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Brittany and Cynthia Daniel Pay Tribute To Late Sweet Valley High Creator Francine Pascal
Brittany and Cynthia Daniel, the twin sisters who starred in Sweet Valley High remember the late creator Francine Pascal.
Francine Pascal, the beloved creator of the Sweet Valley High book series, died at the age of 92. The cause of her death was lymphoma. She passed away on July 28 at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital in Manhattan, where her daughter Laurie Wenk-Pascal confirmed the news of her death.
The Sweet Valley High series, with its distinct vision from Pascal, has never faded away from the minds of readers. The twin stars of the series, Brittany and Cynthia Daniel, who have fond memories of Francine Pascal, have expressed their condolences upon her death.
Brittany and Cynthia Daniel remember Sweet Valley High creator Francine Pascal
These twin sisters portrayed Jessica and Elizabeth Wakefield in the hit TV show based on Sweet Valley High, which was also executive produced by Pascal. The show ran for four seasons, from 1994 to 1998. The series, based on the novels, revolved around the lives of the Wakefield twins and their friends as they attended high school in Sweet Valley, California.
In a statement to People magazine, Brittany and Cynthia expressed their admiration for Pascal, "She touched the hearts and minds of so many with her entertaining and relatable portrayals of teenage life. We always felt loved and appreciated by Francine. She’ll be greatly missed."
The twin sisters played the lead roles officially described as, "Elizabeth is warm, friendly, and sincere, while her twin sister Jessica is flirty, mischievous, and irresponsible." The show starred Brittany Daniel as Jessica "Jess" Wakefield, Cynthia Daniel as Elizabeth "Liz" Wakefield, Amarilis, Ryan James Bittle (seasons 1–2) and Jeremy Vincent Garrett (seasons 3–4) as Todd Wilkins, Andrea Savage, and more.
Looking back at Sweet Valley High creator Francine Pascal's legacy
Francine Pascal was born in Manhattan on May 13, 1932, but was brought up in Jamaica, Queens. She attended New York University, studying journalism before later becoming a freelance writer, working for various publications including True Confessions, Modern Screen, Cosmopolitan, and Ladies’ Home Journal.
Hangin’ Out With Cici was her first young-adult novel, which appeared in the late seventies. She followed it with My First Love and Other Disasters (1979) and The Hand-Me-Down Kid in 1980. However, it was not until the Sweet Valley High series came out in 1983 that she became famous throughout America. In this respect, Pascal described SVH as an attempt to create a teenage version of Dallas—another hit CBS series—whose main characters were twins named Elizabeth and Jessica Wakefield who lived in California’s fictional Sweet Valley.
After writing the first twelve books, Pascal went on to supervise the remaining ones. These books became a favorite among teenage girls worldwide, selling over twenty-five million copies. In an interview with People in 1988, Pascal said that Sweet Valley High epitomizes “high school” as a stage when such classic notions of romance like self-sacrifice, love, loyalty, and friendship are still believed in before adulthood sets in.
She said, "Sweet Valley is the essence of high school. It's that moment before reality hits, when you really do believe in the romantic values — sacrifice, love, loyalty, friendship — before you get jaded and slip off into adulthood."
The triumph of this book series was followed by a number of other titles such as Sweet Valley Twins, Sweet Valley Kids, and Sweet Valley Junior High. In 1988, Pascal remarked on how her writing had encouraged many girls who did not read before to start reading.
ALSO READ: Who Was Francine Pascal? All About Sweet Valley High Book Creator As She Passes Away At 92
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