Even though we already HAD a Christmas in Sweet Valley Twins' sixth grade (Super Chiller #1, which had 3 Christmas ghosts a la Dickens), we're having another one because this one is MAGIC. I wrote and drew in this book, like allllll my other SVT books. I will have scans of some pages of Copy 2 (yes, I defaced the book so much, I had to start a new copy... well I didn't HAVE to, but that's how I roll) added to this post at some point later.Anyway. This one is the first MAGNA edition, which means more pages to read and delight or whatever. The Magna editions were all Christmas stories (except #100 which was technically also a Super Chiller), so there were two more Christmases after this, each plagiarizing a well-known movie ("It's a Wonderful Life" and "BIG," if ya wanna know).
In The Magic Christmas, the twins' grandparents give them each a (creepy) antique porcelain harlequin doll, which both turn out to be magic. Dolls are *really* princes of a magical land, under a curse. So the twins solve the riddle and follow them headlong to magic-land, to have their own magical adventure (and this was way before Harry Potter, so it was just a general fantasy pastiche). And the grandparents were in on this. They knew about the riddle and the curse. They were shopping for Christmas presents and thought, "Hey, let's give our granddaughters those HAUNTED antique dolls and plunge them into a dangerous adventure in a magical fantasy land." "OK." I mean, it's possible they thought the twins were too stupid to solve the magic riddle that opened the portal and turned the dolls back into princes. But, the twins had magical help from their riddle-solving dreams, aka plot device. (If they hadn't solved the riddle, they'd just go back to being mad at each other about their respective Christmas presents, without a handy Magical Land to make up in, and there'd be no plot).
And naturally, even when threatened with monsters and non-sexy evil sorcerers (evil sorcerers should always be sexy, but in a book for twelve-year-olds, he was just old and smelly with a long-ass beard; BOO), the twins, with the aid of their magical princes, managed to survive and not get magically maimed/ eaten by a bludrat/ devoured by a serpasaur.
Yeah, the author made up new names for magical beasts. Should've been clever, but I'm so over it. The mermaids were called "mermanons" and had scales up to their shoulders, because bare boobs were too risque, I guess. (I hated that kind of mermaid as a child. I thought Disney's "The Little Mermaid" and its seashell bras were Gospel). The basilisk was a serpasaur, etc. Except the unicorns were still called unicorns. WHUT. When I read this the first time at age twelve, I was like, how come they aren't called something weird, too, like "unithorins"? Answer: who knows. Or the writer got tired of making up shit.
Another thing: The princes have the same exact personalities as the twins, but the boy version. Dorin is thoughtful and considerate, and will make a good king. Adair is reckless and just wants to party/ go to war/ be a rash and thoughtless ruler. *BUT* each twin is paired with her opposite in personality. (For those keeping score at home: Jessica is paired with Dorin and Elizabeth with Adair. because the twins are separated for most of this adventure, each blindly following their doll-turned-prince into who-knows-what.) These pairings are because the author assumed that 12-year-olds would subscribe to the "opposites attract" deal, not having taken Psych 101 yet, to learn about The Matching Hypothesis. Yes, there's romance at 12. The twins each get a crush on their respective prince, but then they go back to Sweet Valley after the kingdom is saved and forget all about them. They are given the choice to stay in "The Hidden Kingdom" but choose to go back to dumb old Sweet Valley, of course. Even though the Hidden Kingdom has MAGIC. I would have stayed and gotten fat and lazy on magic, y'all. All the cool clothing and books I could conjure. (I am both twins, because I like both fashion and reading). OK not really.
Anyway, the main reason for mentioning this book on this blog is because it was the only SVT book with a real fantasy sequence. Like, it wasn't a (dumb/implausible) dream like Elizabeth's in The Class Trip. So, therefore, I could have my witch character Piper come visit Sweet Valley and wreak havoc and it wouldn't be much of a stretch. Keep this in mind when you read Book 1, The Babysitter.
(I couldn't have a sexy evil sorcerer, because in a book for middle schoolers, that isn't allowed.)
