Francine Pascal, as former soap opera scriptwriter from Queens who conjured up an entire literary universe in her long-running and best-selling ”Sweet Valley High” series of young-adult novels, died on July 28 in Manhattan. She was 92.

Within a few years of its debut in 1982, “Sweet Valley High” had taken over the young-adult book market. In January 1986, 18 out of the top 20 books on the young-adult best-sellers list were “Sweet Valley High” titles. Altogether, the “Sweet Valley High” series has sold more than 200 million copies.

Although some critics panned her books’ utopian settings and fanciful plots, Ms. Pascal was unapologetic. “These books have uncovered a whole population of young girls who were never reading,” she told People magazine. “I don’t know that they’re all going to go on to War and Peace, but we have created readers out of nonreaders. If they go on to Harlequin romances, so what? They’re going to read.”