When I was in middle school, I read several popular book series catered to young girls: Sweet Valley High (and Twins and University, too), Baby-Sitter’s Club, and even one or two Canby Hall books. Though I read more Sweet Valley than anything else, looking back I see that series was the worst of the lot. The selfish, shallow characters promoted unhealthy and amoral ideals for young girls. Despite having read hundreds of those books, I remember the plots of only a dozen or so, which fails the book test. For me, the one question book test is this: Do you remember the plot of ______ years after having read it? If you don’t, perhaps the book didn’t have a profound impact on you.

The Sweet Valley books were re-capped on a website called The Dairi Burger, which I followed a decade ago. Robin Hardwick does an amazing job recapping those books, and she does it with side-splitting humor, too. She even calls the books out on their crap. The authors had a habit of fat-shaming and the characters bullied people who were different. Even the practical, “smart” and “kind” twin often cheated on her boyfriend. Every book dedicated space to fawning over how good-looking the twins were. The twins’ mother was often mistaken for their older sister, and other women were so jealous of her looks that someone once tried to kidnap her and steal her face for a face transplant. No joke. Those books were beyond ridiculous.

The Girl Talk books had a profound impact on me. I remember the four best friends on which the books focused: Katie Campbell, Allison Cloud, Sabrina Wells, and Randy Zak. Just browsing over the books’ covers online, I remember the plots of most of the ones I read. These books weren’t as readily available as the Sweet Valley series or the Babysitter’s Club. I believe I bought my Girl Talk books via a school book fair’s catalogue. I never saw them for sale at the Barnes and Noble or at Books a Million like the other popular girls series. I was heartbroken when the books stopped after #45. And I couldn’t find them in local bookstores. Now, with the use of Amazon and Abebooks, I can go back and read them again. I still have a few that I bought when I was a kid, and I can order the others.

Here goes. Katie, Allison, Sabrina, and Randy live in the small town of Acorn Falls, Minnesota. They’re 12-13 years old, and in the first book, which I’m re-capping here, they have just begun 7th grade. Each book is narrated by one of the four main characters. Sabrina Wells narrates this first book called Welcome to Junior High. We find out that Sabrina has four older brothers, including a twin brother named Sam. She’s bubbly and loves fashion magazines and horoscopes. She’s also boy-crazy. In the span of this first book (all of the books are around 120 pages and printed in big script, so that you could read one in about two hours), Sabrina has crushes on three different boys: her brother’s friend Nick, a ninth grade boy named Spike who plays in a local band, and an 8th grade boy named Alec whose lap she lands on while trying to slip out of the 8th grade math class she accidentally walked into while running late on the first day of school. Alec is the one she crushes on first, and she loves that he’s an “older man.” He looks just like Tom Cruise, her favorite actor. Later, when she meets Spike, she thinks he reminds her of Johnny Depp, her other favorite actor. It’s amazing how these books are so dated (this first one came out in 1990), yet some of the cultural references remain the same. I guess some girls still like Cruise and Depp, though they’re kinda aged heartthrobs now. I guess if these books were updated, the young girls would like…yikes, you can tell I’m almost 40. No idea who the girls would swoon over. Lol. Until I re-read this one, I didn’t realize Johnny Depp was so famous already in 1990. But I guess Nightmare on Elm Street and Platoon had already been released, and Scissorhands came out that same year.

Anyway, here’s the plot. The homecoming dance is coming up, and the whole story leads up to that big event. Sabrina wants to go with Alec the 8th grader, but he’s already been spotted hanging around with the principal’s daughter, Stacy Hansen, a snooty 7th grade girl who wears heels already and always dresses nice. Sabrina also thinks Nick Robbins, her brother’s friend, is cute, but he’s in the 7th grade with her, and she’s decided she only likes “older” men. Nick asks Sabrina to the dance while they are lining up to march in the town parade. Nick accidentally knocks her over with his drum, and she tries to talk to him but clumsily spits out her clarinet reed. Cute scene. Anyway, Sabrina agrees to go to the dance with Nick, but later when she is decorating the gym with Randy, Katie, and Allison, this 9th grader named Spike (who has black eyes like Johnny Depp) comes in and asks her to dance. Nick walks in and sees her with Spike and is obviously jealous, only Sabrina is too dense to realize it. Later, Nick calls and says he won’t go to the dance with her because he has already asked someone else. Sabrina is crushed, but her friends talk her into going to the dance anyway. At first she pouts because she sees Nick talking to some other girl she doesn’t like and because Alec is dancing with Stacy. Then, Spike, whose band is playing at the dance, literally puts a spotlight on her and dedicates a song to her. Nick comes forward and asks her to dance. Though she shouldn’t even be talking to him since he dumped her, they talk as they dance. He explains that he was angry when he saw her with Spike, and he admits he never asked anyone else to the dance. They agree to be friends. The book and the night end with Sabrina hanging out with Randy, Katie, and Allison.

There are some side plots. One is that Katie goes to the dance with Sabrina’s twin brother, Sam, and for reasons unknown this bothers Sabrina. Randy is new to town from New York City. Her haircut is spiked on top, and when Sabrina first meets her Randy wears a leather bomber jacket, ripped jeans, and a T-shirt with palm trees on it. (Sooo cool, according to Sabrina.) Allison is the quiet one who is Native American. I remember being enthralled by her when I was a child. Most of the books I read had majority white characters. I’d never read a story with Native Americans until I read Allison’s character. Her personality is bookish and quiet, very similar to mine. I used to share these books with my girl cousin when I was in middle school, and Allison was her favorite character. I liked Allison and Katie the best when I was a kid. I wonder if my opinion will change as I go through them again.

Grade: B. Sabrina is a little too boy crazy for my taste. She’s still quite nice, though. I also like that Randy kept standing up for Sabrina whenever Stacy tried to bully and belittle her. In one scene, Stacy and her friends steal Sabrina’s self-improvement notebook, which is basically a diary in which Sabrina writes about her goals to better herself, and Stacy and her friends read the thing aloud in front of a group of kids in the hallway. Sabrina is embarrassed, because anything embarrasses a tween-age girl. Randy steps in, snatches the book away and gives it back to Sabrina. She also steps in during another scene, knocks into Stacy and spills Stacy’s entire lunch all over her. Ah. Seventh grade scandals.

Next time, I’ll recap #2, and we’ll learn more about Katie Campbell, who narrates that one.