It’s All Happening at … Sweet Valley High (a 1983 Waldenbooks promotional booklet)

As I mentioned in my last post, I have something brand new-to-me for today’s review! This is courtesy of the fellow SVH fan behind the awesome SV nostalgia Instagram account @svthenandnow – view their March 20, 2020 post to see all of the screen captures if you’d like to read this little goody yourself.

*Drumroll* … straight outta Waldenbooks from 1983 ….

Screengrab from @svthenandnow on Instagram (the 1/10 mark is an Instagram slide marker)

I love everything about this, from the blue cover (does it match the twins’ eyes tho?) to the Waldenbooks logo. Speaking of Waldens, per @svthenandnow, this 8-page booklet was a special free publication of that beloved long-lost mall chain bookstore. I need to take a minute to pour one out for Waldens and my other lost love, Borders! (If you’re not familiar with those names, these stores went out of business and closed across the U.S. in 2011 after the parent company, also named Borders, went bankrupt. Yes, I am still in mourning. There’s nothing like a great brick-and-mortar bookstore, whether it’s a national chain or a small local business. And as small businesses especially can use our help these days (and always), let me take a minute to encourage you to lend them your support where you can. Commence the book-buying binges!)

The front cover is so fun, and I love the mention of the Sweet Dreams teen romance series! On the back cover, as I pointed out in my previous post, note that book #2 is called Love Secrets, not just Secrets. We know there have been other last minute title changes in the past, so I’m willing to bet that was in fact its original title and they just forgot to update it on the cover graphic.

The booklet opens with “Welcome to Sweet Valley High”, an introduction. The physical description of the twins is interesting – I’ll delve more into that in a little bit. We also get a description of each twin’s personality (you knew we would) including a long paragraph on how perfect Liz is (of course), then it talks about how Jessica regularly schemes to take advantage of her sister bla bla bla. There’s also mention of how Jessica is very possessive of Liz and is jealous of any of Liz’s friends who seem too close to her. I feel this trait of Jessica’s was dropped after the earliest books in favor of Jessica simply thinking Liz’s friends were too nerdy for her liking.

Next, the intro starts outlining the personality traits of other major characters such as Enid Rollins (“you might not even notice her …” – correct), Lila Fowler, and Bruce Patman, who apparently has “big blue eyes” … what? I had to go back and look at some Bruce cover art and I’m not seeing it. Does he really have blue eyes and I just forgot? I mean, it’s been a hot minute since I did a full book read-and-recap. There’s also some chatter about Mr. Collins, the Dairi Burger vs. the “dingy roadhouse” that only the bad kids go to, and the supposed “old money vs. new money” feud between the Patmans and the Fowlers, which really only seemed relevant in book 1. You know, that feud always sounded like an intriguing plot point to me but seemed like it got dropped faster than Bruce’s drawers at a sorority house. I swear to god I think there are many unpublished SVH stories out there! I like the description of the SV mall; we learn it has “lots of stores, a video arcade, two twin movie theaters, and a giant supermarket.” No mention of Casey’s.

Next we get brief synopses for the first six books. Book 2 is back to being called just Secrets again. The booklet also keeps calling book 2’s Fall Dance the “prom.” Is this another oversight or did they change it last minute? Then in the synopsis for book 3 (Playing with Fire), there’s a mention of a “homecoming dance” (by which I think they mean the dance-off in the beginning of that one). I don’t know if these are genuinely representative of changes or if it’s just someone at Waldenbooks had to whip this booklet up last minute and didn’t bother to fact check what they wrote, because they didn’t have a crystal ball to tell them that a grown woman would be sitting here documenting every little inconsistency on a thing called the internet a few decades later. The synopsis for book 4 just goes on and calls Robin Wilson “small, round” and “Butterball Robin Wilson” … yikes. I don’t know why I’m surprised given how badly Power Play treats the topic of weight (and I mean, the series in general).

Finally, we have an excerpt from Double Love, which is chapter 1. I won’t recap that whole thing but it opens with our classic introduction to Jessica, in which she makes a scene carrying on about how horribly ugly she thinks she is, insulting Elizabeth who is watching the spectacle, and continues through the end where Liz and Jessica prepare to find out if they made it into Pi Beta Alpha and Liz sadly thinks that Todd prefers Jessica over her. Now, there are some interesting changes in this excerpt vs. the final published version, not surprising since most likely this excerpt was taken from the review copy prior to the final edits. But whereas some of the edits are simple grammar & style changes, others are more notable. Here are the ones I found worth pointing out to fellow fans:

-We’re told the twins have “cameo skin”. Uh, so like the ivory profile of a cameo necklace? My copy of the finished book does not say that; it says “perfect skin” in that spot. I guess they realized that the twins might not be that pale with all the time they spend in the California sun. Of course, in later books their skin would be emphasized as a “peaches and cream complexion.”
-In the booklet, Jessica adds a complaint about her height that is not in the final book. “She lamented that she would probably have to spend her entire life being no more than five foot six.”
-Liz’s annoyed response to Jessica’s carrying on in the published book simply says: “Your figure’s terrible, your legs are chopsticks, your knees are bony, and on top of that, your face is all wrong. Right?” In the excerpt, it goes (changes bolded by me): “Your figure’s terrible, your legs are chopsticks, your knees are bony, your face is the wrong shape, your hair’s dull, and your eyes are blah. And on top of all that, you’re practically a midget. Right?” I would say they probably changed this since “midget” can be considered a pejorative, but I think that might be too much credit for 1983.
-The paragraph about Jessica’s not wearing a watch has an extra sentence in the published book: “And if she was late, let ’em wait.” Glad they added that – it sums up Jessica’s selfish attitude perfectly.
-The paragraph about a previous conversation Liz had with Todd changed from Liz “hoping he wouldn’t notice the way her cheeks were flaming” to “hoping he wouldn’t notice how nervous he made her.” I prefer the original.
-In the excerpt, when Liz agrees to let Jessica borrow her infamous tuxedo outfit, Jessica gleefully “planted a noisy kiss on the top of her sister’s head.” In the published book, she simply “headed for her sister’s closet” instead.
-In a scene where Jessica completes a Pi Beta pledge task by having a pizza delivered to Mr. Russo’s class in Liz’s name, the class looks at Liz with shock. In the excerpt, they’re surprised because Liz is “the brain, the serious twin” whereas in the final it becomes “the level-headed, serious twin.” Hah! They didn’t want to make her sound too nerdy I guess.

The booklet ends with a note to look out for the first book on its release date of September 15, 1983, although it’s touted on the cover as debuting in October. Close enough, sure.

If you’re curious about those PBA pledge tasks, since I don’t think I documented them in my original recap (honestly, because when I was younger I thought all the details I love to nerd out over, would bore people and nobody would read my blog, LOL):

1. As I mentioned before, Jessica orders a pizza to Mr. Russo’s chemistry class and embarrasses Liz by having it put in her name. Maybe this was inspired by 1982’s Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Liz explains it away by saying the class wanted to see how much heat the pizza would lose on its way from the pizza parlor to the classroom. Mr. Russo actually buys it, most likely just because it’s Liz.
2. The pledges have a singing telegram sent to Principal “Chrome Dome” Cooper’s office. (By the way, I’ve always assumed Principal Cooper’s character was inspired by Archie Comics’ legendary Principal Weatherbee.)
3. The pledges dye the mashed potatoes in the cafeteria purple, grossing everyone out because I guess they don’t realize there are in fact purple potatoes (and they are delicious), not that this is particularly common knowledge.

Some other choice quotes from the excerpt:

“This sounds like a job for my new tuxedo shirt.” Liz, in response to Jessica whining she has nothing to wear for their all-important PBA induction day.

“A wicked gleam of mischief lurked in the aqua-marine depths of Jessica’s eyes, while Liz’s reflected only sincerity.” I immediately thought of Linus in It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown: “Nothing but sincerity as far as the eye can see.” Hah! That’s what y’all think. Just give Liz a little while.

After Liz makes Jessica promise to have her outfit cleaned and back in her closet by the weekend:
Jessica: “On my honor.”
Liz: “I’m doomed.” You’re damn right you are, it’s amazing you’re still alive 100+ books later with a sister like this, Liz!

Speaking of doom, coming up next, we’ll see if the twins survive Death Valley or wherever it is they’re going in the next miniseries! Till then, as Heather Mallone would say, toodles!

More vintage Sweet Valley ads and photos

I’m back with another batch of vintage Sweet Valley High magazine ads and photos! Let’s see what we’ve got!

You may remember in my last post about stuff like this that there was a “great twin search” launched in the late 80s, in which series creator Francine Pascal and her daughter Jamie sought a pair of actresses to represent Jessica and Elizabeth Wakefield, for what was originally envisioned as a TV movie. Eventually, the “movie” was launched as a 1990s TV series starring Brittany and Cynthia Daniel. There was a photo I shared from the July 1988 issue of ‘TEEN magazine showing Jamie interviewing a potential set of Wakefield twins, where you could plainly see some kind of Sweet Valley artwork with a whole ensemble of characters on the back wall. The artwork image was too distant / blurry to make it out, and I desperately wanted to know what it looked like up close. Here’s that photo and blurb again:

Desperately seeking the Wakefield twins!

Because awesome reader F. Musa sent me a tip, I’ve got a great close-up, black-and-white view of that very artwork from the FANTASTIC svthenandnow account on Instagram! Here it is in all its glory … AHHHH, I love it!

The gang’s all here! …. Oh wait …

I love that we have new (well, new-to-me) portraits of characters we’ve seen many times, and they’re all grouped together! svthenandnow gives the year for this art as 1983, which makes sense when you see the outfits featured. Man, this would have made an awesome book cover. Our twins, of course, are front and center. Jessica is dressed in the same outfit she had on for Double Love, and Liz has those damn barrettes on again. I’m thinking that might be Liz’s Too Good to Be True outfit. In the middle row, we have Bruce Patman (with the same outfit from Playing with Fire), Courteney Cox Annie Whitman (looks like the tank top from Wrong Kind of Girl, but hard to tell in black-and-white), and our girl Lila Fowler looking like, well, like Lila would, haha. Nice pearls, Lila! Annie looks like she’s pissed to be stuck behind her tormentor Jessica and is considering just pushing her ass over. In the back row, there’s Tricia Martin (RIP), Todd Wilkins (in the same polo shirt and windblown hair from Dangerous Love, I assume), and Bill Chase peepin’ at you from the way back. LOL at Bill’s come-hither look! They really gave us new expressions for everybody here, even if only slightly … except for Tricia, who looks pretty much exactly as she does on the cover of When Love Dies. In fact it kind of seems like they just jammed Tricia’s existing portrait in there as an afterthought (after reversing it first). Oh yeah, and where’s Enid? Hahaha, I love that she’s Liz’s best bud but literally nobody cares about her. Or maybe they just got her mixed up with Tricia, LOL! (More likely, they didn’t have cover art for Enid yet since we didn’t see her until book 26, because again, nobody cares about Enid.) I would be asking where Winston Egbert is, but we already know they don’t think Winston merits any painting at all, unless it’s for the SVH board game!

Speaking of that twin search, since that July 1988 copy referenced a previous issue having announced the search, I also got a copy of that mag. From the March 1988 ‘TEEN:

Haha, I love that they made sure to clarify they want real twins, not “lookalike” friends, and they don’t want boys sending in any photos.

Also in that same issue, an ad for some SVH merchandise:

I’m ready to rock that sweatshirt myself, maybe with a cool pair of barrettes.

Remember the Sweet Valley High Slam Book tie-in to Slam Book Fever? (If you don’t, here’s my review of it.) Here’s an ad for it from the October 1988 ‘TEEN magazine:

Hehe, I like the way the ad makes slam books sound all positive and like innocent fun, while Slam Book Fever made slam books sound like they came out of Satan’s personal library.

Lastly, I want to share something with you that I had no idea even existed until very recently … once again, thanks to the svthenandnow Instagram, here’s a preview of my next SVH review …

OMFUG I need this

Holy shit! I had never seen this in my life! This is an 8-page free booklet that previewed the Sweet Valley High series and characters and also contained an excerpt from Double Love. (Please ignore the Insta dots and arrows on my screengrab, lol) When I saw this with the freakin’ Waldenbooks logo – my PLACE TO BE as a kid, okay – I just about keeled over. And check out the back cover – they’re calling book #2 Secrets, Love Secrets! That’s a hell of an editing error, if that’s what it is. I’m inclined to think they changed the title last minute and forgot to update the back cover of this booklet before going to print. (On the inside of the booklet, they do call it Secrets.) And if that’s the case, then hat’s the latest pre-publication title change I’ve become aware of. If you want to read the booklet in full, there are page scans on svthenandnow. (See the March 20, 2020 post.) You should definitely browse through this account regardless if you want a serious nostalgic smile – there are so many great old ads, articles, interviews, and promotional items for multiple Sweet Valley series over the decades, as well as the TV show!

As always, stay tuned for more stuff like this, including my soon-to-be-posted review of this little booklet!

YESSSS: Original Sweet Valley cover model photos, James Mathewuse sketches, and correspondence!

This is officially my favorite review ever, before I even start it. And this post has been a long time coming. (Not least because I really dislike working with the “new”(ish) WordPress block editor thing.)

Are y’all ready for this? You are so not ready for this! (unless you already knew, lol) This is the type of shit I have been hoping to find for EONS!

Thanks to the Double Love Sweet Valley High podcast (which is awesome by the way), I caught wind of a fairly recent discovery – some of the original cover modeling photographs used to design and create the Sweet Valley High cover art! And let me tell you … they are even cooler than I could’ve imagined. Not only do these provide the amazing behind-the-scenes details I crave, but they also testify to just how incredible of an artist original SVH cover artist James Mathewuse is.

Here’s the story of how these came to see the light of day: Buenos Aires-based artist (and fellow Sweet Valley fan) Victoria Colmegna started writing to our beloved James, and they struck up a friendship. James sent Victoria many of his Sweet Valley reference materials, and she incorporated them into her art.

On Double Love’s Instagram, podcast hosts Karyn and Anna are sharing some zoomed-in, close-up detail of some of these photos! I mean, I’m having Christmas in February over here! Are you ready? The following screen grabs are all from Double Love’s Insta. Let’s start off with one of the earliest …

#2 Secrets

The final cover art …

Since model Jonna Leigh Stack is only one person and could not be cloned, these shots had to be set up with a stand-in for the other twin. I am laughing at the droll expression on the Jessica stand-in compared to the final painting. “Yeah hang on Lila, this bitch over my shoulder has a problem or something.” Also, cool jacket and pin! And, please take note of the REAL-LIFE LAVALIER on “Liz”! AAAAH!

Now Jonna plays Jess, while the stand-in, who now looks slightly amused, changes over to playing Liz.

Here are the two images stuck together to make the full cover! It’s magic!

#5 All Night Long

Cover art of Jessica and porn star Scott

Reference photo! Scott looks so different! Not a clue who he is in real life but he looks … oddly familiar. Maybe just ’cause I’m getting a Matthew McConaughey “alright alright alright” vibe. Jonna’s hair is partially pulled back and she’s doing the classic Jessica smirk. Plus, she’s actually wearing the blue shirt that wound up over her shoulder in the final. I’m really intrigued by all that equipment surrounding them. This photo has a serious spontaneous vibe to it.

#6 Dangerous Love

Take a good look at this art, especially the motorcycle …

…because THIS is what Todd’s Yamaha really looks like!

Dude, this is pure GOLD. Look at that freaking “motorcycle”! Oh my god, this is hilarious and creative. Never in a million years would I have guessed this is how the reference photo was put together. I guess this was a lot cheaper and less time-consuming than having to rent an actual motorcycle.

#8 Heart Breaker

Jessica and Bill on the cover

Jonna clearly cracking up at Bill’s HILARIOUSLY misspelled “Sweet Valely Surf Club” shirt!
PS That bikini is totally rad. I want one!

By the way, at least one of my readers thinks this model is a young William Zabka (who played Johnny Lawrence in 1984’s The Karate Kid). I certainly see the resemblance. What do you think?

#18 Head Over Heels / #59 In Love Again

Okay, this one is interesting for a whole other reason. As Double Love noted on their Insta, the following photo appears to be a mash-up of Head Over Heels and In Love Again – with those two titles being years apart. What’s up with that? Take a look, starting with the cover art for each:

Head Over Heels (April 1985) final cover art by Mathewuse. I love the totally 80s graphics that Double Love added! Take special note of Regina’s dress.

Cover art for In Love Again (October 1989). Same dress, different color!

And here’s the reference photo in question … with Todd and Regina (RIP) in the In Love Again pose!

So … what’s going on here? Here is my best guess. Book 18 (HoH) came out four and a half years before book 59. I don’t know how far in advance they planned these cover shoots, but it seems doubtful they would already have #59 set in stone at the same time they were putting together the shoots for #18. I think what happened is the model who previously posed as Bruce wasn’t available the day they were doing the shoot for #18. So, they just substituted the model for Todd so Mathewuse would have a figure/pose to reference for his Head Over Heels painting, then Mathewuse just substituted Todd’s face with Bruce’s in his art, using a previous shot of the model for Bruce. When the time came to get the cover done for #59, the models in question had probably long since moved on. So, Mathewuse was likely instructed to design the cover art a certain way and then he referenced older photos he already had to do so. The above photo was probably pretty convenient for creating In Love Again – since he didn’t use this exact pose to create Head Over Heels, all he had to do was paint it with Jonna’s face vs. the Regina model’s, then change the dress color.

This next one has zero mystery around it …

#26 Crash Landing!

The final cover art, featuring Liz and Enid acting all dramatic …

The reference shot! Man, that’s pretty exact! Except for Enid’s hair length.

Super Edition #3 Spring Break

Original cover art … with this blown up like that, Liz and Jessica’s expressions are even funnier!

Fresh from Double Love’s Insta, here’s the zoomed-in reference shot of Jonna as Jess! Notice her hair was still pulled back Liz style.

Are these fantastic or what? BUT WAIT! There’s more! A lot more! Here are links to all of the Colmegna art/collages I could find that feature these and other Sweet Valley goodies. Check them out to see incredible archival photographs (modeling photos), sketches, correspondence and more – from Sweet Valley High as well as the Sweet Valley Twins and The Unicorn Club series! There are also portraits of Colmegna & friends from various stages of her life that she commissioned Mathewuse to paint, which look great. Jimmy has still got it!

Here is a collage on Victoria Colmegna’s website,“Graduazzione”, featuring some Sweet Valley High and Twins reference sketches for the covers by James, complete with a commissioned portrait of Victoria by James. The referenced titles are listed below the photo of the artwork (including the one for her portrait!).
2018 exhibition at Park View, Los Angeles, California: Check out this link to read more about Victoria and her art. There are also four SV collages in the photos at this link, which you can zoom in on and really get a good look. The reference photos include way more Secrets, Crash Landing! and Heart Breaker shots. The Crash Landing! ones include one where I swear to god Jonna is laughing. Also loads of sketches – I’m 100 percent fangirling out over The Carnival Ghost one, from Sweet Valley Twins – AND AND AND! You can spy a letter to Mathewuse from Daniel Weiss Associates, Inc. in one, with instructions on how the art for Bruce’s Story should look! I’ll let you know now that it reminds Mathewuse that Bruce is “the richest, snobbiest boy at Sweet Valley, also one of the most obnoxious.” I’m dying over here, lol. Bonus! Can you find the little photo of Jonna posing as Liz for the cover of Spring Break peeking out in one of the collages, with the guidebook and the uh, curious outfit?
MORE! From a 2019 exhibition in Zurich: Here you’ll see lots more sketches, photos of Jonna posing as Liz for the Malibu Summer cover in the famous striped swimsuit, and a close-up color photo of Jonna as Jessica for Power Play. You’ll also find some typed correspondence around the art for Pretenses featuring Cara and Steven, although they only referred to it as “book #44” at the time.
We’re not done! Check out this article for more on Victoria and scroll to the bottom to see yet another collage! You’ll get a more close-up view of some of the Malibu Summer shots as well as the aforementioned modeling shot of Jonna as Jess for the cover of Spring Break. There’s also correspondence around the cover for #38 (Leaving Home); apparently the original photograph and/or sketch had Liz frowning!
From La Maison de Rendez-vous in Brussels, with a much more recent exhibit (it closed last month), you’ll find some similar images but also some absolute GOLD shots of Jonna posing as a sad Jessica for the cover of Runaway. Until I saw these photos, I didn’t know Jessica was wearing booty shorts when she ran away. There are also more pics from Crash Landing!, All Night Long, and the mysterious Head Over Heels / In Love Again mash-up!
God, it must have been so much fun shooting these and acting out being a Wakefield twin.
For more stuff like this, make sure to follow Double Love’s Instagram and Twitter! Their Insta is amazing; along with cover photographs like the ones above, they routinely post Sweet Valley covers from the editions published outside the U.S. Did you know that Sweet Valley was called “Sun Valley” in France – and that the French version of All Night Long featured Jessica smokin’ a cig on the cover? Hah! And make sure you give their fun & funny podcast a listen too!

Stay tuned because I have some more fun stuff coming up! 🙂 For more cover model discussion, check out my post from May 2020.

Some SVH mentions from vintage copies of ‘TEEN magazine

One effect 2020, which I don’t believe is actually over yet, has had on me is to spark up major nostalgia. This has manifested in my buying a bunch of shit I don’t need, to include teenage fashion magazines from the days of my youth (and earlier). Here, I’ll share with you a few snaps I took of SVH book blurbs and other stuff from late 80s / early 90s ‘TEEN magazines (all released years before I was a ‘TEEN myself). My patience is really low these days, so please forgive the meh quality of these photos.

First up, from the December 1987 issue:

You, too, can be an SVH Super Sleuth!

You might recall in my review for Super Thriller #1 that I mentioned the back of the book advertised an SVH mini-camera, which you could send away for. (I see now that the photo of said ad is missing from that earlier post – WTF? Or maybe I just forgot to upload it to begin with, which I wouldn’t put past 2010-me (or any-year me).) Well, this is a better photo of that camera, anyhow. Let’s get a closer look at this ad:

The top:

The book cover design in this ad doesn’t quite match that of the final. Notice, for one thing, that the word “Super” isn’t as fancy on the final design – I guess they didn’t want to overshadow Liz’s 80s career woman outfit:

Now let’s get a better look at the bottom of this ad:

Not gonna lie, I lowkey want that freakin’ camera!

Next let’s check out the July 1988 issue, which had a “twins” theme. First up, from the occasional “Have You Read?” column, is this blurb for book #44, Pretenses:

Which is definitely overshadowed by this fascinating tidbit:

We get a picture of Francine Pascal’s daughter Jamie (for whom I believe the Sweet Valley Twins ghostwriter alias, Jamie Suzanne, is named), with a prospective Jessica and Elizabeth Wakefield. AND we get some insight on the making of the SVH TV show. Apparently, this thing was under development much earlier than I thought. (More on that later, as a copy of the March 1988 issue mentioned above is on its way next.) What I find particularly interesting is that at this point, they were just looking to make a TV movie, not a full series. I’m not sure I knew it started out that way. I am also desperately wanting a close-up shot of that poster on the wall behind Jamie!

The Wakefield twin candidates, Anastasia and Brittney Singletary, were also featured in a twins photo shoot later on in the same issue. They also made the cover (see the small inset pic on the left of the cover, next to the headline “Make-over Moves Made for Two”). What do you think, could they make good Wakefields?

Potential Wakefields on the far left!

Finally, short and sweet, from the Have You Read? column in the May 1990 issue:

I don’t think this little blurb adequately prepares readers for what’s coming!

I’ll keep an eye out for more SVH mentions in these old rags (say I, affectionately), and share any I find. Plus, stay tuned for more info on that early SVH TV movie/show twin search!

SVH Celebrity Cover Model Mysteries

From time to time I make a post about who the cover models were for Sweet Valley High books. It’s always fascinating for me to see what obscure jobs folks took before they went on to become big stars. My readers have been a big help with this as well. So while I work toward my next book recap post, I thought I’d give an update on some of what we know so far regarding the original SVH cover models:

Elizabeth and Jessica Wakefield: The original model was a truly stunning soap opera actress named Jonna Leigh Stack. I came across this scoop several years ago courtesy of blogger Cliquey Pizza, who was tipped off by her reader Kathleen. I had never heard of this actress before, but there’s just no way it’s not her. Check out this post by blogger Red Lemonade to see lots of photos for comparison – it’s uncanny. (It also looks like Jonna herself left a comment on Red Lemonade’s post confirming this, although the poster’s name is “Unknown.”) The original SVH cover artist, James Mathewuse, did an amazing job capturing Jonna’s likeness. (He’s still in business today, by the way – visit his website here.)

To see a video of Jonna in character as Summer Blake on the soap opera Santa Barbara, try this Facebook link.

Jonna Leigh Stack photo from Red Lemonade; book covers from Goodreads

Annie Whitman: It’s already known that star actress Courteney Cox appeared on multiple young adult book covers over the years, including in color photographs taken for the cover of romance series like Sweet Dreams. There are many, many examples out there & I’ve shown a few below. The belief that Courteney modeled for Annie Whitman’s initial appearance on the cover of Wrong Kind of Girl is one I have heard given as a certainty over the years, but have never heard or seen the actress speaking on the matter. But I absolutely believe it myself, especially when you compare Annie’s hair with Courteney’s hair on the cover of other YA books and with her appearance in the Bruce Springsteen video “Dancing in the Dark.”

Jonna makin’ Courteney cry

Courteney Cox book cover photos from Brin’s Book Blog

(Thanks to Brin’s Book Blog for the above photos of some of Courteney’s other books.)

Lila Fowler: One of my readers once commented that Lila’s early covers look just like a young Jennifer Connelly, the gorgeous brunette movie actress. I hadn’t thought of that before, but since then, I can’t unsee it and can’t believe I didn’t realize this before. I think that’s definitely her. We do know that the future movie star modeled for plenty of covers with color photographs, including Sweet Dreams, etc. In fact, a couple of years ago Jimmy Kimmel brought her on his show and got her reaction to some of those covers. There was no mention of Sweet Valley High, but I’m convinced. I really hope Jennifer mentions SVH some day because Lila is an iconic character.

Jonna and Jennifer face off!

Jennifer Connelly book cover photos from Brin’s Book Blog (Note that the first book is authored by a “Lila” … coincidence? LOL)

Joelle Carter: This actress starred as Ava on the crime drama Justified, which was a favorite of mine. I noticed that Joelle bears a striking resemblance to one of the portraits on the cover of Sweet Valley Saga: The Patmans of Sweet Valley (which I haven’t gotten to yet), and she did indeed model as a teenager, so I think I got one!

Ava Crowder, is that you?

There have been others I’ve noticed but am really not sure of. For example, I think early paintings of Bruce Patman kind of look like Patrick Muldoon, but I could also see where maybe it’s just a model with a strong resemblance. Dana Larson on the cover of In Love with a Prince reminds me of a young Katherine Heigl, who did model as a teenager, but it’s another big “if.” Finally, Dee Dee on the cover of Too Much in Love reminds me of pre-Married … with Children Amanda Bearse, but Amanda was already a movie actress around the time the portrait would’ve been done, so I’m not sure how many book covers she would’ve been doing at that point.

Various other people have been identified as modeling for things here and there beyond SVH; e.g., actress Amanda Seyfried did some cover photographs for some other Francine Pascal books in her pre-Mean Girls days. When the SVH series was (briefly) re-released in 2008, TV and movie actress Levin Ramblin (The Hunger Games, One Tree Hill, soap operas) appeared as the new cover model for everyone’s favorite annoying twins.

Back when SVH still used painted artwork for their covers, it seems that typically, a photo would be taken of the model(s) and the cover artist would then paint the cover off of that. Jennifer Connelly and others have noted that the photographers would tell the models a little bit about the story so that the models can try to get in character. In later years, Bantam seemed to favor more action shots on their cover rather than portraits, so that may be why they started using other cover artists beyond James Mathewuse. Although, if you look at Jimmy’s web page, he’s painted plenty of lovely action shots (Nancy Drew Case Files, anyone)? I have to say, I really miss beautiful book cover art!

Got any more SVH cover model tips? Let’s hear them. 🙂