Name: Amy's Pen Pal (Sweet Valley Twins, #35)
Rating: 3.49 (9 reviews)
ISBN: 9780553157727

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June 6, 2024

Amy’s Pen Pal
Liz and Jessica are at the mall and Jessica is trying to convince Liz to get a purple sweat so she can “borrow” it for a party Lila is having. They’re throwing a big BBQ, Tomorrow is Lila’s party. Then they have to set up for the party. Then there’s the party (bbq). Then on Monday there’s a show that will be broadcast on the radio that’s a combination of music and interviews. There’s a contest to come up with a name. Jessica wants to call it “Teen Talk”. There will be a party thrown at a night club called “Jupiter’s” for the winner. Liz has also send in some entries. They stop at “Casey’s” and Jessica convinces Liz to sit with the Unicorns. They all start talking about Dave (the host of the show) and Lila’s party. Lila wants to know if Liz is coming (and she says yes-thanks to Jessica-) and Amy (Liz says she’ll have to ask her). They start to talk about looking for outfits and looking around to see if Dave is there. Liz says she’ll look for the party stuff by herself.

When she gets home, Amy is there. Her mother is working on a big project so she got bored and came over. Steven rushes out to go to the school. He’s now joined the radio club. They just got some new equipment and he wants to be the one hehind the dj. Amy asks Liz if she’ll come over and help her clean her room. Liz agrees -teasingly saying she’ll owe her one-. They make a quick stop by the park so Amy can see Ken and ask if he’s going to the party. Luckily Patrick brings it up (whose there with Ken). The guys say they don’t even undersrand why they were invited but they’ll both be going (for the food). They make their excuses and leave. Amy’s room is just as bad as Jessica’s. Amy keeps almost everything. She reads a letter to Liz from her pen pal (Samantha Williams). She hasn’t been writing her lately. She use to write every month.

Jessica calls and tells Liz to come home. They’re all going out to dinner at a new Spanish restaurant. Amy makes a call to her mother and in disappointment she finds outs he won’t be coming home for dinner and neither will her father. The doorbell rings and she sees Sam Williams standing there with her suitcase. Amy tells her she was just talking about her and Sam says she did write her a letter that she was coming to visit. Amy says she didn’t get it. Sam looks around and notices Amy’s parents aren’t there. She seems relived that they wo n’t be there a couple of hours. So, Amy shows Sam her room. Amy finds out Sam took a train and then the bus. Then she offers her dinner (pizza). Amy goes to fix it and thinks about what a amazing coincidence it is that Sam showed up. She starts to tell Sam about all the holiday events. Sam wonders if she’ll be imposing but Amy says the Wakefields won’t mind. She worries about Lila but Any says it’ll be a big party. Then she tells her about the Unicorns and Sam tells her about the Rainbows. Then they talk horses.

Amy then tells Sam about “The Sixers” and Sam says she’d like to work on a paper. Then Any and Sam take a walk. She shows her the park, the center of town, and the middle school. Then the go back to Amy’s and watch shows they both like. The Suttons come home and Amy tells them about Sam (whose come from San Franciso). The Suttons go to greet her but want to know why they weren’t informed she was coming. She says she’s wanted to visit Amy a long time and that her parents have gone on a camping trip. She says she wrote. Mrs. Sutton says what did she think when she hadn’t gotten a reply. She says she guess she thought it was ok. They immediately want to call her parents but she says they’re way out in the wildness’. So, the Sutton’s agree that she can stay. (not wanting to send her home to an empty house-and she hates camping-).

Amy takes Sam over to meet the twins and they talk about the party. Sam realizes she doesn’t have anything to wear to the party and Liz offers to let her borrow something of hers. Steven asks if Jessica wants to go to the mall with him and Alice. He’s going to check out the radio booth. Jessica wonders if Steven knows Dave and he says he’s just going to check out the booth. So, she decides to go (having nothing else to do). At the mall she’s torn between going with her mother in hopes she’ll get her the sweater and going with Steven. She decides to do a little of both. Her mom gets her the sweater as long as she pays it out of her allowance a little at a time. She then goes to the broadcast booth and finds Steven. He’s talking to a boy with horn rimmed glass that’s tall and thin. She’s not interested in the boy (whose name is Buddy) and heads back to find her mother at the shoe sthore.

At Lila’s party, at first Lila is icy to Sam, but warns to her when she compliments her house. To Amy’s surprise she wants to hang out with the Unicorns. She tells them Todd Paris-a movie star- is her boyfriend. Then she starts to tell them about SF. Jessica isn’t impressed. Amy doesn’t think Sam is having fun -just being polite- but it doesn’t look that way to Liz. Amy gets upset when she sees Sam dancing with Ken. Liz says she probably doesn’t know but Amy says she told her last night. Amy goes to straighten her out, but Sam goes off with the rest of the Unicorns. Amy tells her (Lila) she’s surpsied she likes Sam so much but Lila says why shouldn’t she. Sam is awesome. Amy then wants to leave. Then Sam starts to tell the Unicorns about her horse. But Amy tells her they have to leave. Sam doesn’t want to leave so Lila tells her she can get her a ride. So Amy just leaves.

Jessica bitterly thinks about Sam the next day. She was the worst part of the whole night. What’s so great about her anyway? It doesn’t matter she’ll be gone in a day. Besides the radio contest is the next day. She falls back askeep and wakes back up around Steven says he’ll be broadcasting a show from the Valley Mall later. Jessica wants to ask about Dave but doesn’t want Steven to tell about her crush. She asks him about the contest but he says he doesn’t have anything to do with that. Jessica calls Lila and they have a disagreement about Sam. Lila says she’s thinking of making Sam an honorary Unicorn. They make plans to meet at the Dairi Burger. Buddy is downstairs waiting for Steven and they hear the announcement. She tells him she’s going to win the contest before leaving.

The next morning, Amy is up but Sam has slept in because she didn’t get in until after 11. Amy’s father says he’ll take them for a ride. Sam hopes to see “some of the kids” but Amy kows which ones. Lila calls and asks Sam to come meet them for lunch, After the call, Amy tells her she doesn’t want to have anything to do with the Unicorns. They’re conceited. Sam thins she’s wrong. They were so nice at the party. Still, Amy says she’s her guest so if she wants to have lunch with them, she’ll go. Amy notices that Sam always puts herself in the middle of the conversation. Jessica notices inconsistencies in Sam’s stories and suspects she’s lying. Sam is wearing a purple shirt and this gives them the green light to make her an honorary Unicorn. They’ll have a celebration in her honor the next day. Then they talk about the radio show. Sam says she’s a DJ at her old school and starts to tell them about it. While (Liz) gets ready for the BBQ, Jessica asks who she invited. Liz says Julie and Amy but Julie can’t come so it’ll be Amy and Sam. Jessica tells Liz about what she’s noticed. Sam said she was dating Glenn Parish’s son but she thought she read in a magazine he was younger. She can’t find the magazine tho. Then she tells Liz Lila made her an honorary Unicorn. Jessica says if she can prove she’s lying they won’t let her in the club. Liz doesn’t like how Sam’s treating Amy so she decides to help Jessica find the magazine.

They look at the stack in her room, but can’t find the right one. Liz knows somewhere else but it’s time for the BBQ to start. Amy isn’t happy when Liz sees her. She’s had to spend all night listening to how great the Unicorns are and then the morning looking for something purple of hers for Sam to wear. Amy doesn’t get it Sam seemed so nice in her letters but then it hits her (the ugly truth) sometimes you can’t go buy what people appear to be in letters (or online). Liz tells Amy what Jessica suspects and Amy said she’s suspected the same thing. She’s asked Sam why she didn’t tell her about all the things she’s been saying (the horse, the house in Hawaii). She said she just forgot.

The Unicorns -tho self-centered-aren’t deaf and they catch her in a lie. She’s bragging about her dad taking her for a ride in his new sports car when she gets back. Only they’ve heard her say she’s an only child. She tries to cover and make it sound like she just said she WISHES she were an only child. This girl lies so much she can’t even keep up with her own lies. Then she changes the subject to shopping. When she goes to the bathroom, Jessica tells them she’s tired of her and the Unicorns all agree they don’t think she’s telling the truth and maybe they shouldn’t have asked her to be a Unicorn. Lila tries to defend her. but then Jessica goes in the house to find the magazine. Jessica runs into Buddy but brushes him off. She finds Liz and says she has some magazines under her bed that she remembers. They find the right one. Glenda Paris son is NINE. Excitedly she takes the magazine bak to the Unicorns. Sam is there and she tells Sam she has something to talk to them about and dismisses Sam.

Even with proof, Lila doesn’t want to bow down. Janet says she’ll decide. She says they’ll make up an outrageous story and see if Sam goes along with it. So, they make up this story about Melody Powers making a movie near where Sam lives and her getting in an accident tripping over a wire. Sam instantly says she knows about it and that she visited Melody and brought her flowers. Only she was so out of it that she only got a chance to say hi. Amy says they have to leave and the Unicorns tell Sam they’ll let her know about the induction ceremony.

So, they decide to tell her Dave wants her on his show to talk about Melody. She’ll go up to the booth and he’ll tell her to get lost. Then they’ll tell her what they think of her. Lila calls and gives her the news. Later, Jessica tells Liz and while she doesn’t like Sam, she’s not ok with embarrassing her publicly. Still, she agrees not to do anything to wreck the plan. Amy asks Sam when she’s leaving and she says tomorrow. Then she snaps at her to get off her case. They start to argue back and forth. Mrs. Sutton asks when her train leaves. She says she’ll tell her later.

Liz tells Amy and asks if they should do anything. Amy says yes. Laugh right along with everyone else. Now she’ll see who her “friends” really are. Amy’s mother calls Sam’s mother and finds out what we all knew. Sam ran away. Sam has a younger sister who’d been ill and no one has been paying attention to her. She left a note that said she was going to find someone that took an interest in her. Her parents are coming but they won’t tell her so she won’t run away again. Liz and Amy now feel bad for Sam and head to the mall.They find Steven and tell him what’s going on and he comes up with a plan.

Sam wants to know which one is Dave. Tamara points out “Buddy”. She says he and her parents are friends. “Buddy” is Dave’s nickname. Dave even *looks* different and Jessica feels embarrassed for having been so rude to him. Janet asks why she didn’t introduce him at the BBQ. Jessica doesn’t want to let on and says he didn’t want her to, but Janet says it’s not like her to keep a secret. Sam starts to get nervous and sasys he looks busy maybe she shouldn’t go up to him. But the Unicorns tell her no. He’ll be waiting for her. The show starts. To the Unicorns surprise Dave calls up Samantha. Sam knows something isn’t right as she walks up. Liz and Amy tells her it’s alright they won’t have to make up any more stories. Dave gives her the interview asking her questions about SF.

The Unicorns are in schock. Dave goes on to ask her questions about her hobbies and she tells them about Lil Bit. Then he finishes the interview. She goes over to the Unicorns but she finds out they didn’t set up the interview and they tell her off and tell her she’s not getting into the Unicorns. They know about her lies. Sam realizes she had it coming. They demand to know how she got the interview and she says she doesn’t know and runs off. She thinks about what Liz and Amy said but doesn’t call them out. Liz and Amy find her and convince her to stay. She asks ehy they did it and they just tell her they didn’t feel like it was right. She says she appreciates it but she wasn’t very nice and she’d not blame them if they would have let her make a fool of herself. Dave then announces the name of the show is “The Awesome Hour” which is the name Liz came up with. When Liz is called up to give her interview, she says she and Jessica will host the party together. This makes Jessica happy whose already making up a list of people to invite. In the end, Amy’s parents pick them up and they tell Sam her parents are there. Sam and her parents talk and they tell her how worried they were and apologize for not coming to her horse show (which is why she ran away) and her sister will be coming home from the hospital.

My Thoughts

I wondered how Jessica could not have recognized “Buddy’s” voice since it’s so distinctive, but then I thought of a funny storic (an ironice one). My cousin had been telling me about a tape he made with a bunch of guys rapping when he was into making music. So, I asked him could I hear it. When he FINALLY played the tape for me I was listening and it got to someone rapping in this deep voice and he gone tell me “That’s me”. I was like “Where?” I said “That’s not you.” My cousins voice and the voice I was hearing did NOT match. He gone tll me “I sound different when I rap.” I just looed at him like RIIIGHT. So I guess Dave has one of those “changing” voice just like my cousin and that’s why Jessica didn’t pick up on it.

Sam I felt was a very selfish character. You ran away because YOUR SISTER IS SICK AND IN THE HOSPITAL. You didn’t think that was more important than a HORSE SHOW. SHES IN THE HOSPITAL! COME ON NOW! There would not have been as nice a greeting as the one Sam’s parents gave her. And there definitely would have been any apologizing to HER. Sometimes some things just take priority over others. But then I think about I have a cousin who has five children and I think about how his eldest sono whose 10 must feel to always have to be in the shadow of the younger ones and called on to take care of the younger ones and I notice sometimes that even tho he doesn’t – hasn’t tried yet- to run away, he did recently try to sneak off to a variety show without telling anyone. Then if you notice when he’s with the others he’ll sit FAR AWAY from them or he’ll just LEAVE with whoever he can find whose going somewhere else. So I think I undersand why Sam did what she did even though I still think it was inconsiderate to make her parents worry and they already had the worry of a sick kid. She should have just sat them down and told them or wrote them a letter. That’s always worked for me when I can’t find the right way to say or express frustration.

Then it just struck me as I was reading this how different times are. When this book was published people *did* have pen pals. This was probably a rare instance back then, but today its so different that you probably couldn’t let your child have a pen pal because I know I’d be weary of giving a stranger my home information. Sam showed up while Amy was there. What if the person showed up while you *weren’t* there. If you told them a significant amount of detail, they could easily use this to their advantage and try to get into your house. Or like Sam they might tell you a bunch of stuff about themselves that were lies. I’ve been through that. I’ve gotten mislead and also saw how a friend of my aunts trusted a stranger she meet -and didn’t know well- and believed all the things he told her and thought they were going to get married only to find out he was a scam artist. So when I think about it it’s just on a larger scale in todays times.

Rating: 5

This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.

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Sweet Valley Twins #35

Amy's Pen Pal

Francine Pascal (Creator)

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Francine Pascal

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