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Sweet Valley Twins #65
Patty's Last Dance
Scared and alone...
Patty Gilbert has dreamed of being a ballerina since she was a little girl. Following her dream has meant making sacrifices, and one thing Patty has never had time for is friends. But when she beats out her biggest rival, Kerry Glenn, for the lead role in Swan Lake, Patty is sure it's all been worth it.
Then Patty learns she has scoliosis, which means she'll have to wear a back brace for several years. Patty feels as if all her dreams have been shattered, and the worst part is she has nowhere to turn for support. Kerry has always acted friendly—and she's the only person who really seems to understand how Patty feels about ballet. But can Patty trust Kerry with her secret?
Patty Gilbert has dreamed of being a ballerina since she was a little girl. Following her dream has meant making sacrifices, and one thing Patty has never had time for is friends. But when she beats out her biggest rival, Kerry Glenn, for the lead role in Swan Lake, Patty is sure it's all been worth it.
Then Patty learns she has scoliosis, which means she'll have to wear a back brace for several years. Patty feels as if all her dreams have been shattered, and the worst part is she has nowhere to turn for support. Kerry has always acted friendly—and she's the only person who really seems to understand how Patty feels about ballet. But can Patty trust Kerry with her secret?
135 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1993
205 people want to read
About the author
Francine Pascal
1,140 books1,851 followersFrancine 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.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
May 11, 2022
The real star of this book is the dance-a-thon that Mandy and Jessica are planning!
August 8, 2013
Synopsis: So, you all remember Patty from the SVH book "Boy Trouble," right? No, of course you don't. You actually have a life, and that book was a snore (I don't even remember my review for that one). Well, hold on to your seat, kiddies, because Patty's life gets so horribly interesting in this one! Not.
So why is Patty being all emo and standing alone on the cover? After all, she just won the role of Odette in Swan Lake (over Jessica? For shame!). Her teacher, Madame Baril, thinks Patty is a very splendid ballerina. Although Kerry Glenn (remember her?) is nice to Patty, Patty mostly keeps to herself and focuses on her dancing. Well, that makes sense. After all, how much fun does Maddie on Dance Moms really have? It's lonely at the top. So Patty is all blah blah dancing along until one day Madame B stops her and says that something is off about her. Patty is really concerned, what with her performance coming up and everything. She goes home and has her mom measure her, and she realizes that she has grown. Well, that settles it. M. Baril must have noticed her growth spurt! Except... no. Because then Madame asks Patty to get checked with a doctor to make sure everything is positively okay. But Patty doesn't want to be told that because she is not a blonde-haired, blue-eyed twin she will have to give up her dreams forever, so she very reluctantly tells her parents that she needs to see the doctor. Patty is scheduled to meet with Dr. Ringwald (heh), and she is told she has scoliosis. Yep. The only cure for which, at the time of this book, is a gigantic weird ass brace thing. So of course she doesn't tell her teacher right away. She wants to get through the performance, and she figures that she can make it until then. But she is dancing horribly because she is so worried that Madame passes her role onto Kerry. But Kerry stands up for Patty and offers to help her with her jumps. Patty is very grateful, until she gets so worried about her future doing jumps that she falls right in the middle of one. Way to go, Patty. But she finally confides the truth in Kerry, and this leads to her confiding in Madame and all of her classmates at the studio and in SVMS. Patty has to get fitted for the brace the day of the recital, but since she can take it off for one hour a day, Madame gives her the go ahead to continue dancing Odette. She dances Odette and everyone is excited and applauds enthusiastically, and Patty overcomes her fear and worry over wearing the brace when she meets another girl with scoliosis in the doctor's office. Yippee!
Meanwhile, in Wakefield land, Jessica and the Unicorns are planning and plotting for the arrival of Hollywood Jones in Sweet Valley. He hosts a TV show called "You'll Never Believe This!" where kids try to break Guinness-book type records. Jess & Liz & Co. discover that they can break the under-14 record for dancing, which is currently at 11 hours. However, rivals Big Mesa have a plan to do a three-legged race, and they have recruited many more people than Sweet Valley. You know Jessica, of course, and she writes and calls Hollywood and promises him (well, his secretary) that they will have TWO hundred people in attendance at their dance marathon, versus Big Mesa's 150. Once the promise of being on TV comes up, Jessica's group is almost able to crack 150 people. But not quite. Hollywood does show up and interview Jessica, but he gets increasingly annoyed whenever he doesn't see their gym full of 200 people. Near the end of the night (and their goal), Jessica thinks fast in a last-ditch effort to get SVMS, and herself, on television. She has all 96 people left at the marathon form a conga line that passes right in front of Hollywood. He can't resist, and so he films them and uses that one shot for his show. Blah. I almost thought (and expected) that Jessica would use Patty's disability to her advantage so that Hollywood would definitely put them on the show for sympathy ratings. But then I realized that if I don't give two fucks about Patty Gilbert than neither does Jessica or Hollywood Jones.
Alternate Title : "Achy Breaky Patty"
Tagline: "Patty Gilbert doesn't need friends-or does she?" (Well, everyone does.)
The Big Deal: The "You'll Never Believe This!" TV show is coming to Sweet Valley.
Lingering Questions: Why is Patty Gilbert black on the cover of SVH's "Boy Trouble," while here she is only mildly tan?
Cover: Good or Bad?: Ugh. What are the girls in the back even wearing? Seriously. And, as I just mentioned, why is Patty not even a little bit black?
Quotes from the Book: None. Sorry, Charlies.
Moral of the Story: If you are the token black kid in Sweet Valley, you will no doubt develop scoliosis and have to give up your childhood dreams.
Final Rating: Two and a half stars. It didn't have Jessica's psychopathy but then, that's the whole reason we read these books anyway, isn't it?
So why is Patty being all emo and standing alone on the cover? After all, she just won the role of Odette in Swan Lake (over Jessica? For shame!). Her teacher, Madame Baril, thinks Patty is a very splendid ballerina. Although Kerry Glenn (remember her?) is nice to Patty, Patty mostly keeps to herself and focuses on her dancing. Well, that makes sense. After all, how much fun does Maddie on Dance Moms really have? It's lonely at the top. So Patty is all blah blah dancing along until one day Madame B stops her and says that something is off about her. Patty is really concerned, what with her performance coming up and everything. She goes home and has her mom measure her, and she realizes that she has grown. Well, that settles it. M. Baril must have noticed her growth spurt! Except... no. Because then Madame asks Patty to get checked with a doctor to make sure everything is positively okay. But Patty doesn't want to be told that because she is not a blonde-haired, blue-eyed twin she will have to give up her dreams forever, so she very reluctantly tells her parents that she needs to see the doctor. Patty is scheduled to meet with Dr. Ringwald (heh), and she is told she has scoliosis. Yep. The only cure for which, at the time of this book, is a gigantic weird ass brace thing. So of course she doesn't tell her teacher right away. She wants to get through the performance, and she figures that she can make it until then. But she is dancing horribly because she is so worried that Madame passes her role onto Kerry. But Kerry stands up for Patty and offers to help her with her jumps. Patty is very grateful, until she gets so worried about her future doing jumps that she falls right in the middle of one. Way to go, Patty. But she finally confides the truth in Kerry, and this leads to her confiding in Madame and all of her classmates at the studio and in SVMS. Patty has to get fitted for the brace the day of the recital, but since she can take it off for one hour a day, Madame gives her the go ahead to continue dancing Odette. She dances Odette and everyone is excited and applauds enthusiastically, and Patty overcomes her fear and worry over wearing the brace when she meets another girl with scoliosis in the doctor's office. Yippee!
Meanwhile, in Wakefield land, Jessica and the Unicorns are planning and plotting for the arrival of Hollywood Jones in Sweet Valley. He hosts a TV show called "You'll Never Believe This!" where kids try to break Guinness-book type records. Jess & Liz & Co. discover that they can break the under-14 record for dancing, which is currently at 11 hours. However, rivals Big Mesa have a plan to do a three-legged race, and they have recruited many more people than Sweet Valley. You know Jessica, of course, and she writes and calls Hollywood and promises him (well, his secretary) that they will have TWO hundred people in attendance at their dance marathon, versus Big Mesa's 150. Once the promise of being on TV comes up, Jessica's group is almost able to crack 150 people. But not quite. Hollywood does show up and interview Jessica, but he gets increasingly annoyed whenever he doesn't see their gym full of 200 people. Near the end of the night (and their goal), Jessica thinks fast in a last-ditch effort to get SVMS, and herself, on television. She has all 96 people left at the marathon form a conga line that passes right in front of Hollywood. He can't resist, and so he films them and uses that one shot for his show. Blah. I almost thought (and expected) that Jessica would use Patty's disability to her advantage so that Hollywood would definitely put them on the show for sympathy ratings. But then I realized that if I don't give two fucks about Patty Gilbert than neither does Jessica or Hollywood Jones.
Alternate Title : "Achy Breaky Patty"
Tagline: "Patty Gilbert doesn't need friends-or does she?" (Well, everyone does.)
The Big Deal: The "You'll Never Believe This!" TV show is coming to Sweet Valley.
Lingering Questions: Why is Patty Gilbert black on the cover of SVH's "Boy Trouble," while here she is only mildly tan?
Cover: Good or Bad?: Ugh. What are the girls in the back even wearing? Seriously. And, as I just mentioned, why is Patty not even a little bit black?
Quotes from the Book: None. Sorry, Charlies.
Moral of the Story: If you are the token black kid in Sweet Valley, you will no doubt develop scoliosis and have to give up your childhood dreams.
Final Rating: Two and a half stars. It didn't have Jessica's psychopathy but then, that's the whole reason we read these books anyway, isn't it?
March 17, 2018
Another good one: a girl in the twins' class who has a promising career as a ballerina is diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.
January 17, 2016
Patty takes ballet lessons and is supposed to be the lead in a local production of Swan Lake. Things go well until her ballet teacher starts getting on her case all the time and then tells her she need to see a doctor.
Seems she has scoliosis and that poses a threat to her ballet career and an immediate threat to the production of Swan Lake.
Therein lies a major problem with the entire series. Jessica is a natural-born liar. She tells lies all the time, gets into trouble, and usually has to depend on her sister to get her out of trouble. Such a girl in real life would need to see a psychiatrist since she sees nothing wrong, really, with the way she lies and avoids doing things that she's supposed to do.
That kind of lying approach can work for a while but it gets old quick.
Seems she has scoliosis and that poses a threat to her ballet career and an immediate threat to the production of Swan Lake.
Therein lies a major problem with the entire series. Jessica is a natural-born liar. She tells lies all the time, gets into trouble, and usually has to depend on her sister to get her out of trouble. Such a girl in real life would need to see a psychiatrist since she sees nothing wrong, really, with the way she lies and avoids doing things that she's supposed to do.
That kind of lying approach can work for a while but it gets old quick.
April 29, 2009
I have never known, or even known of, anyone with scoliosis. Yet Ann M. Martin, Judy Blume, and now Francine Pascal all had books about it - as well as I am sure many others. One of those "meant to be realistic" teenage girl plots that to me just wasn't. Still interesting to learn about though.
August 28, 2014
Actually one among the best , it's great to see different characters
May 5, 2021
Loved these books as a child
June 22, 2013
I remember the cover just not the story.
May 27, 2014
This book. Was. So good
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews