Francine Pascal
Encyclopedia
Francine Pascal is an author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...

 best known for creating the Sweet Valley series of young adult novels. Sweet Valley High
Sweet Valley High
Sweet Valley High is a novel series created by Francine Pascal, who presided over a team of ghostwriters for the duration of the series' creation. The series began in 1983 and ceased publication twenty years later with over 152 books to its name...

was the backbone of the collection, and was made into a popular television series
Sweet Valley High (TV series)
Sweet Valley High is an American comedy-drama series based on Francine Pascal's book series of the same name. The series ran from September 5, 1994 to October 14, 1997, and was produced by Saban Entertainment...

. There were also several spin-offs, including The Unicorn Club and Sweet Valley University
Sweet Valley University
Sweet Valley University is part of the Sweet Valley High young adult book series created by Francine Pascal. The series featured twins Jessica and Elizabeth Wakefield starting college...

. Although most of these books were published in the 1980s and 1990s, they have remained popular such that several titles have been re-released in recent years.

Biography

Francine Rubin Pascal graduated from New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...

 in 1958. It was there that she first met author and journalist John Pascal
John Pascal
John Pascal was an American playwright, screenwriter, author, and journalist.-Career:His works included collaboration on the book for the Broadway musical George M!, which was also released on NBC, and on scripts for the ABC Daytime soap opera The Young Marrieds.Mr...

 and, in 1965, they were married (the second marriage for each). Francine often credited John as her writing mentor, and they collaborated on several projects, including writing scripts for the ABC soap opera The Young Marrieds
The Young Marrieds
The Young Marrieds was an American daytime soap opera which aired on ABC from October 5, 1964, to March 25, 1966.The program was created by James Elward and written by Elward with Frances Rickett. Authors John Pascal and Francine Pascal also wrote for the series. It was produced in Hollywood by...

, which aired from 1964 - 1966 as part of the ABC Daytime
ABC Daytime
ABC Daytime is a programming block on the ABC Network which has historically encompassed soap operas, game shows and talk shows.-Schedule:...

 block. John died of lung cancer
Lung cancer
Lung cancer is a disease characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. If left untreated, this growth can spread beyond the lung in a process called metastasis into nearby tissue and, eventually, into other parts of the body. Most cancers that start in lung, known as primary...

 in 1981, at 49 years old.

Francine's brother was the prolific Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...

 playwright and librettist Michael Stewart
Michael Stewart (playwright)
Michael Stewart was an American playwright and librettist.Born Michael Stuart Rubin in Manhattan, Stewart attended Queens College, and is a graduate of Yale School of Drama with a Master of Fine Arts from 1953. Michael Stewart (August 1, 1924 – September 20, 1987) was an American playwright...

, who wrote the books to such musical hits as Bye Bye Birdie and Hello, Dolly!
Hello, Dolly! (musical)
Hello, Dolly! is a musical with lyrics and music by Jerry Herman and a book by Michael Stewart, based on Thornton Wilder's 1938 farce The Merchant of Yonkers, which Wilder revised and retitled The Matchmaker in 1955....

. Francine, her husband John, and her brother Michael worked together writing the book to the Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...

 musical George M!
George M!
George M! is a Broadway musical based on the life of George M. Cohan, the biggest Broadway star of his day who was known as "The Man Who Owned Broadway." The book for the musical was written by Michael Stewart, John Pascal, and Francine Pascal. Music and lyrics were, of course, by George M...

, which ran at the Palace Theatre from 1968 - 1970. A television version of George M!
George M!
George M! is a Broadway musical based on the life of George M. Cohan, the biggest Broadway star of his day who was known as "The Man Who Owned Broadway." The book for the musical was written by Michael Stewart, John Pascal, and Francine Pascal. Music and lyrics were, of course, by George M...

was aired on NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...

 in 1970. Following his death in 1987, Pascal has revised his musical Mack & Mabel
Mack & Mabel
Mack & Mabel is a musical with a book by Michael Stewart and music and lyrics by Jerry Herman. The plot involves the tumultuous romantic relationship between Hollywood director Mack Sennett and Mabel Normand , who became one of his biggest stars...

. She has also worked on the revision of another of his musicals, Carnival!
Carnival!
Carnival is a 1961 musical with the book by Michael Stewart and music and lyrics by Bob Merrill. The musical is based on the 1953 film Lili.-Background:...

, for the Kennedy Center in Washington.

Pascal's first young adult novel, published in 1977, was called Hangin' Out with Cici, in which her heroine, Victoria Martin, went back in time and met her mother as a teenager. It was televised as an ABC Afterschool Special
ABC Afterschool Special
The ABC Afterschool Special is an American television anthology series that aired on ABC from 1972 to 1996, usually in the late afternoon on week days. Most of the episodes were dramatic presentations of situations, often controversial, of interest to children and teenagers. Several episodes were...

, My Mother Was Never a Kid
My Mother Was Never a Kid
My Mother Was Never a Kid is an American television teen fantasy/comedy/drama that aired as a ABC Afterschool Special on March 16, 1981. It was based on the 1977 Francine Pascal novel Hangin' With CiCi, which in turn was the first teen novel in the "Victoria Martin" trilogy series...

. She has written two other Victoria Martin books: My First Love and Other Disasters, and Love and Betrayal & Hold the Mayo. Another of her early novels, The Hand-Me-Down Kid, was also made into an ABC After-School Special.

More recent works include the Caitlin series, a set of three trilogies which follows a teenage girl into adulthood, as well as a second mass-market project, the young adult fantasy spy series Fearless
Fearless (book series)
Fearless is a series of teen novels written by Francine Pascal, creator of the Sweet Valley High franchise. The series deals with many different themes, such as violence, romance, philosophy and solitude...

and its spin-off Fearless: FBI. A TV series was also planned for Fearless, but for several reasons it never aired.

The Ruling Class
The Ruling Class (novel)
-Plot introduction:When a new girl moves to Highland Park High School, she encounters a difficult clique and dramatic situations.-Plot summary:The book centers around a 16-year old girl, Twyla Gay Stark, from the poor side of town. She soon transfers to a new town and a new school in a wealthy...

, a teen novel about a clique of spectacularly cruel girls who essentially run a high school in a wealthy Dallas suburb, has been described as "a magnetic tour de force created by a master storyteller at the top of her form."

In addition to her work for mostly female teens, Francine has written some adult fiction books, including La Villa (originally published as If Wishes Were Horses) and Save Johanna!, as well as a non-fiction book, The Strange Case of Patty Hearst, which she wrote with her husband John.

Personal life

John and Francine Pascal lived in Manhattan with Francine's three daughters from her first marriage: Jamie, Laurie, and Susan. (John had a son from his first marriage, Matthew, who lived with his mother.) After John died, Francine and her daughters remained in Manhattan, and Francine has often said that much of the inspiration for her young adult novels came from watching her own three daughters grow up.

On February 22, 2008, Francine's oldest daughter Jamie died after a two-year battle with liver disease.

Francine now divides her time between homes in New York and the south of France. She maintains a rigorous professional schedule, but spends as much time as she can with her children and grandchildren. Since John died, she has never remarried. Her daughter Susan now lives in Shanghai, with her daughter Nicole.

External links

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