apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

omg! i loved those books when i was in 5th-7th grades. i couldn't put em down. i'm not sure if i am feelin the art vibe of them though…

i kindof love this idea :)

:snerk: I kinda love this too! And I can't remember actually reading one of these books. Just handling them. But I did read a slew of "The Cheerleaders" one summer.

Now that is kitsch done right...

hah! love it! if i had my old copies, i would try to select and group covers by theme...he he he

love anything in a grid as well...but this is really fun.

Ah don't forget Judy Blume...I'm having memories of back in the day when I prayed for a jr high party invites and a spin the bottle game or two.

perfect kitsch.

oh so awesome!!! remember the one when elizabeth rides on her boyfriend's motorcycle (was his name ned?), gets into an accident, falls into a coma, and then wakes up and acts all slutty like jessica? man i LOVED that one!

BRILLIANT.

I ready sooooo many of those. I think a new came out every month or something.

i remember the one with the accident/slutty sister one too! i don't know the name of the boyfriend, but i don't think it was ned, cause that was nancy drew's boyfriend's name...unless there was some kind of crossover...

Haha, I specifically remember several of those volumes!

Perhaps next time I go to my mom's, I should grab my old Baby-sitters Club calendars... ;)

Hahaha...umm. I think Elizabeth's boyfriend was named Todd. OK, so I re-read like 3 or 4 of em before I gave the collection away! (And I felt really weird afterwards, like I just wasted an afternoon. And that feeling is worse than laying on the couch and watching the a Facts of Life marathon, my friends).

And goodnightdean, I think you just won yourself a Sweet Valley High book. So send me your address (grace@apartmenttherapy.com)

PS Richie Rich, I also found a copy of "Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret" in that box. And it was AWESOME. I think someone should get the original cover blown up into a poster.

This made me so happy.

Ok. I'm, like, so copying! (You won't hate for copying will you? I'll TOTALLY tell everyone it was your idea, I swear!)

I feel sorry for her husband to be.

I loved Sweet Valley High! It's almost a shame that I would most certainly *not* enjoy reading them again, because I spent many a pre-teen afternoon reading them, and theyw ere great!

Wow. Large posters of book covers would be great - how about Paula Danziger too?
I don't think I could bring myself to rip the covers off the books!

The large poster idea is a la that first issue of Blueprint with the blown up vintage envelope.

I can see a wall of Lois Duncan's: The Third Eye, Summer of Fear, Stranger with My Face...

I completely missed these, but I've read my share of embarrassing books.

(These are not the embarrassing ones.) For years, I tried to get my kids to read my old copies of Classics Illustrated, and they wouldn't. Then I flipped through them myself, and realized that I wouldn't want to read them now, either. And that what I really liked about them at this point was the covers. So I framed my favorites.

Large posters of book covers--they have a million of them at barnesandnoble.com .

I used to be the biggest fag in school reading and collecting these books. I loved it and carried them with me everywhere. I used to check them out at the library but demanded my mom buy me my own copies for my collection; much to the chagrin of my testoterone soaked father.

I love the twins!!! I wanted to be them!!!

Call me crazy, but to this day, I still remember that in one of the books the twins are at a party and of friend of theirs decides to do coke. For the first time. And overdoses. And dies! It scared me to death and made me never want to try drugs ever.

JoUK, instead of ripping off the covers, you could make a really good quality color copy of them.

That is great!

What memories...I also read the junior high ones. They totally made me want to be a blonde from California rather than a brunette from Pennsylvania.

That is such genius. I went so far as to read the tertiary Sweet Valley novels, like about how their grandmother or great-grandmother was a circus performer and a bootlegger? And then there was that one when they were at Sweet Valley University where they went to Kansas or Nebraska or something?


This makes me want to do this with all my old Babysitter's Club books, but they're not nearly as cool or kitsch as SWT.

Todd!!! His name was totally Todd!

I was wondering if I was crossing my pre-teen reading wires with fictional boyfriend names. Ned was Nancy Drew's boyfriend. Durr!!!

I think Mr. Wakefield (the girls' father) is named Ned.

I gave my collection away but when my cousin's daughter is done reading them, I might try to do something similar with the covers.

I sold my collection of Sweet Valley Twins then regretted it and tracked down a few of my favorites. I hate the idea of ripping covers off books but maybe I could photo copy "Are you there god, its me Margaret" and frame it.

I did a similar thing, but with covers from a pile of old pulp novels. They're very graphic and bright, and the titles and taglines are hilarious (The Girl with the Sweet Plump Knees is my favorite).

where was i when this post was originally written?! i have a habit of buying SVH books at garage sales, usually for a dime or so. the idea of tearing the covers from any book, even a book that costs only ten cents, sends chills through my spine. so i just display them on a side table.

(and i must confess, i read them before i display them.)

enlarged book covers would be a good idea also, for a child's room for example; Goodnight Moon, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs and Where the Wild Things Are.

...or Classic Cookbook Covers for Kitchen decor - Joy of Cooking; Betty Crocker, Julia Child or Jeff Smith

The possibilities are endless...