HAUNTED HOUSE(SVT 3) (Sweet Valley Twins) Paperback – September 1, 1986

One of my favorites. Great book!

I loved this series when I was young and thought my bookworm daughter might too. She is totally hooked and always gets excited to start a new one.

Synopsis: It's close to Halloween and the Wakefield Twins notice a strange looking girl walk into the Mercandy House, a house rumored to be occupied by a crazy witch who locks her husband in the attic. After a few days, the same girl joins Sweet Valley Middle School and introduces herself as Nora Mercandy. Elizabeth volunteers to show her around, convinced that she is just a shy girl and that nothing is wrong with her. However, the Unicorn Club, headed by Lila Fowler, is convinced that Nora is a witch, and makes every attempt to humiliate her in every occasion. Things really start going out of control when Nora beats Lila at tennis, and Lila makes sure that Nora pays for beating her. Will Elizabeth be able to help Nora? Or is Lila right after all about the rumors of the Mercandy House being true?Review: I found this book really interesting, because I was wondering what the reason was for the Mercandy's not leaving the house for over 10 years. I felt sorry for Nora being the butt of jokes and getting humiliated over and over again. I also liked the fact that Jessica wasn't as annoying in this book as she usually is in others.However, I thought the ending to this story was too abrupt, as Lila did not pay for her behavior at all. She was completely rude and unforgivable in her behavior to Nora, and she doesn't even bother to apologize to her in the end of the book, which I found very frustrating. Also, it seemed like around 80 pages of the book just revolved around Lila picking on Nora, and the last 10 pages was rushed by explaining Nora's history and the reason for the strange happenings in the house. It would have been better if the author spread out the ending for a few more pages, and gave a fair punishment to Lila as well.Overall, other than the ending, I enjoyed reading this book.

This story was about how Nora, the protagonist, had to adjust to situations she faced at her new school, despite the all difficulties she met. The narrative was set around the time of Halloween, in the 1980s, but I believe this story could happen at any school, and at anytime.The main characters are, Nora, Elizabeth, Jessica, Lila and Amy. Elizabeth and Amy were the ones helped Nora a lot by being her friends. Jessica, Elizabeth's twin sister, belonged to the "Unicorn Club", which made Nora hate going to school, because of the Club girls' cruelty. Lila was the cruelest girl in the Club and its leader. Lila caused Nora a lot of trouble, such as the time when Lila accused Nora of stealing her expensive pen when Nora had actually won the pen fairly by winning a tennis game in gym class.When Nora's mother died, she had to move from Pennsylvania to Sweet Valley to live with her grandparents. Nora's new school was Sweet Valley Middle School. One of the reasons that the Unicorns were being mean to Nora, was the rumor that her grandparents were zombies and that Nora was a witch. Yet, the basic reason that the Unicorn Club girls didn't like Nora was that instead of getting to know her, they just believed the rumors. Despite her difficulties, the one way she did adjust to her new school was by accepting her new friend Elizabeth's help. Elizabeth helped Nora a great deal by being her friend, and trying to help her fit in; for example, she warned Nora not to trust Lila.I really liked reading this story, I enjoyed thinking about what I would have done in Nora's place. I was also interested to see the development of Nora and Elizabeth's friendship. The first time I read this book, I thought Nora was unlucky. On the other hand, I also thought she was fortunate to meet such a good friend like Elizabeth who could help her solve her problems. Also, I felt glad that Lila, who had been so mean to Nora, eventually apologized and promised not to be mean anymore.I believe this story could be useful to students who may see this kind of bullying in their school lives. I would recommend this book to my Canadian friends, but mostly to my Korean friends, because it was hard to find such an amusing English-language book, when I was in Korea, so I'm sure my Korean friends would like it. I really love the ending of the story which shows us that in the future, the Unicorn Club could help newcomers feel welcomed instead of excluded.

There are two closely intertwined themes in this volume. The main theme is bullying, although the theme of prejudice also is noticeable.The Mercady's home is one that is feared by the students. They think that the old woman living there is a witch. One day a new girl, Nora, shows up and moves into the house. The students at school are very, very cold to her, assuming she is a witch.The main problem arises when the Unicorns, and especially Lila, decide to start bullying Nora and things get quite bad for the girl. Elizabeth has a plan to help but it backfires. Then things get worse when a group of boys plans to vandalize the house. Elizabeth takes action again and, this time, things work out. The students find out about the people who actually live in the house and end up getting pleasantly surprised.

Caroline Pearce,The biggest gossip in Sweet Valley says that Nora Mercandy is a witch and Janet Howell's cat died because of her,but it was just an old cat.Lila Fowler and Those Unicorns are just snobs,execpt Mary Wallace,and Jessica sometimes. and Ellen Riteman.They find out on Halloween that Nora's grandpa was a magician a retired magician,and Nora is learning his tricks,they give a magic show,since they have no candy to give them.

Bought for a friend who had the set as a child and wanted them again, she is enjoying them all :)