First Place

by Jamie Suzanne and Francine Pascal

Book Overview

Some people have all the luck... Lila Fowler, the snobbiest girl in Sweet Valley Middle School, has gotten her own beautiful horse--and she doesn't seem to care. Elizabeth Wakefield thinks it's not... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0553156624
• ISBN13: 9780553156621
• Release Date: May 1987
• Publisher: Sweet Valley
• Length: 106 Pages
• Weight: 0.24 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 5.2" x 7.7"
• Age Range: 9 to 12 years
• Grade Range: Grades 4 to 7

Customer Reviews

Will Elizabeth risk everything for a horse?

Synopsis: Lila Fowler's father just bought her a new horse recently, and she is already bored with him. Elizabeth loves horses and feels slightly jealous because Lila has one and doesn't even appreciate it. Lila suggests Elizabeth spend some time with Thunder, her horse, in return for Elizabeth writing an article about Thunder in the Sixers. At first, Elizabeth is offended that Lila just wants her name in the paper, but later agrees to the idea. At first sight, Elizabeth falls in love with Thunder. Even though Elizabeth cannot stand Lila, they start spending time together. Lila invites Elizabeth to help her with her homework. Elizabeth even agrees to take care of Thunder on a daily basis, just to be close to him. Later, Elizabeth and Jessica meet Ted, the stable boy at Carson Stables (where Thunder is kept), and Jessica gets a crush on him. However, Ted seems to be more interested in watching Elizabeth ride Thunder. Jessica is furious at Elizabeth for stealing Lila and her would be boyfriend Ted. To make matters worse, Lila invites Elizabeth to her slumber party, that for most of the time, only Unicorn members are invited to. At the slumber party, Elizabeth accidentally mentions Amy and Ken kissing at Julie Porter's party. On top of all this, Elizabeth decides to enter the beginner's round of the owner's competition by pretending to be Thunder's owner, feeling that if she won, she could give the prize money to Lila. At the last minute, things backfire for Elizabeth. Amy finds out about Elizabeth revealing her secret and tells Lila about the competition. Lila goes to stop the competition. Will Elizabeth be able to ride Thunder without losing all her friends? Review: This was a fun book to read. I enjoyed the relationship between Elizabeth and Lila, and kept wondering how far Liz would go to be on Lila's good side, just to ride Thunder. Some parts were hilarious, like when the Unicorns refer to Amy as `hot lips Sutton' for kissing Ken Matthews. The author also gives detailed description about the horse and the stables in general. For someone who doesn't know much about these things, I found it interesting to learn about the time and energy it took to take care of a horse. The book also ends well by giving a fair punishment for Elizabeth for deceiving others. Lila is her usual self, but I found her bearable in this book because she wasn't trying her best to bring someone else down.

Lila Fowler Gets a horse of her own

Lila Fowler,the richest,and snobbiest girl in Sweet Valley has a horse of her own,Thunder.She doesn't care about it at all.Elizabeth loves and cares about horses,so she desides to be friends with Lila. Jessica thinks that Elizabeth is stealing her best friend away from her. Everyday,she pets,and takes care of that horse.Elizabeth is entered in a horse competition. She decided to compete. One night at the sleepover at Lila's,Elizabeth accidentally tells the Unicorns Amy Sutton kissed Ken Matthews[I think] The Unicorns told her. Elizabeth drops out of the competition and gives it to Ted Rogers,Carson Stables's new Owner.

How far would you go to be first place?

I always enjoy the Sweet Valley Twins books. In this story, Elizabeth discovers her love of horses. Snobby Lila Fowler receives a horse for a gift, and Elizabeth would do anything to ride it. She tries to befriend Lila, and visits the stables every day. But her false friendship can't last, and Elizabeth must prove true to herself. I agree with the previous two reviewers that the horse sequences weren't too realistic, but that didn't bother me too much.

This book is enjoyable, but needs a little work

I loved this book the first time I read it (being a horse lover myself) and I bought it soon after. I liked many of the parts, but I think that the horse scenes need a little work. For example, how is it that Elizabeth can canter after one lesson? Also, although a rider can learn a lot in one month, if Elizabeth was the star at Carson, who was she compared to?? Altogether, it was a good book and I think we need more horse oriented stories by Francine Pascal.

Sweet Valley Twins is da bomb!

This series is just wonderful! Maybe I think that because I'm a twin myself and it "speaks" to me more."First Place" was especially good. Elizabeth is in a real quandary over this horse because his owner is her worst enemy! I though the storyline went well. HOWEVER people who are more knowledgeable about horses than the average Jane will cringe at a few of the scenes, especially the show. I felt the author did not do enough research on the horse show world.