Time elapsed in this book: 3 weeks
Length of their junior year: 3 years, 2 months
Jessica’s love interest: A.J. Morgan
Entertainment rating: 6/10
It’s the 5th anniversary of Sweet Valley High, according to the gold seal on the cover! I’m a little disappointed this wasn’t a better book for being such a milestone. You already know what to expect from Liz’s patented shoulder pat on the cover: she’s about to help a side character (Jade Wu, in this case) with a problem. The subplot is Wakefield-centric but mostly features (sigh) Mr. Wakefield.
There’s a music and dance show coming up at Sweet Valley High, and everyone’s talking about who might get the big dance solo. Amy desperately wants the role; Jess doesn’t think Amy is talented enough but also (surprisingly) isn’t interested in the part herself.
Elsewhere in the school cafeteria, Jade Wu is talking about the show with her best friend, Melanie Forman (a character with zero personality or development past “Jade’s best friend”). Jade wants to be a professional dancer but knows her dad will never allow her to audition because he was born in China and thinks dancing in public is shameful. I’m not sure why this is the portrayed as being some kind of Chinese cultural thing (a quick online search tells me it’s not). I guess this was written before the internet and they were like, “Footloose but make it Chinese.” At home, Jade tells her parents about the show; sure enough, her dad doesn’t want Jade to dance in front of people.
At the Wakefield house, Mr. Wakefield gets an invitation to his 25th high school reunion. He feels old. I’m the same age as Ned Wakefield?!?? I’m not sure whether to feel old or whether to feel like I have my life together because I’m not a dingbat and know more about the law despite never having gone to law school. This guy. I don’t relate to him at all. The twins decide to use classic Wakefield reverse psychology to help him get over feeling old by dragging him to all sorts of entertainment so he’ll decide he likes being middle aged (I’m middle aged?!??).
Jade’s history class is learning about China. Mr. Jaworski asks Jade if her family practices any Chinese customs. Jade does not want to be seen as Chinese, so she tells him that there’s nothing Chinese about her family and that they don’t run a laundry. In reality, Jade’s grandparents do run a laundry and she’s ashamed of their profession. When I read this as a kid, I was confused because I didn’t understand what running a laundry had to do with being Chinese.
David Prentiss, who’s in charge of set design for the show, talks to Jade after class. He seems disappointed that Jade’s family doesn’t keep up any Chinese traditions at home. Jade really likes him and doesn’t want him to think she’s restricted by any cultural values. She’s impressed how open he is about his own family: he and his siblings all help out at home because his single mom is a housekeeper and money is tight. David encourages Jade to try out for the solo dance part and says he knows she’ll get it even though he’s never seen her dance. Jade decides to audition after all.
The auditions occur. Jade’s dancing is flawless! Cara gets a callback alongside Jade. Amy does not get a callback after a disastrous audition in which she can’t follow basic instructions and then makes excuses for why she bombed. Amy being a bad dancer makes no sense since she’s been on the cheer team for forever, but continuity is not Sweet Valley’s strong suit. David invites Jade out to the Dairi Burger but she turns him down because her dad forbids her to date.
The cast list is posted. Jade got the lead! Amy is pissed and can’t believe she lost out to a sophomore. Jade tells her parents. Her dad says she absolutely cannot participate! Jade talks to her mom later and Mrs. Wu says she’ll try to sway Jade’s dad but that Jade will need to drop out if he isn’t convinced.
Mr. Wakefield buys himself an exercise bike. Mrs. Wakefield signs him up for a marathon club so he can start training for a run. Apparently he’s so old that exercising is supposed to exhaust him. (Is this how I’m supposed to feel every time I work out?!?). Jess invites her dad to the Beach Disco, claiming that A.J. is busy and can’t go with her so she wants him to be her date instead. This is SO WEIRD. He goes (which might be even weirder than the invite!) and finds the music awful and the entire place too loud.
David unveils the poster for the show, which features Jade in front of a chorus line. He tells Jade he wants to use this as the backdrop for her solo. He invites her out to dinner after rehearsals but she has to turn him down.
The cast is told that Mr. Wicker, who heads a prestigious dance group in Los Angeles, will be at the show and might offer a summer internship to one of the dancers! David tells Jade that he thinks this internship is hers and asks her out again. Jade turns him down. David asks if she’s embarrassed by his family’s background. He doesn’t believe her when she says no, so Jade decides to tell him her own secret: her grandparents run a laundry. David doesn’t understand what’s shameful about this (neither do I) and says her grandparents have done a lot for her, including paying for her dance lessons. Moreover, he doesn’t know what any of this has to do with Jade turning him down. He walks away. Jade thinks that maybe she should have just told him the truth about her dad forbidding her from dating.
Amy goes to the laundromat, where she sees a poster advertising the dance show. The owner of the place tells Amy that her granddaughter is the girl on the poster. Amy is delighted at this and can’t wait to tell everyone that Jade is no star; she’s the granddaughter of people who own a laundry!
On Monday, Amy tells everyone Jade’s family runs a laundry. Jade assumes David must have shared her secret, so she chews him out. David says he didn’t tell anyone but that she needs to accept who she is. He doesn’t want anything to do with the show anymore and destroys the set he made for her dance!
Jade tells her mom that people from school found out about the laundry and that she feels like a stereotype. Mrs. Wu can’t believe that Jade was embarrassed and tells Jade that she should be ashamed of her attitude, not her grandparents. Amen to that!!!
Liz decides it’s time to intervene!! She calls Jade to see how she’s balancing the show and schoolwork and asks if she knows why David stormed off. As if any of this is any of Liz’s business. Jade tells Liz that David shared a secret of hers, and Liz informs her that everyone found out because Amy was at the laundry. Jade realizes that she’s treated people horribly and that she shouldn’t be embarrassed. She tells this to her mom, who’s glad to hear her change of heart and says she’ll keep trying to get Jade’s dad to allow her to dance in the show.
Jade tries to talk to David, but he gives her the cold shoulder. Jade feels miserable until Liz comes up to her to ask how things are going. Jade confides all to Saint Elizabeth. Liz says she’ll talk to David on Jade’s behalf and gives Jade a pep talk about being proud of her heritage. Liz then finds David and tells him Jade’s perspective.
Dr. Wu tells Jade she can perform in the show but that he won’t attend because he doesn’t believe in the American value of dancing in front of people.
The night of the show arrives! Jade isn’t sure her heart is in it… but then David appears with the set for her piece. He remade it!! Then she looks in the audience… and her dad is there! Her heart soars! She dances like never before! Even her dad is proud and compliments her afterward. David introduces himself to Jade’s parents and asks her dad’s permission to take Jade out on a date. Dr. Wu says he didn’t know that American boys were this polite and gives his blessing.
Mr. Wicker approaches and tells Jade the summer dance internship is hers! The only catch is that he wants Jade to change her last name from Wu to Warren. Jade asks if he’s saying she should have a less ethnic name (go Jade for calling him out!). He looks uncomfortable and says he’s fine with the name Wu (sure) but that the woman sponsoring the internship might not be. Jade says if she has to change who she is, she’s not interested.
Jade and David finally go out on their date. They end the date with a kiss!
Mr. Wakefield says he realizes what his family is trying to do and that he’s exhausted from all the exercise and parties. He’s okay being middle aged after all!
Sweet Valley isn’t great with “issue” books, but at least they tried. Overall, a decent message about accepting yourself and your family.
Up next: Why does Ronnie Edwards suddenly seem to have money?!