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« Things we hate about book reviews | Main | Weekend poetry event »

"Sweet Valley High" on a diet

4:54 PM Thu, Mar 27, 2008 |
Michael Merschel   E-mail   News tips

2008sweet.jpgOK, I know that most of you probably have not kept up with the Sweet Valley High series, very popular in the 1980s if you were a pre-high school girl. (I swear, I know that only because I was a clerk who sold them, not because I read them.)

But here's an observation from Entertainment Weekly that says something less-than-sweet about our culture:

"When the first Sweet Valley High book was published in 1983, Jessica and Elizabeth Wakefield, identical twin heroines ... were described as blonde, beautiful, and a "perfect size 6." ... Random House is reissuing 12 books from the original series with a few small editorial tweaks, one of which involves the slightly awkward issue of the Wakefield waistline. The twins' 'perfect size 6' has been reduced to a 'perfect size 4.' "

EW points to a Gawker link where Random House actually boasts about this in a press release.

I'm thinking, maybe I should have my daughters look into Nancy Drew instead. Or turn on the Wii.

(Thanks, Holly Warren, for the spot.)


Comments

Posted by Mary DeMuth @ 8:43 AM Fri, Mar 28, 2008

OK, that is so wrong. I say let's "beef them up" to a perfect size 10. I need a doughnut.


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