The Easter Bunny Battle

Sweet Valley Kids Super Specials #2

by Francine Pascal

Jessica Wakefield can't wait! Sweet Valley Elementary is having an Easter egg hunt -- and the prize is a bunny! Best of all, Jessica's twin sister, Elizabeth, is in charge of hiding the eggs. Jessica's positive she can trick her sister into telling her where the eggs are. But when Jessica wins the egg hunt, everyone knows she cheated. Now they're mad at Elizabeth for playing favorites. Can Jessica help her sister and still keep the Easter bunny?

Genres: Humor, Childrens, Juvenile

102 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

About the author

Francine Paula Pascal was an American author best known for her Sweet Valley series of young adult novels. Sweet Valley High, the backbone of the collection, was made into a television series, which led to several spin-offs, including The Unicorn Club and Sweet Valley University. Although most of these books were published in the 1980s and 1990s, they remained so popular that several titles were re-released decades later.

Reviews

[Pastel Paperback · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jessica is a big cheater and is anyone surprised?

There's a contest to win an actual baby bunny in their elementary class easter egg hunt, yet their teacher rewards the person who gets the highest score on that week's test with being the person who hides the eggs? I'm sorry? What? A terrible trade-off, it's no surprise that half the class does badly on purpose.

Of course, Liz scores the highest and is disappointed because she really wanted to win the bunny, but now she's not allowed to take part in the contest. She gets the *privilege* of hiding eggs instead (seriously, I'll never get over what a terrible take this was by the teacher.)

Jessica, who also really wants to win the bunny, takes Liz's egg hunting map and memorizes all the spots, and then cheats to win the contest. All the kids are mad because they assume they planned to cheat, which again, what a terrible idea, and no wonder everyone is pissed.

In the end, Jessica fesses up that she was the cheater and not Liz, everyone thinks she's brave for admitting the truth and the baby bunny becomes a class pet. Happy Easter indeed.

[Tiffany Spencer]

The Easter Bunny Battle
Jessica has lost her stuffed koala and picks up Elizabeth’s. Elizabeth says it's hers. It has a sticky mark on its ear from where she spilled ice cream on it. They decide to turn it into a treasure hunt. This will be good practice for the upcoming Easter egg hunt. The prize for finding the most eggs is a real bunny. They ask their mom if she signed the permission slip. She says she did.

They wonder if their dad and Steve will be allergic. They both really want the bunny. Jessica suggests they team up. Liz worries that it might be cheating. Jessica says its not. They’ll just be helping each other. So, Liz agrees. Jessica then finds her bunny under her desk. It has a dust bunny on it. Jessica sees this as good luck.

Mrs. Otis announces that one student will be chosen to hide the eggs, but this means they can’t participate in the hunt. The student who will hide the eggs will be the one with the highest grade on the social-studies test. Their prize will be a chocolate bunny. Of course, no one wants to be the hider. Jessica fears it will be Liz which messes up her plan.

That night, while Liz is studying, Jessica tries to distract her. First, she tries to get her to play cards. Then she asks her to help her with her homework. Then she tries to talk to her about something that happened to Andy in school.

The next morning, Jessica feels confident her plan worked, but she’s disappointed to find out Liz studied ahead of time. After lunch, when they come back to the room, they meet the baby bunny, and they all think he’s adorable. Mrs. Otis says they’ll get a chance to play with him later. They do some math and then she announces who got the highest grades. To no ones surprise its Elizabeth. Todd teases Liz about giving them some hints. Jessica says if anyone is gonna get hints its her.

At dinner, Liz says she’s sad that she doesn’t have a chance to win the bunny. Ned says that at least hiding the eggs should be fun and Liz agrees. Jessica hopes she doesn’t, After dinner, Jessica comes across Liz’s notebook. Liz won’t tell her what the notebook is or reveal any hidden places. Not even when Jessica jumps on her bed. Jessica figures it o ut. Liz is making a list of hiding places.
Thurday is gym. Lila, Ellen, and Jessica make bad kicks so they can talk. Lila brags about her Easter basket gifts. One year she got a crystal egg necklace. Jessica sees Liz looking around. Lila and Ellen ask what she’s doing. Jessica almost blurts out about the list but stops herself. Jessica vows to be more careful. She already has a plan.

Elizabeth looks at the bunny sadly and tells Eva she wishes she could win him. Eva says maybe Jessica will win him and then they’ll both win him. Amy says Jessica won’t because she’s going to win the bunny and name him Bugsy. Jessica realizes how much Liz wants the bunny and knows that its up to her to win him for the both of them. (While Liz looks around, shes also writing something in a notebook).

Liz finally admits that she’s making a list of hiding places, but she tells Jessica not to ask her where they are or because she can’t tell. Jessica asks, offended and says she wasn’t going to. Jessica tho is upset that Liz wants her to win the bunny so much, but she won’t even help her do it. Elizabeth says it won’t be fair. Jessica gives her the cold shoulder all the way home.

At home, Jessica finds one of the kola bears on the floor and picks it up to see whose it is. She also finds Elizabeth’s notebook. Inside the notebook there’s a long list of hiding places. She copies the entire list quickly. Then finishes just in time as Elizabeth calls her and then walks in the room. Jessica plays innocent and says she’s just been doing math; Liz says she’s going back to school after dinner to hide the eggs. Jessica worries that she’ll koow she copied the hiding places, but Liz doesn’t notice anything off. So, Jessica relaxes. Liz says she really wishes Jessica can help her hide the eggs.

Jessica points out that then they wouldn’t have a chance at winning the bunny. Liz admits she really does want the bunny and hopes Jessica does win it. Jessica thinks it over and knows she should’t cheat but… She starts to study the list harder than she’s ever studied anything in her life. Jessica wins the Easter egg hunt and finds 22 of the 64 eggs hidden. Mrs. Otis looks at her suspiciously. The other students flat out accuse Liz of telling Jessica where the eggs were hidden. Mrs. Otis tells them not to be bitter. Jessica won fair and square. She looks at Jessica and she says she did.

The class turns on Liz. Todd tells her he never thought she’d cheat. Liz insists she didn’t and asks Jessica to back her up. Jessica says Liz would never cheat. She didn’t show her the hiding places and she never asked her to see them. Mrs. Otis hands Jessica the bunny. Liz doesn’t even want to look at it.

Everyone gives both twins mean looks, but Liz gets them the hardest. No one wants to play with her at recess. Liz starts to cry and keeps saying, “It’s not fair.” Jessica says they’re just sore losers. Liz walks off. Jessica sits there with the bunny wishing the day could start all over. Jessica tries to cheer Liz up by suggesting they name the bunny. But Liz isn’t into it and just says ok to whatever name Jessica picks.

Steven comes home, notices they have the bunny, and asks did the cheat to get him. Both twins burst into tears. Steven wonders what he said. The twins decide to go to the park Saturday. They run into some of their classmates. Liz asks if they can play kickball with them. Amy says “I suppose.” Todd says Liz can be on his team. If she’s going to cheat, he wants it to be for his side. Liz gets upset and says she’s not a cheater. Jessica then pulls her away.

Liz voices her fear that they’ll think they’re cheaters for the rest of their lives. Jessica says it won’t be the first time she’s been found out lying and cheating, but her friends haven’t abandoned her. Liz says they might not mind but she does. For a moment, it looks like Liz is happy again to have the bunny, but then the truth comes out. Jessica starts bragging about how hard it was to find the eggs. She mentions the eggs behing on the slide.w. Liz tells her she didn’t put any eggs up there. Then she realizes Jessica read her notbook. This was only a potential spot.

Then the twins get into an argument. Liz now doesn’t want anything to do with the bunny again Then they notice the bunny is gone. The twins notice the door is open. They argue for a minute whether he’s really there. Then they start to look for him. Steven points out if he goes outside in one direction is a dog. In the other is a cat. Steven agrees to help them look.

They find the bunny in Alice’s herb garden nibbling on her parsley plant. Jessica confesses what she did on Monday morning. Liz stands by her as she does. Mrs. Otis says they’ll keep him as a class pet. She says they’ll have another egg hunt and she’ll hide the eggs this time. So, that way everyone can join in the fun. Jessica says she hoopes she wins.


My Thoughts
1. The twins definitely do not need any kind of animal as a pet because they always end up losing it.
2. 2. I don’t know why Mrs. Otis didn’t even consider that they’d all want the bunny an to etiher hide it herself OR have another student in another grade to hide the eggs.

3. Other than going through this contestif it was okay for the twins to have a bunny (and weirdly in the other book there was a big fuss about then not having a chicken) then shouldn’t Alice and Ned just gone out and BOUGHT them one for the pet store, I mean maybe they could have said if you don’t win the bunny that’s ok, we can always look at one? It just seems easier to me. But then they probably know the twins don’t need a pet either.

4. Maybe it was just me, but I kind of got the feeling that Liz wanted Jessica to see the book. She didn’t outright show it to her, but she kept leaving it places that Jessica could easily find it. She wasn’t trying all that hard to “hide” it.

Rating: 6

[Tara Calaby]

This was a nice story about cheating. I particularly liked Jess's complicated feelings about it—not as much guilty for what she did as upset that the other kids were unfairly accusing Liz of having cheated too. Both twins felt very in character and it was more nuanced than a lot of the SVK books.

[Lara El-Alfy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the book it is interesting and very nice anyone who would a kid friendly book I would definitely recommend it it also gives a valuable life lesson but I don't want to spoil it go read it now and discover the rest of them

[Ruvi Perera · Rating 4 out of 5]

So the story is about Jessica cheating and Elizabeth also getting blamed for that.

[Kylie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yay, it’s Easter! Mrs Otis is putting on an egg hunt, and the child who finds the most eggs wins a real bunny! Jess really wants to win, and Liz really wants the bunny. They agree to team up and hunt together. Then Mrs Otis throws in a curve ball - there’s a big test and the person who does the best gets to hide the eggs… it’s actually a disincentive, because everyone wants the bunny. But Jess is worried, because Liz normally does the best. And she does this time too, and Jess is angry. Now she has to search alone! Liz carries her notebook with a list of hiding places around, planning constantly. Of course Jess snoops, and copies the list. I loved Jessica’s thought process here, justifying her actions. It was soo Jess. Anyway, she of course finds the most eggs and wins. EVERYONE thinks she cheated (except Liz) but they also think Liz cheated too and no one will talk to either of them. Jess let’s the truth slip when trying to cheer Liz up and she is maaaaaad. But the bunny escapes while they’re fighting, they hunt to find him, and on Monday Jess comes clean and the bunny becomes the class bunny. Oh and Mrs Otis decides next time she’ll hide the eggs 🤦🏼‍♀️
My rating - 4/10 - this was so cute! And it wasn’t Halloween for once!

[Sheila Read · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read so many of these books I can't remember all of them.