Slumber Party by Christopher Pike

I love reading a book I read in high school over again. I especially love reading Christopher Pike and what's really cool is that it seems this book (unlike the Final Friends series) has stood the test of time.

I remembered Slumber Party as soon as I started reading it. I remembered the hot older boy skiers, the jealous friend, the melted clues, the culprit and this rather steamy, for an 11 year-old (I'll talk about it more during one of my 30 day challenges coming up) kiss. I did not remember the reason that it all began, however, which I found very odd.

What I liked and still like about this story is that the main character girl isn't wimpy, even if she is a little boy crazy. I like that her peers also think so as it is her bravery, level-headedness and, well, genuine kindness that prevail in the end.

What I recognized as a grown-up:

1] I'm not really sure I'd let my kid go for a weekend alone with other kids to a cabin a mile away, by foot, from a ski lodge.

2] I'm not sure I'd let/condone my kid dating a older (23 to her 17) guy from a different country whose prospects seem to be slim and whose main goal seems to be to flit around the USA.

3] Grown-ups don't seem to exist in Christopher Pike books...there's a sheriff, some old guy who parks their cars, and the parents...at the end...they're near a ski lodge...where are the grown-ups?

4] I think this book may be the reason why I didn't drink when others were and why I wasn't really around those that did during my younger years. It can be pretty scary and obviously horrible accidents can happen.

5] Does Christopher Pike only write 'crazy female'? If there's a 'crazy male' Christopher Pike book could someone send it my way?

And, finally, I don't understand why this is marked as horror by some on Goodreads. Maybe it's because this book is a nice little creepy send-off to books like Carrie, which I've seen, but haven't read and whose movie version is mentioned by the characters. I think that Horror novels have an elevated amount of violence that stops me from reading them and that this book does not possess. If this is horror than a]I've read horror and b] Mary Higgins Clark books like A Cry in the Night and While My Pretty One Sleeps are also. I do remember being creeped out by this book loads and, well, I still am.

5 Stars

Sigh, sweet nostalgia.


Teacher Advisories 

Sex 2/5

There's a steamy kiss with some butt grabbing and the girl ponders what it would be like to have sex, for the first time ever, with a boy she just met. And, this kiss was/is steamy enough that I remembered it 25 years after reading the book for the first time.

Language 1/5

Low, almost non existent...

Substance Abuses 2/5

The whole accident occurs around under-age drinking. There's alcohol at the cabin.

Violence 4/5

So, yeah, a little girl's face gets melted off and then there's a big house explosion that kills a teenage girl.


Touchy Subjects

Slumber Parties
These should always happen with parent permission and adult supervision...so, I guess that makes me pretty lame. Gah, I hate feeling lame, but thems the breaks.

Secrets
All the girls have a terrible secret they are hiding...if Lara had told Celeste in the beginning, maybe, just maybe...
Accidents while under the influence
There's a horrible accident that happens when the girls, then middle graders, get into an adult liquor cabinet. I'm not sure that kids understand that accidents while drinking don't just include driving.
Make-out sessions
Especially with older men where you must lie to convince him to kiss you are not cool, and, well, lying isn't cool either!



How this book is used in the classroom

1] Independent Read option