Eva’s Big Sleepover

Rebecca Elliott's Eva's Big Sleepover is a funny, warm diary story for 5 year olds about a little owl whose birthday party comes with one big problem.

What happens

Eva Wingdale's hatchday (that's an owl birthday) is on Saturday. Mum says yes to a sleepover party, so Eva invites the whole class. Even Sue.

Sue isn't Eva's favourite owl. Eva brings the actual eggshell she hatched from to show-and-tell, and Sue says she must have been a REALLY big chick. Eva would quite like to leave her off the list. Mum points out that if she doesn't invite Sue, Eva will be the mean one.

So off she goes to invite her. On the way she tells Lucy, a bit too loudly, that she wishes she didn't have to. Sue is standing right behind them. When Sue says she's busy on Saturday, Eva feels AWFUL. Who hasn't said something and wished they could grab it back out of the air?

That's only the start. Sue will come to the party but she won't stay the night, and she won't say why. Eva's friends form a party-planning club and even hatch a secret plan (Operation Sue) to get to the bottom of it. How Eva works it out is lovely, and I won't give it away.

As it's Eva's diary, you get all her thoughts as they happen. She's giddy about ice cream and pillow fights one minute and fretting about Sue the next. There's a brilliant bit where she decides that being mean about the meany makes YOU the meany, with a mugshot to prove it.

For a child reading on their own it's very manageable. There's a picture on every page, and the words sit on lined diary paper or in speech bubbles. Eva's made-up owl words, like OWLSOME and SWOOPER-DUPER, pop out in big blue capitals. The entries run from one Sunday to the next, so it's easy to stop and start (or gobble up in one go).

If you've got a reader with a party or a first sleepover coming up, this could be a very handy one. It's gentle about saying sorry and about friends who don't quite understand each other yet. And the party itself looks like SO much fun.

What to read next

This is the ninth Owl Diaries book, but Eva introduces her family, her pet bat Baxter and her class all over again, so it's fine to start here. If they fall for her, Isadora Moon Has a Sleepover is a lovely next step. Isadora's never stayed at a friend's house before, and her vampire dad thinks staying up all night just sounds like a normal evening.