STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
The creator of a young adult book series has died. Francine Pascal was a soap opera writer who found greater success writing books about Sweet Valley High.
A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
Yeah, Sweet Valley was a fictional suburb of Los Angeles, and that's where identical twins Elizabeth and Jessica Wakefield lived comfortable and drama-filled lives.
(SOUNDBITE OF KATHY FISHER SONG, "SWEET VALLEY HIGH")
MARTÍNEZ: The book led to a TV show, spin-off series, and even a board game.
INSKEEP: Francine Pascal wrote the first 12 novels, and then ghostwriters took over - among them, Amy Boesky.
AMY BOESKY: I can't tell you how many I wrote in total, but it was over 70 (laughter).
MARTÍNEZ: Boesky started writing new storylines to pay for her English literature studies at Harvard.
BOESKY: These were very different literary spheres.
MARTÍNEZ: In the "Sweet Valley High" books, the teenage twins navigated peer pressure, dating and backstabbing friends. The boys in their circle are hunky and athletic, and the families were upper-middle-class.
BOESKY: Elizabeth and Jessica Wakefield are identical down to the last detail - the dimple in their cheeks, their turquoise, sparkling eyes, their blonde hair - (laughter) every stereotypical archetype you can imagine.
INSKEEP: But Boesky says their personalities were opposed.
BOESKY: Elizabeth is earnest, responsible, hard-working, works for the school newspaper, wants to be a journalist. Jessica is pure id - she's fun. She's mischievous. She's willing to break rules, and yet they love each other, and cover for each other, and sort of make each other whole.
INSKEEP: Boesky says some school librarians and teachers were not fans of the teen dramas, but readers could never get enough. Francine Pascal has died at the age of 92.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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