The Basics
Title: Jessica the TV Star
Series: Sweet Valley Kids #16
Published: March 1991
The Plot
When Elizabeth stays home from school one day with a stomach ache, Jessica goes by herself. As she isn’t wearing her name bracelet, the other children don’t know for sure which twin she is, so she decides to pretend to be Elizabeth for the day, just for fun.
But then Todd tells Jessica a secret, thinking that she’s Elizabeth—a TV show is going to be filmed at his house, and he’s going to be in it. He’s allowed to ask a female friend to be in the show too, and he wants that friend to be Elizabeth.
Jessica knows that she should tell the truth, but she really wants to be on TV. So she keeps up the pretence and sneaks around behind Elizabeth’s back, lying where necessary to make sure she stays away from Todd’s house. Elizabeth is completely confused, both by Jessica’s strange behaviour and by the fact that Todd keeps saying things to her that don’t make any sense. Meanwhile, Jessica hasn’t been able to resist telling Lila and Ellen about the top secret TV taping. They’ll be able to keep it a secret, right? …Right?
Eventually, Elizabeth heads over to Todd’s place of her own accord, determined to find out what’s going on. The Wilkins’ house is surrounded by film crew and excited second grade kids. Unsurprisingly, Lila and/or Ellen has let the cat out of the bag. Jessica’s deception is revealed, no one is quite as angry as you’d expect, and both of the twins end up getting to be in the TV show, although it’s hardly a starring role.
The Verdict
I enjoyed this one. It feels very much like the Jessica of the later series—this is absolutely the kind of thing she’d do as a twelve-year-old or sixteen-year-old, and older Todd would probably be just as bad at realising he’s talking to the wrong twin.
Major Characters
Bit Parts
- Winston Egbert
- Lila Fowler
- Ken Matthews
- Caroline Pearce
- Mr. Phillips
- Ellen Riteman
- Amy Sutton
- Alice Wakefield
- Steven Wakefield
- Mrs. Wilkins
The Places
- The Wilkins Home: A few blocks away from the Wakefields’ house.
The Themes
- Lies, twin swap, film and TV
Sweet Valley Spy 