Olive's First Sleepover

I really love the Olive series! My daughter's name is Olive so I'm partial, but I am slightly disappointed by this particular book. There are a couple spots (one main one when Lizard's sister is going to tell a story) where every single time I read it I think I must have skipped a page. The continuity seems disrupted. Other than that the story is fun, adventurous, a little mischievous, and creative.

Olive Elizabeth Julia Jerome was super exited because she was actually going to go over to Lizard Walinsky's house for a sleepover. Their bright eyes twinkled as they talked about all the things they were going to do. The first thing they did when they got to Lizard's house was set up a Creepy Crawly stand and charged people ten cents to pet their creepy critters they had stuck in everything from mayonnaise jars to a shoe box. Are those tarantella legs sticking out of there? Eeeew! They ate all kinds of junk food for dinner which prompted Lulu, Lizard's sister, to ask, "Don't you two eat anything normal?" Not very likely. The girls got ready for bed and "made a blanket tent" to sleep under in Lizard's bedroom. Once the sun began to set, Olive began to get a little nervous with all the strange shadows. She was the type of gal who needed a light or two or three on when she went to bed, but it sure looked like there wouldn't be any on in Lizard's room. She began to check for monsters around the room and strange noises because stuff like that alarmed her. Olive asked for permission to call her parents to check up on them. So far, so good. After the pillow fight and the staring contest it was lights out. "Flashlights, too." When Lizard calmly pointed out a plink . . . plink . . . strange sound and said, "THE SLIPPERY, GREEN GHOUL IS IN YOUR HOUSE!," the sleepover didn't seem like such a hot idea. This "first sleep over" story was adorable and captured the fear and trepidation that many children feel sleeping in a strange house overnight. This story brought a lot of smiles to my face remembering sleepovers in my house and the assortment of problems children had. The artwork is busy, colorful and lots of fun. If you have a youngster of sleepover age, this book will prove to be a BIG hit. Oh, and make sure you read and look at the pictures carefully if you want to know what not to do if you want a successful night!