Black, white and red are my favorite colors too!
Wow, what a nice break from Jessica and her bullshit antics. A series about friendship! And fun stuff! And making fudge! And riding bikes! No cheerleading crap! Or comas or werewolves! I’m taking it way back to Sleepover friends.
Basically, the plot is…these 4 gals have sleepovers every Friday. And that’s about it. That’s the premise. Simple but genius. Although, that’s kind of unhealthy. After I slept over a friends house and got 2 hours of sleep, I was a wreck and for kids that’s not so good, I guess. So every week? Dayum.
Believe it or not, these were written pretty well for kids without being condescending. Although…these gals act as if they are 30, not in the fifthgrade. As in, they go to the mall by themselves and eat at restaurants by themselves. The gals in the back on the bed look kind of old as well.
So, plot? In the twelve minutes it took me to reread this, here’s the gist: Lauren, Kate and Stephanie have sleepovers every week and Patti is new to town, so they invite her to join them. Kate jokingly puts a curse on her, and then unlucky shit happens, like she spills stuff, let’s Lauren’s huge dog loose in the neighborhood, and after they put glittery purple gel in their hair there is a water main break and they can’t wash it out. Oh the hilarity!
The gals are:
- Lauren: the narrator of the series, who quite frankly, doesn’t have much personality except that she eats a lot
- Kate: the anal retentive bitchy one
- Patti: the new gal, who is shy
- Stephanie: the boy-crazy trendy one who used to live in the city: I am assuming they mean NYC? She moved to the ‘burbs in fourth grade and always talks about the crazy shit she did before she moved. Like go to Bungalow 8 and have cosmos? At age EIGHT? Also, her favorite colors are black, white, and red, which I totally remembered. Sadly, I am looking around my apartment and it is decorated in black, white, and red, which happen to be MY favorite colors. Oh my gosh, is this because I read this series and I was brainwashed? I’d like to think my love for the colors are more because of The White Stripes, so let’s just pretend that is the cause.
Oh, and fun stuff they do at Sleepovers:
- wet their hair and braid it, let it dry so they have wavy hair
- make fudge out of Hershey’s kisses
- call boys in their class and hang up
- knock on their neighbor’s window and run
- watch old sci fi movies
Seriously, after reading the first page, all this series came flooding back. Ah, good times. A good break from the cruel, cruel world of Sweet Valley. I may make this a regular thing.
*sigh* so many memories! I love it!!
I remember that about Stephanie, too! I also remember Lauren was all “Stephanie’s so sophisticated because she knows about dining al fresco.” At least I think that was this series.
I still have ‘The Sleepover Friends Guide To Sleepovers,’ for when my daughter has her first slumber party. Hopefully her parties will be more like their parties because all of mine usually involved dancing to New Kids, tee-peeing houses and playing Light As A Feather, Stiff As A Board — not necessarily stuff I want my kid to do.
If you review another book, will you do Patti’s Makeover? I only read a few books in the series but that one always sticks out in my mind. And you are right about Lauren. She has no personality beyond eating. Why was she the narrator?
SVH Question — did they never have slumber parties? Or would that cut back on the number of attempted date rapes?
I totally have the Sleepover guide. Adorable!
And Jessica did have a slumber party- remember All Night Long?
How do you make fudge out of hershey’s kisses? I never did anything that creative. (Unless making cement s’mores in the microwave counts. You have to watch those marshmallows!!)
I never read this series. If I did, I would have been the nerd to recommend that we do activities from the books at my friends’ houses. While my friends were busy dancing to New Kids on the Block.
How do those girls not have wavy hair? Straight hair being a recessive gene, it’s not as though wavy/curly hair isn’t common.
Sorry. I’m just a freak about genetics.
I never read these books, but they sound like fun. I see them at used bookstores all the time. I was one of those kids that did the sleepover thing absolutely every weekend, Friday and Saturday night. But only with my best friend.
Duck, I and my entire family on both sides have absolutely straight hair. ^_^ I used to do the braid thing to make it wavy.
Which book do they get the kittens? I remember that one because Stephanie just had to have the black (whoops, subconsciously typed “bland”) and white one, and then she put a red collar on it or something.
Lauren was probably narrator so she could describe everyone else. That’s my guess.
Um…I just bought a house and decorated my bedroom in red, black and white, which I can DEFINITELY trace back to this series. Hehe. I so coveted the little house that Stephanie’s parents built for her in the backyard when the baby was born…decorated in red, black and white of course! *hanging head in shame*
Come to think of it, 75% of the time I wear a black t-shirt, jeans, and carry a red tote bag. Sleepover Friends, GET OUT OF MY BRAIN!
i used to check these out of the bookmobile but remember so little of them. but stephanie’s dedication to black/white/red is quite freaky.
LOVED these books!!!
Always hated how there was a SF with my name, Kate, who was TOTALLY THE WORST CHARACTER. All she did was organize things and watch movies.
I also remember that the amount of food these girls consumed at their sleepovers was like a prescription for childhood obesity. I always wondered, “Why do their parents buy them all that shit? I can so see my Mom buying three bags of chips, 4 2 liters of Dr. Pepper, a pound of fudge, the entire menu from the local Chinese place, and ten cans of whipped cream for four ten-year-olds, then letting them take it upstairs to eat.”
Clearest memory though: “the city”. They went so far out of their way not to reveal exactly which magical city Stephanie had lived in. There was even one book where they WENT to “the city” without ever naming it! LOL!
three bags of chips, 4 2 liters of Dr. Pepper, a pound of fudge, the entire menu from the local Chinese place, and ten cans of whipped cream for four ten-year-olds
How in the name of God did they eat all that?! Even I’d have trouble with that and I’m one of the biggest pigs alive!
I loved this series! The only character I actually remember though is Stephanie and her constant color scheme. But based on your description of the characters, I’m wondering how she ended up the only interesting one?
And I remember a series where one of the girls moved away, and the other girls dressed up as her for halloween, in a rainbow sweatshirt (that was stretched out) and jeans, wasn’t that Sleepover Friends? I really thought it was, only I swear that the girl who moved away was named Molly. Hmmm…..
They made Mousse out of the kisses! I remember that!
Somebody moved???
Didn’t Patti move to Alaska or something?
Today I am wearing a red shirt and black shoes, fyi.
Amanda, you’re thinking of the Friends 4-Ever books … that series was okay, but not quite as entertaining as Sleepover Friends, SVH or BSC … the girl’s name in Friends 4-Ever WAS Molly, and her requisite three friends were Stevie (the tomboy), Laura (the quiet one) and Meg who had blonde curly hair and was the “idea” person. why, oh why, do I remember that so well?
As for “the city”, I’m guessing it was nyc or some imaginary city that was supposed to be new york … they never revealed much about where “Riverhurst” was, other than it was obviously the East coast (when Patti almost moved to Alaska, Lauren said something about that was as far away from Riverhurst as you could get while still being in the United States).
I remember this series very well. It was my first exposure to Baked Alaska…and every time I see black, white and red together, I think of Stephanie.
Although, I thought she was from DC. Because they mention something about the Potomac.
I also loved that Patti was a science nerd and was part of the Quarks club.
I can’t believe that I am sitting at work writing this.
Ummm…is my mom selling my childhood books on E-bay? I’m actually seriously worried and might have to call her today. I had this exact book and several of the other SVH books that have been recently reviewed. Also…does anyone have the SVH board game? It was so boring, yet I was like in love with it and was always trying to steal other peoples boyfriends, which seems a wierd thing to teach 10 year olds. Also wearing red and black dress with black shoes, fyi.
Does anyone remember the series that had four friends I think at sleepaway camp? Yeah, sorry I totally can’t be more specific than that. All I remember is a book where they tried to have a sleepover outside of camp and it didn’t work b/c their real lives were so different than their camp lives?
Thanks Tammyt!!! I didn’t even remember reading the Friends 4Ever series, LOL. But you answered a question that had been nagging me for a few months now.
I totally blush every time I catch myself wearing black, white, and red and think “Oh… How Sleepover Friends of me.” I was sure I was the only one who remembered the series.
Also, there was a nerd character who always wore brown. Marla? I didn’t wear brown for years because of her.
OMG I LOVE SLEEPOVER FRIENDS!!! I’m missing two books of this series. TWO!!!
I loved Sleepover Friends, too. I collected maybe the first 20 books and the Super Sleepover Guide when I was a kid, but they’re at my parents’ house. Since I’ve completed my BSC collection, I’m now focusing on Saddle Club and Sleepover Friends (although your blog is probably going to drive me to collecting SV soon as well), and I got nine more Sleepover Friends books this year, although I haven’t read them all yet. I think the girl who always wore brown was named something like Karla Stamos, but I’m too lazy to look it up. Oh, and in the later books, the narrators switched from book to book, and it wasn’t just Lauren all the time.
Eli, you are thinking of “Camp Sunnyside Friends”, which I read as a kid because I was a series whore. This was also the one where during parents day or somethign, the mom of one of the girls who was recently divorsed hooked up with the widowed dad of one of the other girls and they ended up married.
Sleepover Friends = <3!
None of my friends in elementary school read this one so I guess it was my first guilty pleasure? To this day I remember Stephanie sucking in her cheeks because she thought her face was too round. And that Patti came up with the name “It’s Elementary!” for the school newspaper.
Nobody I knew read Saddle Club, either, but I was a huge horse nerd whereas most of my friends were not.
I remember owning one of the Sleepover Friends books. I don’t remember what it was called but the girls went on a trip somewhere with their parents and siblings. The boys keep trying to scare the girls (including one particularly gross incident where they put a fat worm in a hot dog bun and one of the girls bites it) and there is something about a ghost. I think in the end they hinted that there really was a ghost because they thought somebody’s little sister had scared them but it turns out she was actually on the couch watching Roller Derby. Roller Derby!! Don’t know if all that makes much sense but it’s what I remember from that particular book. Anyone know of it or know the title?
Everytime I put on an outfit that consists of black, white and red, I think of stephanie. And I was so jelaous of that house her parents built for her in the backyard. I used to wonder who would do that for their kids until I spotted a mini house in someone’s backyard. Guess Stephanie isn’t the only to get that lucky.
And I remember that Lauren used to make some crazy dip, that I always wanted to try. Does anybody know what it was, or even better, have the recipe that was in some of the books?
The river in “Riverhurst” is the Pequontic River. Lauren says that in “Lauren’s Big Mix-Up” and “Lauren’s Treasure”.
I loved Sleepover Friends, Girl Talk, BSC, SVH, Party Line, Fabulous Five, Camp Sunnyside Friends, Friends4Ever!!!!!
Hey tammyt, I had the SVH game. I also remember it being boring. The sad thing was I was too embarrassed to play it with any of my friends, no one else was reading SVH! So I think my poor mom was stuck playing it with me. Does anybody remember the song in the commercial for the game? Something like “we’re living in a Sweet Valley world, going with the Sweet Valley guys….something, something, Sweet Valley High!” Good memories.
I remember the song Nester.
You can be a sweet valley girl
Going with a sweet valley guy
Living in a sweet valley world
Going to sweet valley high
I remember the tune so well…
Yay Kiki! It’s going to be stuck in my head all weekend…
OUR SCHOOL IS SO COOL. Sweet Valley High!
Let me go die now…