Middle Grade Book Review: Wish Upon a Sleepover by Suzanne Selfors
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| Cover art from Amazon. |
Wish Upon a Sleepover by Suzanne Selfors
Sixth-grader Leilani is so over being a background character in her own story. She’s tired of being lonely every other weekend when her best (and only) friend Autumn leaves the city to stay with her divorced dad. And she’s d-o-n-e DONE with sitting at the edges of the lunchroom with nosy Manga Girl sitting behind her drawing mean pictures of her.
Most of all Leilani’s determined to join the most popular clique in school-- the Haileys.
The catch? She has to host the mother of all sleepovers.
Caught up in a moment of volcanic hatred Leilani scribbles down the names of the three people she’d never ever in the history of the world invite to her party: Tanisha Washington (Manga Girl), her smelly cousin Todd, and William the silent boy who lives on the third floor of Leilani’s apartment and ignores her every time they’re in the apartment elevator together. Umm, rude much!?
When oblivious Tutu (Leilani’s Hawaiian great-grandma) mails the invitations to the wrong list and the do-not-invites RSVP yes Leilani goes into full on crisis mode. Dramatic? Maybe. But Leilani’s middle school reputation is on the line!
The only way she can make things right and save her reputation? Brew up a pot of her Tutu’s legendary “Sleepover Soup” --a wish-granting broth blessed by the Hawaiian moon goddess Hina. For it to work everyone needs to put an ingredient meaningful to them in the pot.
If done right a spoonful of the soup can be Leilani’s one-way ticket to Friendship Town with the Haileys! Will Tutu’s ancient remedy work?
★ ★ ★
Leilani, Wish Upon a Sleepover’s bold and outspoken main character lives with her Hawaiian Mom and Tutu in a shabby, dingy brick apartment in Seattle. When she’s not daydreaming about being invited to one of the epic Hailey sleepovers she’s not-so low-key spying on Hailey Chun who lives across the street from her. Ooof. Girl got it bad.
At the core of the narrative is Leilani’s botched foolproof plan to become a Hailey. If she becomes a Hailey she can say goodbye to boring Saturdays spent shopping for taro root and seaweed crackers with 83-year-old Tutu. She can say buh-bye to being laughed at for going to Reading Lab for her dyslexia. Best of all befriending the six Haileys means she’ll score an invite for life to their epic weekend sleepovers.
It’s through Leilani’s eyes and her sharp, humorous quips that readers experience her out-of-placeness in middle school and the awkwardness (and hilarity!) of her accidental sleepover. Suzanne Selfors captures the raw emotions of Leilani’s frustration and desperation to find a place she belongs in her school and make more friends. Emotions that are relatable to anyone who's ever been in middle school. The MS years are challenging and confusing as heck! Even for the best of us!
It’s Selfors emphasis on friendship that makes Wish Upon a Sleepover such bubbly, fizzy fun. Leilani’s close bond with her BFF Autumn is one of the best things about the novel. Bright, insightful, and loyal Autumn is the sugar to Leilani’s spice and brings some of the most heartwarming scenes to the book.
Then there are the other three. I love stories about unlikely friendships-- the quirkier the better. Wish Upon a Sleepover delivers with the other lovable, eccentric characters! Ghostly white and mute (not mutant, Leilani!) William the boy from the third floor is rarely without his kitty or his ugly oversized coat and fur hat. Boastful, devil-may-care Todd gleefully spreads his fart clouds, and manga obsessed wallflower Tanisha spends every waking moment drawing or whooshing around wearing caped hoodies with animal ears.
These energetic characters are a riot! Caring about them and becoming invested in their stories is effortless. I would love to read more about them!
Wish Upon A Sleepover is fast-paced and vibrant adventure celebrating five oddballs who over the span of one action-packed Saturday night find themselves. Inspired by the Stone Soup folktale and infused with the myths and culture of Leilani’s Hawaiian heritage Wish Upon A Sleepover shows readers that they don’t need a magic soup to open their hearts and minds to friendship. That need supernatural sleepover soup won’t abracadabra alakazam disappear their insecurities. Both heartrending and heartwarming Wish Upon A Sleepover is a gentle nudge that reminds readers that sometimes it’s what’s least expected that matters most. That kindness, love, and confidence are never in short supply and true friendship is the greatest magic of all.
Highly recommended.
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