Sleepovers

Jacqueline Wilson's Sleepovers is a friendship story for 8 year olds about a new girl who's quietly dreading her own birthday party.

What happens

Daisy has found a gang at her new school. There's Amy, Bella, Chloe, Emily and her, and she's even named them the Alphabet Girls. (Look at the initials!) Then Amy announces a birthday sleepover, and suddenly everyone is planning one.

Everyone except Daisy. Her big sister Lily is eleven and can't walk or talk. The family moved so Lily could go to a special school. Daisy hasn't told her new friends about Lily, and she REALLY doesn't want Chloe to find out.

Chloe is the problem. She's the boss of the group and she makes it very clear she'd rather Daisy wasn't there. She gives her the camp bed. She pushes her over on the way to a picnic. And at her own party she smothers Daisy's pizza in anchovies, the one thing Daisy can't stand.

Daisy tells the story herself, and it's such an honest voice. She loves Lily and sometimes can't bear her, then feels terrible about it. At night she creeps into Lily's bed and tells her everything, and Lily's "ur ur ur" becomes their own secret language. It's really touching.

The sleepovers themselves are great fun. There are midnight feasts, a dance routine taught by Amy's big sisters, and a double bed so full of girls that everyone has to turn over at once. Bella gets through thirteen chocolates. Emily is sick after a chocolate cake and crisp sandwich (can you blame her?).

Worth knowing before you hand it over

At Chloe's party the girls watch two horror films, and there's a short description of a ghost picking off girls in a dormitory. Daisy lies awake all night afterwards, clutching her teddy. It's brief, but it might unsettle a child who scares easily.

It's a lovely book for anyone who's ever felt like the odd one out in a friendship group, or who has a brother or sister who needs a bit more looking after.

What to read next

If this one goes down well, they might also like Bad Girls, about Mandy, who's picked on by three girls waiting at the bus stop and doesn't have a real friend left.