BuzzSugar

Should Older Books Be Updated For a Modern Audience?

BuzzSugar — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 05:30:00 PDT

I spent a good portion of Thursday afternoon being horrified by the fact that, in the newly updated versions of the Sweet Valley High books, the gorgeous Wakefield twins' oft-referenced clothing size has been reduced from a "perfect" six to a "perfect" four - a fact the publisher proudly trumpeted in a press release. It's as though Random House sat down with the '80s editions and thought, "huh, these unrealistic expectations just aren't quite unrealistic enough!"

The Wakefield waistline isn't the only thing they've changed: Instead of a red Fiat, the girls now drive a red Jeep Wrangler (I thought they said 2008, not 1998!), and brainy Elizabeth edits her school's website and blogs rather than working for those boring dead tree things we used to call "newspapers."

This reminded me of an interview with Judy Blume I heard last Fall, where she talked about deleting some of the menstruation "equipment" from updated editions of Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret (and taking a mimeograph machine out of Fudge). She said she didn't want to confuse kids and make them ask their parents to explain how things were back in the day.

Do you think it's necessary to update references in older books so they make sense to a younger crowd? Or is the tinkering just unnecessary?

Source

Sweet Valley High Grows Up - Will You Read It?

Mandy Harris — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 05:16:35 PDT

Young adult novels are definitely not just for young adults; when we asked you which YA novel you'd read again, you had no shortage of suggestions. But what if, rather than staying frozen in time for you to nostalgically revisit, your favorite YA series grew up along with you? That's what the Sweet Valley High series is doing, and creator Francine Pascal tells the NY Times it's getting mixed reactions.

In Pascal's new series, Sweet Valley Confidential, Elizabeth and Jessica Wakefield are now 27 years old (OK, so they're not exactly aging in real time), and have had a serious falling out. Plus - brace yourselves - they drink and have sex. And orgasms.

If you read the Sweet Valley High books as a teenager (which 88 percent of you say you did), you'll remember that although there were a few miniseries-within-the-series that got a little intense, the books and their plots were pretty tame. Arguments were petty, reconciliations were quick, and relationships were chaste. Even "bad" twin Jessica was basically just a snotty and self-centered teen. The new series is definitely a departure from that, but if the Wakefield twins are going to grow up, their plotlines have to grow along with them.

Are you interested in reading the series? Or would you rather stick to the original and leave well enough alone?

18 Young Adult Novels Worth Reading Again

TresSugar — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 11:19:59 PST

Young Adult, starring Charlize Theron as a fiction writer, comes out in theaters next week. We asked our readers what YA novels they'd read again. From classics like Little Women to '80s nostalgia like Sweet Valley High to contemporary favorites like the Gossip Girl series, here are 18 books to add to your list.

The Giver by Lois Lowry
Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series by Ann Brashares
Gossip Girl series by Cecily von Ziegesar
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling
Forever . . . by Judy Blume
The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
Flowers in the Attic by V.C. Andrews
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Go Ask Alice by Anonymous

Read the rest below.