDs at the mall. Brian is a big fan of The Flying Lizards, saying “The whole album has a clear, crisp sound, and a new sheen of consummate professionalism that really gives the songs a big boost.” Brian steals a whole bunch of CDs and Aaron nearly cries.
Jessica tries to persuade Elizabeth that Brian is great and she should go to the rally, party with everyone else. Elizabeth is unimpressed. Later, she rides through the rich neighbourhood to Amy’s house and is accosted by Brian. She tells him she’s not going and he grabs her by the arm. Elizabeth has a big moment of revelation where she realizes this is way beyond an assignment and Brian shouldn’t be trusted or listened to. Brian is displeased.
Jessica tries once more, and dismisses Liz’s claim that Brian grabbed her. She was just hearing stuff because she doesn’t like Brian. So much for twin loyalty. Elizabeth has another big moment where she questions if Jess wants Brian to like her, or if she’s intimidated by him.
Aaron’s grandpa makes potato pancakes and suggests a fishing trip for the two of them tomorrow. In a shameful turn of affairs which is one of the most appalling in this book, Aaron tells his grandpa he can’t go because he has to work on a project about the Holocaust, knowing grandpa will think that’s more important. He even says he has to go work on the project tonight, which is technically true if this a participant-observer study about fascist rallies. Grandpa makes him up a bag of rolls and fried chicken for him and his work-partner. I fail to see how anyone cannot like grandpa.
Brian’s party. Brian makes Aaron act as a waiter, for some reason. Surely he’d be yelling at the help and telling his guests not to make eye-contact with them? Jessica talks to Aaron about how great Brian is, and how stupid Liz is for not being there. Aaron says maybe Liz should apologize to Brian, to assuage his own fears. Jessica is mortified, not because Brian grabbed her sister, but because Elizabeth called his club “stupid”. Priorities, Jess. Brian asks Jessica to dance with him, and makes Aaron continue serving.
Elizabeth has her little pity party, which consists of eating pizza at her house. The guests wonder why Brian doesn’t like them. Anna admits that yesterday she walked into her maths class and he was making mock sign language symbols and making people laugh. Amy admits that he barked at her in the lunch line, presumably because she is ugly like a dog. Tragically, this is probably the most realistic moment of someone’s teenage years in all the Sweet Valley books. Elizabeth declares war on Brian. Does that make her Churchill?
Monday morning. IN seems to have spread to most of the school, with everyone being appalled that Elizabeth isn’t wearing a black t-shirt. Word is out that Elizabeth is against the club. Seems there’s a mole in the resistance. Jessica is angry at her, because Elizabeth is making it really hard to be her. Bummer. There was even an emergency meeting of IN before school! Brian hears Elizabeth’s tirade against him and applauds, calling her the most paranoid person she’s ever met. Another realistic moment, where Elizabeth confronts him, calling him a bigot and an elitist only for him to laugh at her and shrug off all her concerns. In front of a big crowd of followers.
Aaron has finally done the Holocaust reading. He understands it is important and bad now. Brian calls him into the library stacks and tells him they need to “get” Elizabeth. Aaron must ask Elizabeth to meet at her locker that afternoon, so she can help him with this project. Once again, Aaron feels guilty and does what he’s told.
So does Elizabeth. She gets to her locker, and Brian, Aaron and Kimberley Haver try to push her into her locker. Jessica happens to walk down the corridor and NOW she finally gets it. Blindly following others leads to Nazi and locker-shoving, people. The attackers leg it.
Aaron runs home, looking in all the rooms for his grandpa, hoping he’ll know what to do. Slightly rudely, he bursts into his room and wakes him up from a nap. Aaron cries and explains everything and Brian and the club and the exclusion and the attempted assault. Grandpa explains that Aaron collaborated with Brian, just as people collaborated with the Nazis. Suddenly everything about the game and the Holocaust all falls into place. Grandpa shows Aaron the numbers on his arm from when he was in a camp, which he was planning to do that weekend. He was the same age as Aaron when it happened.
Tuesday morning. Mr Levin introduces Aaron’s special Social Studies project, which is his grandfather (full name: Saul Kramer). He tells the class what happened to him. He lived in Vienna, where his father was a conductor and his mother was a violinist. During the annexation of Austria by Germany, restrictions were placed on Jews, so they had to wear gold stars on their chests. The few Jewish boys at his school sat together at lunch and in class, and were made to use a separate bathroom. Finally, his family packed their bags and were sent to Bergen-Belsen. He was the only family member who survived. He only lived because the Allies liberated the camps before they killed him.
Aaron admits to what happened yesterday. He asks Brian to talk about it, but he denies everything. Aaron does a little speech about power and wanting to be liked, and suddenly everyone sees the light and takes off their armbands. The whole thing turns into a therapy session where everyone talks about how they wanted to be liked, etc. Then it gets related back to Hitler because “the Nazis did what they were told without questioning whether it was evil”, which is surely missing the point a little, because the Nazis (as in the elected officials) did what they did because they thought they were RIGHT. And the many reasons that the citizens of Germany happily elected the Nazis and went along with policies is a very complex matter which go far beyond being impressed by power and a little scared, only one aspect of which is that people are inherently conformist.
But everything’s ok, because Brian’s parents are going to be called in for a parent-teacher conference.
Sweet Valley Middle School closed the next year when parents of traumatised sixth-graders sued the shit out of them.
And now for some serious discussion.
This is an incredibly difficult book to write about. Firstly, because I’m normally mocking the subject matter and I am not at all comfortable with making Holocaust jokes, and secondly because this book is so uneven. Because it’s Sweet Valley. This is a world where the headline of a local newspaper is “Jaywalker arrested”, and any problem is wrapped up in one book. How do you put the Holocaust, something so massive and complex and still having repercussions today, into that kind of world? Especially into a young adult book of under one hundred and fifty pages, in a way that won’t make huge changes to the series?
The main problem here is that the treatment is too simplistic. It is all reduced down to a charismatic leader who people want to be friends with, which works well in a school setting. Let’s face it, Elizabeth isn’t Sophie Scholl here. That’s the kind of plot that is relatable to young people and at the very least, may lead people to reconsider who they are friends with. But that is also the problem. Germany was not a school, and it was not the case of someone new walking in and everyone wanting to be best pals with Hitler. It is true that conformity was part of the ways the Nazis controlled people. But that is not the whole story. There is a wider background of economic problems, repercussions from the first world war and undercurrents of anti-Semitism which are just some of the many factors. (and if I’ve gotten this wrong, then PLEASE say so in the comments. I am not a historian!)
And then there’s Brian. That kid’s Hitler, right? I know I joked about it before, but the kid is supposed to be Hitler, isn’t he? Take a minute to consider how ludicrous that is. The kid is Hitler! It’s embarrassing to even type. And I’m not expecting good characterisation for a character who is essentially a plot device, but it’s all over the place. Is his knee-jerk dislike of a wide variety of people supposed to mirror the Nazi regime’s variety of whom they disliked? Or is it to show he’s an equal opportunities jerk, so the story doesn’t get side-tracked with him only banning Jews or girls? And what’s with the shop-lifting and the dickish behaviour in general? Surely it would be better for him to be a nice person who happens to be massively prejudiced against people?
It’s quite fitting that this book is named “It Can’t Happen Here”, because Sweet Valley is not a realistic place. Sweet Valley is a place which isn’t exactly brimming with details, and it’s difficult to consider it as a place which exists outside of whatever scene is being read. And to understand the Holocaust, you need to understand how different groups in societies, be it groups of people on the street or wider problems of race and religion, can feel prejudiced against and threatened by other groups. There is nothing like that in Sweet Valley. So for it to be addressed in this way is … inadequate. To say the least.
Finally, here are some links to actual decent depictions of the holocaust, both young adult and otherwise.
-For those in Britain, Jerry Springer’s edition of Who Do You Think You Are? Is available on iplayer for the next week. It deals mostly with Polish ghettos, and is very moving.
-Any edition of Who Do You Think You Are dealing with a Jewish person is good in this respect. Check YouTube.
-Anne Frank
- When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit - Judith Kerr
- Starring Sally J Freedman As Herself - Judy Blume
- The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas - John Boyne
-Maus
http://librarybooklists.org/fiction/ya/yahistorical.htm
ETA - links are now working, like they should have been last night. Sorry!