Lila's April Fool

Sweet Valley Kids #48

by Francine Pascal (Creator), Molly Mia Stewart, Ying-Hwa Hu (Illustrator)

Lila Fowler invites the entire second-grade class to her April Fools' Day party, but when she tells them it is all a joke, the Wakefield twins and their friends play a little prank on Lila.

Genres: Middle Grade, Childrens

70 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1994

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]

Lila is the brattiest brat in this.

She lies about having a giant party, and when her father hears about it (because Mrs. Wakefield snitches,) instead of being like "whoa, maybe I spoil her too much," he instead decides that telling her "no party" is a great April Fool's Joke, but *really*, she's going to get a party anyways.

Mr. Fowler, you have some issues.

[Tara Calaby]

I always love a Lila-heavy book, but I'm not such a big fan of parents teaching small children a lesson by playing cruel tricks on them. (Or, yanno, 'teaching them a lesson' at all, as opposed to having a conversation.) Also, it's very weird how the kids books portray George Fowler as a loving father when we know how absent he'll be by SVH. It rather removes a lot of Lila's reason for being who she is, if she's exactly the same BEFORE the divorce & absent parenting that have always been shown as having a huge part in that.

[Samantha · Rating 5 out of 5]

This wasn't one that I'd read as a little girl so it was extra sweet to read! Mrs Otis was a sweetheart of a teacher wasn't she?! I will never understand why Liz let's Jessica dictate what she can and can't do and Lola's snobbiness shone through in this story...funny thing is that Mr Fowler actually seems like a really sweet Dad!

[Teresa Granado-Law · Rating 3 out of 5]

Amy Sutton says "It doesn't matter how you look, it matters who you are." - Thank you! The Young of today don't seem to understand that concept and seem to see surface only so that you can be categorized into your groups!

[Ruvi Perera · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice story where Lila's father teaches a lesson.

[Kylie · Rating 3 out of 5]

sweetvalleyrecaps
Sweet Valley Kids 48 - Lila’s April Fool
Okay so bare with me here, because I’m not quite sure what the point of this book was! The twins are playing Cinderella with Lila, Amy and Ellen. They all (except Liz) tease Amy about getting a short boy hair cut and say she can’t be Cinderella because she doesn’t have long beautiful hair. Mrs Otis tries to tell them that it’s what’s on the inside that counts, but Jess and especially Lila don’t agree. Lila gets carried away, saying she’s going to have a fancy party on Saturday, for April Fools Day. The twins go to her house after school and her housekeeper knows nothing about it. Lila admits her Dad hasn’t said anything yet, but he will. The twins complain to Alice who calls George. He decides to teach Lila a lesson by… wait for it… throwing her a party. Huh? He tells Alice to tell the twins he’s going to say no to Lila but then April Fools surprise her with a party at the beach. Yep. So for the next few days, after being told no, Lila keeps talking about her party, certain he’ll change her mind. Meanwhile Mrs Otis asks the girls opinion about dying her hair bright red, because they all agreed beauty was on the inside. Lila starts to sweat and ‘not feel well’. The twins let the class in on the joke as well. Friday morning Mrs Otis shows up for class with bright red hair, gets the girls to say it’s not how you look that’s important, and April Fools them by pulling off the wig. Hmm 🤔 Lila joins in and says she’s not having a party, April Fools! Of course the beach party goes ahead the next day and apparently the lesson George was trying to teach Lila was you don’t need to spend a lot of money to have a good party. Yep.
My rating -2 /10 - I like Lila centric books but this was missed the mark!

[Robyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just when I thought Lila was too snobby, she goes & throws some party! Too bad it was an April Fool's joke, but I think b/c everyone wanted the party, they had one anyway.

[Sheila Read · Rating 5 out of 5]

I remember the cover just not the story

[Jennifer Sherwin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this every April Fools Day.Great Book.