Francine Pascal
Personal Information
Description
Francine Pascal, a native New Yorker, is an author best known for creating the Sweet Valley series of young adult novels. Sweet Valley High was the backbone of the collection, and was made into a popular television series. There were also several spin-offs, including The Unicorn Club, Sweet Valley University, and Sweet Valley Sorority. Francine Rubin graduated from New York University in 1958. It was there that she first met author and journalist [John Pascal]and, in 1965, they were married (the second marriage for each). Francine often credited John as her writing mentor, and they collaborated on several projects, including writing scripts for the ABC soap opera The Young Marrieds, which aired from 1964 - 1966. John died of cancer in 1981, at 49 years old. Francine's brother was the prolific Broadway playwright and librettist [Michael Stewart], who wrote the books to such Broadway musical hits as Bye Bye Birdie, Hello, Dolly!, and 42nd Street. Francine, her husband John, and her brother Michael worked together writing the book to the Broadway musical George M!, which ran at the Palace Theatre from 1968 - 1970. A television version of George M! was aired on NBC in 1970. Michael Stewart died in 1987. Since then, Francine has revised his musical Mack & Mabel. She has also worked on the revision of another of his musicals, Carnival!, for the Kennedy Center in Washington. Francine's first young adult novel, published in 1977, was called Hangin' Out with Cici, in which her heroine, Victoria Martin, went back in time and met her mother as a teenager. It was televised as an ABC After-School Special entitled My Mother Was Never a Kid. She has written two other Victoria Martin books: My First Love and Other Disasters, and Love and Betrayal & Hold the Mayo. Another of her early novels, The Hand-Me-Down Kid, was also made into an ABC After-School Special. More recent works include the Caitlin series, a set of three trilogies which follows a teenage girl into adulthood, as well as a second mass-market project, the young adult fantasy spy series Fearless and its spin-off, Fearless: FBI. A TV series was also planned for Fearless, but for several reasons it never aired. The Ruling Class, a teen novel about a clique of spectacularly cruel girls who essentially run a high school in a wealthy Dallas suburb, was described in a Fantastic Fiction review as "a magnetic tour de force created by a master storyteller at the top of her form." In addition to her work for mostly female teens, Francine has written some adult fiction books, including La Villa (originally published as If Wishes Were Horses) and Save Johanna!, as well as a non-fiction book, The Strange Case of Patty Hearst, which she wrote with her husband John. (Although La Villa was billed as fiction, it has been suggested that it may have been based in part upon true experiences of the author and her late husband. Without further corroboration, however, this can be considered no more than conjecture.) John and Francine Pascal lived in Manhattan with Francine's three daughters from her first marriage: Jamie, Laurie, and Susan. (John had a son from his first marriage, Matthew, who lived with his mother.) After John died, Francine and her daughters remained in Manhattan, and Francine has been quoted as saying that much of the inspiration for her young adult novels came from watching her own three daughters grow up. Sadly, in 2008, Francine's oldest daughter Jamie died after a two-year battle with liver disease. Francine Pascal now divides her time between homes in New York and the south of France. Since John died, she has never remarried. :
Books
Betrayed
Naked
Surveys the history of the nude in American art, photography, and popular culture.
Cruise Control
What good is a second chance if you don't take a risk? That's what limo driver Anna Jackson asks when the seriously hot Marc Lewis climbs in her car. She's changed her looks, her career and now it's time to shed the conservative habits of a lifetime. And seducing Marc is the best way to do that. Sure, he's her client-sort of off-limits-but she's not wrong about the invitation in his eyes.All she has to do is remember three simple rules-never stay overnight, make no plans for the future and never, ever talk about emotions. Once they hit the sheets, however, the rules aren't so easy to follow. And once they spend the night, can feelings be far behind?
Lust
Gaia Moore, the girl without the fear gene, is used to being considered a freak of nature. She's not like other girls. She discovers that her missing father is in Siberia and is off to try and free him.
Too popular
More than anything, Jessica wants Damon to be interested in her--but when she humiliates Ronald, who has a crush on her, she loses the respect of not only her friends, but Damon himself.
Sam
From Amazon.com: Sam shook his head. "...I realized that I wasn't the only one with my problem, and that my problem wasn't the only problem in the world. Everybody has problems that drive them crazy, and most people never solve them. I asked myself if I really thought my way of life was wrong, or if in thinking so I was merely genuflecting to the ideas of other people. For years I had pretended to myself that I would change. I admitted finally that I was a homosexual, that it wasn't a phase, and it wasn't a disease." Sam is wonderful if only for the fact that it was first published in 1959! Plot revolves around gay Sam and his best friend Addie. Sam is not the often seen gay character who is comic relief or ends up getting murdered or committing suicide. The book has wit, some snappy dialogue and some rather dark turns - there's a bathhouse scene that I'm sure would have been more than scandalous at the time. Pay special attention to the butler and the cat; they are hilarious and offer insight regarding the other players. The book reads a bit like an old black and white movie that is discovered on a sleepless night. Shiny men and women played by yesteryear's Hollywood royalty trading quips and being witty and drinking martinis; hopes and fears are revealed as we cut to the bedroom scenes. The fag/hag (yes i can say that! but i wish we could invent a better phrase) relationship is explored with gentleness and understanding. Deeper than friendship and sometimes more intimate than physical love, the bond between the gay and his gal can (and will as its nature!) be destructive to those within its bounds and those outside of it.
One 2 many
Elizabeth is annoyed at Jessica's attempts to spend more time with her.
Please forgive me
Elizabeth Wakefield is unhappy when her longtime boyfriend and the mysterious Devon fight over her, disgusted, she ditches them both.
Elizabeth is mine
Todd is going to have to work to keep Elizabeth because she is attracted to Devon.
Kiss of a Killer
Elizabeth must rescue Jessica from the spell of Jonathan Cain when she discovers his evil secret and his plan to make Jessica his forever.
Jessica's Animal Instincts
Elizabeth, Jessica and their friends volunteer at the Sweet Valley Zoo and find there is more to taking care of animals than they thought.
Freak
Gaia Moore, the girl without the fear gene, is used to being considered a freak of nature. She's not like other girls. She discovers that her missing father is in Siberia and is off to try and free him.
Elizabeth's Horseback Adventure
When Elizabeth gets thrown from her horse she is afraid of falling again, and she wants to quit riding for good.
WIN ONE FOR SANDRA (TEAM SV #2) (Team Sweet Valley)
The girls on the Sweet Valley Middle School beach volleyball team are headed for the California Games. The girls are determined to meet their coach Sandra's high expectations, but the harder everyone tries to impress her, the worse they play as a team. Can they set aside their differences to win their most crucial game?