Destiny Ink: Sleepover Surprise

Adeola Sokunbi's Destiny Ink: Sleepover Surprise is a warm, funny story for 5 year olds about first sleepover nerves.

What happens

Destiny is off to her very first sleepover tomorrow. Even better, she and her best friend Olivia are going to sleep in a tent in Olivia's garden!

But her tummy feels funny. It's like there are butterflies having a party in there. It's definitely not because she's nervous about the dark (it's because of the swings, obviously).

So she comes up with a plan. Her dad always says practice makes perfect, so she turns her bedroom into a campsite, with a tent made from the clothes horse and a spotty sheet. Fuzzy, her hamster, gets his own little tent made out of a book.

Then, in the middle of the night, something starts snuffling inside it. Who could it be? It's Trog, a small monster with three eyes and a pet ball of fluff called Furbs. And he's even more scared than she is!

So Destiny shows him what a sleepover is. There's a midnight feast (Trog eats a raw onion), a trip into the moonlit garden, a dressing-gown fashion show and stories in the tent.

Destiny tells the story herself, and she's lovely company. She's very proud that she's learned to raise one eyebrow. She calls good things Inktastic. And she pretends to be braver than she feels, which is so true to life.

What's really nice is that she gets braver by looking after somebody else. Helping Trog feel less frightened helps her too, and by the morning she can't wait for the real thing.

There are some lovely little details as well. Her dad helps her tie her silk scarf to protect her curls at night, and she worries whether Olivia's mum will know how. It's so nice to see that in a book for this age.

If your child has a first night away coming up, this is a gentle way into a chat about it. Nothing in it is scary, not even the monster.

What to read next

And if they'd like another story about being frightened of the dark, The Owl Who Was Afraid of the Dark is a classic. Plop is a baby barn owl who'd much rather be a day bird, so his mother sends him out to find out what the dark is really like.