Book: Lois Strikes Back (Sweet Valley Twins book #38) created by Francine Pascal and story written by Jamie Suzanne
Cover Art by James Mathewuse
Edition: Paperback
Description:
Winner takes all...
Lois Waller has always been too shy about being overweight to join in school activities. When the Sweet Valley PTA decides to have a bike-a-thon, Lois finds the courage to ride. It's a chance for her to win a brand-new mountain bike—and it's the perfect opportunity to put snooby Bruce Patman in his place.
Everyone at Sweet Valley Middle School knows how much Bruce bullies Lois. Although Jessica Wakefield thinks that anything Bruce does is perfect, her twin sister Elizabeth disagrees and is on Lois's side. Elizabeth thinks Lois has a good shot at winning. But she doesn't know how far Bruce Patman will go to see Lois lose!
Rating: 5 stars
Review:
Lois Strikes Back was a good read. After an announcement that the Sweet Valley PTA was having a 30 mile bike-a-thon where all the money raised would go to the Sweet Valley Middle School's library to purchase new equipment. Many of the students including sixth-graders Elizabeth and Jessica Wakefield and Lois Waller were interested in participating especially since the student who raised the most money would win a new bike. Despite the upcoming fun activity, being at school was no fun for Lois Waller. Lois is smart, kind and thoughtful but unfortunately is always being bullied by seventh-grader Bruce Patman. Bruce is rich, popular and a bully. He is used to getting his way and seems to enjoy constantly bullying Lois because of her weight.
While Elizabeth and Jessica were having a little difficulty finding enough sponsors, Lois ended up getting the most which would have added up to a good amount of fundraiser money. Not liking that Lois was getting a lot of attention and that she could possibly win, Bruce signed up for the bike-a-thon and easily secured the winning pledge money from his parents. In order to win the bike, it depended on how many pledges the students got by the miles they rode or the completion of the bike-a-thon.
A few days before the race, Jessica was having second thoughts about competing especially since her friend Lila Fowler got an advanced copy of singer Johnny Buck's new album. After Lila invited Jessica and other kids to the listening party, Jessica really lost interest in wanting to be in the bike-a-thon. Meanwhile, Elizabeth who worked on the sixth-grade class newspaper, The Sweet Valley Sixers, which she had helped create, was working with other students including her friend Amy Sutton on the paper to write various articles about the bike-a-thon.
Over the weekend, the bike-a-thon would bring many surprises some expected like Jessica trying to get out of going to unexpected such as who won. Although at school Bruce made it known that he had won but Elizabeth had her doubts. Because despite several Sixers student journalists who were not only in the bike-a-thon but also the ones there covering the event, no one really seemed to have seen Bruce at the finish line despite his claim of winning. Lois may have only rode for 22 miles but with all her pledges she would be the winner if Bruce had not won. But did he win?
That's what Elizabeth was wondering and the more she (as well as her friend Amy) looked into it, the more inconsistencies and questions she found. Trying to find evidence was difficult enough but now she had to deal with her twin sister Jessica who believes Bruce won the race. Jessica was so sure, she bet Elizabeth that whoever lost would do both set of chores for a week. With only a few days to solve this mystery, can Elizabeth prove Bruce didn't win?
This turned out to be an interesting and well-written read as well as an unexpected mystery. I find the contrast in the twins, Elizabeth and Jessica to be intriguing. Because Elizabeth is studious, practical, upright and kind meanwhile Jessica is rude, lazy, self-centered and only cares about being popular. I like that the story also focused on Lois because she was nice, quiet, organized and determine. However, she had to deal with being bullied by Bruce. Bruce is the typical self-centered jerk who enjoys picking on others especially those who appear vulnerable or weak. Every harassing comment about and towards Lois was about her weight or what she was eating for lunch. What I like is that she did start to gain more confidence as the story went on and she stopped letting Bruce's comments affect her.
I only have two issues with this book first is the cover, because if Lois Waller is supposed to be overweight why wasn't that shown on the cover. It's a good thing to show different body types especially on the covers of middle grade books. I don't know how well that idea would have gone over in the 90s when this book was published but I wish it had happened. My second issue, is really not an issue but since I really enjoyed reading this book and with the way it ended, I would like to read the next one. However, my issue is that this book series is out of print. And since I either bought this old book from a library book sale or from a thrift store, I'm going to have to try finding the next book and hopefully for a reasonable price. This is the second Sweet Valley book I have read and I want to read more.
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