Sleepovers

Jacqueline Wilson is winner of the prestigious Smarties Prize and the Children’s Book Award forDouble Act.Bad Girlswas shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal in 1997."Guess what!" said Amy. "It's my birthday next week and my mum says I can invite all my special friends for a sleepover party.""Great," said Bella."Fantastic," said Chloe."Wonderful," said Emily.I didn't say anything. I just smiled. Hopefully.I wasn't sure if I was one of Amy's special friends. Amy and Bella were best friends.Chloe and Emily were best friends. I didn't have a best friend yet at this new school.Well, it wasn't quite a new school, it was quite old, with winding stairs and long polished corridors and lots and lots of classrooms, some of them in Portakabins in the playground. I still got a bit lost sometimes. The very first day I couldn't find the girls' toilets and went hopping round all playtime, getting desperate. But then Emily found me and took me to the toilets herself. I liked Emily sooooo much. I wished she could be my best friend. But she already had Chloe for her best friend.I didn't think much of Chloe.I liked Amy and Bella though. We'd started to go round in a little bunch of five, Amy and Bella and Emily and Chloe and me. We formed this special secret club. We called ourselves the Alphabet Girls. It's because of our names. I'm Daisy. So our first names start with A B C D and E. I was the one who spotted this. The secret club was all my idea too.I always wanted to be part of a special secret club. It was almost as good as having a best friend.Amy, Bella, Chloe, Daisy and Emily are friends at school and have their own Alphabet Club -- look at their initials! Daisy is the newest member and is desperate to fit in, even though Chloe is sometimes unfriendly towards her. Throughout the school year, the girls plan ever more elaborate sleepovers. Daisy is dreading the time when her turn comes as she doesn’t know what her friends will make of sleeping over at her home, with her rather special older sister. The story is both a superb handling of both the complexities of young, female friendship, and the joys and problems of having a sister with learning disabilities.“Hugely popular with seven to ten year olds: she should be prescribed for all cases of reading reluctance.” --Independent on Sunday