Review: "Trapped in Toyland" by Molly Mia Stewart (created by Francine Pascal)

 

Trapped in Toyland by Molly Mia Stewart (created by Francine Pascal)
First published 1994
★★★★

I've been rereading a few of the Sweet Valley books, and the description of this one triggered something in my memory, so I thought I'd add it to the pile. In Trapped in Toyland, Elizabeth and Jessica go to the fancy new department store with their parents, eager to spend their collected $15.63 on a Christmas gift for their mother. (Their father and brother get a construction-paper photo frame and a handwritten story, respectively.) Now, if this were one of the SV Twins or SV High books, it seems likely that Jessica would end up spending all the money before they could buy a gift...but instead, because this is a SV Kids book* and Jessica still has some feelings for other people, she's eager and (mostly) focused on finding a gift for their mother. But shenanigans happen, and the girls find themselves locked in the department store overnight...without their purse full of money, but with everything else at their disposal—and with a rather aggressive burglar.

On the whole, this is just adorable. It makes for great wish fulfillment (who hasn't wanted to be locked in somewhere overnight? A toy store, a bookstore, a furniture store with huge floofy beds...), and I love Elizabeth and Jessica's blend of responsibility and kid-ness: when they eat ice cream from the food court (because, naturally, all they have to do is walk behind the counter and open a freezer to access all the junk food they could ever want), they make sure to clean up after themselves...but Elizabeth is readily talked into trying on fancy dresses and makeup (I remember being jealous of the sequined dress Elizabeth tries on), and it's goody-two-shoes Elizabeth who suggests a race in the toy cars. (Older Elizabeth would never.) They create a fair amount of gleeful, well-intentioned kid chaos, and the book is better for it.

There are many, many, many things about the plot that make no sense, or at least make no sense in the 2020s—the Wakefields let their seven-year-old twins wander the eight-story department store with only their brother (who is roughly nine) to provide any kind of supervision; there's no search of the mall when the Wakefields can't find their daughters; there's no accountability from the Wakefields for letting their small children wander around unsupervised; the girls are able to access everything in the department store without minor concerns like keys; they make all sorts of noise without the burglar noticing; they call 911 multiple times and are laughed at; the burglar bothers to steal a second-grader's purse while preparing for his much bigger heist; literally almost everything about the burglar; and on and on it goes. But it's a book for kids and written in the 90s, and what can you do?

*Note that even in the SV Kids books Jessica is not above spending money that isn't hers or cheating to win.