Janet Lambert’s fifty-four novels present a much wider cast of starring characters than the “Sweet Valley” series, which revolve almost exclusively around Elizabeth and Jessica. Yet Lambert clearly developed an affection, not just for characters, but for particular families. The Parrish family, who started to appear in various extensions and permutations in 1941, appear in seventeen novels. The Jordon family stories appear in another nine, beginning in 1945. Members of these families make appearances in one another’s stories, and are eventually connected by marriage. Lambert, who published about two books a year with Dutton, interwove the writing about the families in a way similar to the connections between the fictional families themselves. If there was something a little idealistic as well as unrealistic about these big and largely happy families (Lambert had only one child), the focus on family life and characters’ growth, development, and interrelationships over time, tells us something important about Lambert’s priorities. (381)