Title: The Worst Sleepover in the World
Author: Sophie Dahl
Illustrator: Luciano Lozano
Publisher: Walker Books
Genre: Children’s picture book
Book format: Hardback
Sweet Strawberries: 
Description: Ramona is preparing for THE BEST SLEEPOVER EVER with her friend Gracie. She has BIG plans, including dancing like a wild thing and staying up all night. But when the sleepover turns into a DISASTER, Ramona isn’t sure that she wants to be friends with Gracie any more.
Can Mum save the girls from having THE WORST SLEEPOVER IN THE WORLD?
*Free copy provided by publisher for review…
Review: This is a well illustrated and fun story about a girl having her first sleepover. Ramona is going to have her first sleepover with her friend Gracie, but when Gracie arrives she doesn’t like the food that’s cooked, or the bed that she sleeps in, or lots of other things.
I like how this story goes with Ramona, at first, getting excited for her sleepover with her friend. When Gracie arrives she doesn’t like the food that Ramona’s mum makes and asks for something else. As Gracie gets more and more fussy about everything, Ramona gets more and more annoyed at her friend, and Ramona’s mum gets more frazzled trying to look after everyone. The story is funny, especially when things like the smell the dog creates causes a mess, but while the story flowed well for me, gradually getting to a peak where I had hoped for some kind of good and funny resolution or something, it just ends in a flatter way than I had hoped.
Although the story is good I just think it is quite an abrupt ending and although there is a funny moment at the very end on the last page, I’m just not a fan of the fact that in the end there’s no real resolution to Gracie’s behaviour and the mum is left looking really stressed. I think some adults will enjoy this book a lot, especially if they can relate to the nightmare of having some difficult children staying over for a sleepover, and some children might enjoy the story as well, but it just doesn’t have the best ending and that let it down a bit for me.
The illustrations are really good, I love how all the characters look and all the detail that’s gone into each picture. The expressions on the girls faces as well as the way the mum looks is so brilliant! I just love how you can feel the tension, the annoyance and the fun in all of the pictures and there is a lot to look at in each image too.
I do like this book, the story is funny and I did like all the things that happened and how Gracie just seemed to get worse and worse as the story went on, and while there is a good ending in regards to how the two friends end up, it just didn’t have the best ending for me personally and I would have preferred something a little different, though I’m sure many will enjoy it. Overall this is still a fun book to read, although I should mention that there is a little bit more text in this story than in most picture books I’ve read.
What do you think of this book? Did you enjoy sleepovers as a child? Let me know what you think in the comments below 🙂
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