Against the Rules (Sweet Valley Twins)

Rating:
Summary: Poverty and Prejudice
Review: Against the Rules is a rare and refreshing story in the Sweet Valley Twins series for a number of reasons, not the least of which is Elizabeth's friendship for Sophia Rizzo. More interesting, perhaps, is the insight readers gain into the Wakefield family by comparison and contrast to Sophia's own broken home made up of an absent father, an Italian mother who is unable to speak fluent English, a delinquent older brother, and a sensitive and talented young girl who tries her best to keep her family from further falling apart.

In Sweet Valley, a number of seemingly perfect families exist, but it is the Wakefields who are neatly, snugly, the ultimate caricature of tranquil and sheltered suburbia. Tall, dark, athletic Ned Wakefield is a lawyer, imbued with wisdom, discretion and a sense of humour: the ideal husband and father. Alice Wakefield, blonde, svelte and elegant is the successful combination of a working woman and a happy wife and mother. Steven, Elizabeth and Jessica all live the ideal teenager's existence in which the worst dilemmas are readily solved by parental love and discipline, and soothed by the daily rhythms of life in a street typified by manicured lawns and contented stomachs. Cutting across the grain is the Rizzo family home, located near a grimy factory, and close to being dilapidated, though kept scrupulously clean and tidy. Out of this household, readers discover the gentleness and sorrow of Sophia for her runaway father and her equally lost brother, Tony. And out of her acquaintance with and sympathy for this impoverished family, readers also discover a heart able to see past her own comfort and convenience for a friend in need - a heart hidden snugly within Elizabeth Wakefield.

Elizabeth's keen insight into her own family's prejudices against the Rizzos - her indignation and disappointment - not just at her family, but also at herself, for the shame and fear she is unable to repress about Tony - is a startling revelation to readers. Those who know and love the character of Elizabeth Wakefield are also familiar with her high sense of justice and compassion for the less fortunate: we expect Elizabeth to care about those whom Jessica would never trouble herself to reach. What readers do not expect is a peeling back of surfaces and a whitewashing of masks when the Wakefields encounter Sophia in the flesh and the reality of her family life - an extraordinary situation in which Ned and Alice Wakefield are helped by Elizabeth to understand the ugliness and unfairness of their prejudices against a girl punished for her parents' mistakes. Mostly cast as authority figures, Ned and Alice surprise readers by willingly breaking their own rules to honour Elizabeth's friendship with Sophia, and in doing so they show much more tractability than their usual cardboard-cutout responses and reactions. Perhaps Ned and Alice also understood how much their decision to forbid this friendship compromised Elizabeth's integrity - how they, too, however inadvertently, had been punishing Elizabeth for their own prejudices.

Steven Wakefield is also used by the author, Jamie Suzanne, to demonstrate the very real consequences of prejudice and narrow-mindedness: the pain that Tony inflicts upon Steven is only a shadow of the pain this boy feels in his heart in the wake of his father's abandonment. Readers are counseled to sympathize with Tony's problems, not his crimes - and it is this very distinction that Ned, Alice and Steven learn from Elizabeth's shining example.


Rating:
Summary: A great story of friendship!
Review: I really enjoyed this book. It teaches us never to judge people, even though they come from bad backgrounds. Elizabeth Wakefield meets Sophia Rizzo, a girl with a violent stealing brother, and a father in jail. The whole town warns Elizabeth to stay away from the Rizzo family. But Elizabeth doesn't listen, and she helps Sophia in her time of need. I thought Elizabeth really stood up for her beliefs by throwing Sophia a surprise party. It really meant a lot to Sophia, and showed that being kind can mean a whole lot. This book is great and I recommend it!

Rating:
Summary: ok...
Review: it wasn't that bad... infact, pretty good... i mean...it's just a typical sweet valley book...

Rating:
Summary: well-worn
Review: This is one of the first 2 books that i got in this series when i was a little girl,and was hooked!It is about a girl who is an outcast at svms and only Elizabeth will befriend her.

Rating:
Summary: Prejudice because of Poverty and Brother's bad rep
Review: When Sophia Rizzo brings in articals to the school newspaper[The Sweet Valley Sixers],Elizabeth and Amy hang around her alot. She is a good reporter at the school newspaper,sweet and kind. Kids don't like her because after her father left,her older brother,Tony Rizzo stole VCRs cars,got into fights,you name it. He has a bad rep.The family is poor,but Elizabeth and Amy don't mind.Jessica,does mind. The Unicorns are stuck-up,not Ellen,Mary and Jessica. Elizabeth and Sophia produce their own play,about a family a father,mother,2 sisters,and a brother. Steven got into a fight with Tony. When Jessica goes to NY to see Stomp! in Elizabeth's place,she throws a birthday party,because Sophia never had one before. Then The parents come home,the same parents who told Elizabeth,Jessica and Steven to stay away from the Rizzos.