SLEEPOVER FRIENDS: Cover By Cover!

One of my friends did a Sweet Valley 30-Day challenge recently and some of the posts were about covers. So I decided to look at all the covers for my favorite series ever, the Sleepover Friends!

I actually scanned my full set of books years ago when I planned to review them all for the original incarnation of this blog, so that saves me the time of locating images of all of them. You'll notice the black dot that appears frequently, too. (It's on Stephanie's face on this first cover.) That was a bit of damage on my old scanner.

So Book 1. Stephanie is on the left with her long dark hair. However, Stephanie is not wearing her signature red, black and white. There are several covers like this, even though she almost always had her signature colors on in the text. Kate is the blonde. I think she's the best depiction on this particular cover, except for the Betty Boop PJs. I just can't see her in those. Patti and Lauren look quite similar, both being tall, athletic brunettes. Thanks to the text though, you know that Lauren is on the bed by Stephanie while Patti is getting the spikes from Kate.

Same artist, but the girls have taken a step closer to their more typical looks. Patti on the left looks like her cute, shy self. Stephanie looks good, too, except for again not having the right colors on. Lauren's hair has darkened, which helps distinguish her from Patti. And Kate is just cute.

Each of these poses is quite appropriate for the characters, too. Patti looks unsure and nervous. Stephanie looks confident. Kate looks bossy. Lauren looks kinda done with everything.

Kate looks cute here, too, but her hair's grown a lot. I think the shorter look from the first two books is more her. This artist just loves pink on her. I don't remember Kate loving pink.

Lauren's kept her darker hair and you can see how long it is now that it's down.

And Patti looks about the same.

I believe that's Lauren's older brother Roger inside and I think the girl he liked was Linda? It's been a little while since I've read these, so I'm doing this very cold! But I want to say this is the only time we'll see Roger, even though he appears a lot.

Ah, I love this cover. Stephanie may be for the third time in the wrong colors, but she's so pretty, who cares? Well, I care a little, but still.

Patti looks bizarrely cute in an outfit described I'm pretty sure quite exactly the same in the text.

Then we've got Lauren looking amused and Kate whose hair grew even longer.

Stephanie totally steals the cover.

How does Lauren manage to look cute with her tongue out? She just does. Eating is her thing. That's one of her better outfits, if I remember correctly.

Poor Patti is dressed well, but doesn't look nearly as good as anyone else at this table.

Stephanie got a tan. For a while, I thought this was supposed to be Steph's friend Tiffany, but she's finally wearing the right colors, although the black from red, black and white is missing.

Kate got a wardrobe boost like Lauren, but she's also randomly gorgeous. This just is not Kate. Her hair is too long and wavy. Cute, but inaccurate.

  

Now we've got the mystery of which girl is Stephanie and which is Lauren? Both have dark hair. Neither is wearing Stephanie's colors. We just got the red and white correct last book, Conway. Come the fuck on. I always figured Stephanie was the one on the left, because she's prettier. Not that anyone looks attractive doing flashlight face, but I think that one's Lauren.

Patti's the only one who looks right and she's mostly covered by a blanket.

And Kate once again looks really pretty, but not like the Kate established on the first two covers. Her shirt is adorable though and something I could see her wearing.

Ignore the blotch on poor Kate's face. Yeah, I think that's Kate. Looking completely different for the 3rd book in a row. At least she looks cute, but I'm not sure Kate would wear such a voluminous yellow top.

Stephanie once again is not in the right colors. And just doesn't look like herself.

Lauren looks cute though. And Patti looks good.

Hey, they finally remembered Kate's hair is shorter!

But Lauren looks terrible. Poor Lauren.

Wait, what is this? Stephanie wearing RED?! She resembles the girl in blue on #6's cover, so I'm fairly sure I was right in assuming that was Stephanie.

Honestly, this is one of the best covers. All the girls look in character, except maybe Kate's dowdy nightgown.

And this is so obviously Stephanie's room with the proper color scheme.

Stephanie is wearing the right colors again! Celebrate! This is the beginning of her illustrations with the giant poofy hair.

This is the book where the girls host students from another school, so the other two on the cover are those students.

The blonde is surely Annette, who's staying with Lauren.

The other one I think is supposed to be Molly, who's Stephanie's visitor. Except Molly wears glasses. Maybe they stuck them around Stephanie's neck. All I know is that short girl with a side pony is not Lauren, so it's got to be Molly, even with the brown hair instead of black and the lack of glasses.

Not one of the best covers, because it's really not clear who that girl is and it should be obvious.

Lauren's got all her hair in a hat again, while Stephanie's hat can barely contain hers.

Not an attractive cover for either.

Kate's hair has gone long again, but at least this is the face we'll be seeing her wear for a while.

I have no idea who that kid is. This book is the reverse of #10 with the Sleepover Friends being the ones staying as guests in the Walden kids' homes and Kate is stuck with a bunch of bratty children. I think this is one of them. Although who knows, she is wearing a shirt with food on it. Maybe it's Lauren.

Aha! Definitely one of the better covers. Patti is stunning here, but alas she will never look this good again.

Each of the others looks spot on. Even though Lauren's barely showing, that still gives off a good Lauren vibe.

I love the books in the window.

From stunning to weird. #14 marks the beginning of Patti's Shrinking Eyes. I don't know why she suddenly got these tiny little eyes, but it's a thing.

Lauren looks like Lauren, albeit much more childish than she should.

Stephanie's in the right colors and looks exactly like Stephanie on the last cover. Kate does, too. Continuity is good.

Ah, this one! Another great cover.

Patti's still got the small eyes, but they're not weird-looking at that angle. She looks cute in that outfit, too.

Lauren looks perfect and Kate looks good, despite her hair being too long.

Stephanie though. She steals this thing. Absolutely 100% perfection.

Patti with the small eyes still looks cute again. Kate also. And Stephanie looks great. But poor Lauren got some ugly ass bangs and that just does not look like her.

This was a period of consistency for the books, even if it wasn't the most attractive consistency. Poor Patti and Lauren just get the short end of the stick during this period.

Steph looks the best, despite the yellow. I think that should have been white.

And Bullwinkle! At last!

Lauren looks better from the side, but still not like Lauren.

Stephanie still looks good. Excellent earrings. I want to say we see those again.

And look, Robert Ellwanger! One of the only series regulars to get a cover!

Aha! I knew we saw those earrings again.

Everyone here looks pretty horrible. Patti manages to work her tiny eyes into a good skeptical face, so she looks the best, but man, wow.

Ooh, it's Ginger Kinkaid! Look at that sass face. I mean, Kate's outsassing her by a mile, but Ginger's pretty sassy. And actually looks like Harry Potter movie Ginny Weasley a bit.

Kate's hat from #19 makes a return appearance. 

Ah, Kevin DeSpain and his changing hair color. I'm pretty sure he originally had dark hair. Or maybe that was the Boodles guy.

Seriously, no one looks good here. Everyone's features are just a little off in some way.

What is it with Kate and baseball caps?

Stephanie looks ridiculous, but so does anyone making that face, so points for accuracy. Said points removed however, because Stephnie would not wear Mickey.

Lauren doesn't look bad aside from the bangs.

The less said about poor Patti, the better.

Everyone except Steph looks ridiculous here. Is it time for the new artist yet?

Oh, Lauren, I miss your early books.

Kate looks cute at least.

Stephanie's not bad except her shorts should be black.

Bitsy's one of the very few other female characters who got a cover.

THE NEW ARTIST!

Somehow they all look a bit better, even though Patti still has her tiny eyes and it's apparently contagious, because Lauren caught it, too.

The role of Kate will be played by Karen Brewer from the cover of Kristy's Big Day.

I will forever give points to the new artist, because he finally made Patti look as tall as she always should have. I could see her wearing that outfit, too.

Lauren? In pink? With hearts? Not so much.

And obviously, Kate's all rebellious in this one.

I feel like this cover is sorely missing a sarcastic look from Stephanie or Jenny Carlin in the background laughing.

This is one of Kate's best covers. She's super adorable here!

Actually, everyone but Patti is and Patti's not even hideous. It's just the tiny eyes working against her.

Lauren looks really cute for the first time since...well, she's never looked this cute, but she last looked really good on #15.

Stephanie doesn't quite look like Stephanie, but she's rocking that outfit, so I'll let it slide.

Yessssssssss, the sweaters cover! I love love LOVE Stephanie's entire look here. I love Lauren's, too, and she looks super cute all sad, but a skirt? Try some jeans. Kate looks passably cute and Patti looks odd, but it doesn't even matter because Stephanie is rocking it so much and Lauren is still cute from the waist up.

Cutest. Stephanie. EVER. I'll even forgive the pink clothes, because she's painting, so why would she wear good red, black and white clothes? Her expression is just the cutest thing!

Kate's rocking it, too, showing off her bossy side. I love her outfit. And the baseball cap is back, but she's doing it way cuter this time.

Patti is perfection. She hasn't looked this good since #13. That Patti, while gorgeous, didn't really look like Patti though, but this awkward giraffe is exactly how I picture her in my head.

Lauren in head to toe purple? I actually briefly thought this was Ginger back again, because she's a key figure in the story, but based on the covers that come after, this is definitely Lauren.

This is definitely one of Stephanie's best outfits. She looks so perfectly Stephanie here!

Pissed off Kate looks like Kate should. And there's bratty Melissa, who was the Karen Brewer of the series.

These covers are on the right track.

Nope. Spoke too soon.

Stephanie's in the wrong colors. Patti looks okay, but the small eyes...just ugh. And Lauren does not look a bit like Lauren.

Alas! We were doing so well.

Okay, that's a bit of redemption.

Stephanie looks perfect.

Patti looks cute. When she makes certain expressions, she can make the tiny eyes work in her favor.

Lauren is cute and Kate looks like Kate. Not the best cover, but pretty solid.

This is one of my favorites. It hits all the high points.

1) Kate looks sassy. Her hair is "short and neat," like it's typically described, if I remember correctly. She's wearing an outfit that fits her personality.

2) Stephanie is perfection. Her expression is priceless and her outfit is one of her best.

3) This is the prettiest Lauren will ever look.

Although Lauren really doesn't look bad here either.

Stephanie looks great again. Kate looks good and even Patti looks good and is leaning forward to emphasize her height difference with tiny Kate.

Well done.

See what I mean about Patti's eyes working with the expressions? She looks great here.

Stephanie is adorable again.

And Kate is looking just like Kate should, except I'm not sold on the ponytail.

And here we have properly tall Patti again. And Lauren's almost as tall as her, which is also accurate.

Also again with Patti working the expression.

Lauren looks cute, although I don't think those are her colors.

Kate's got the ponytail again, but it looks better this time.

And Stephanie looks great.

And we're back to no.

While Lauren's outfit is great, her face is off. Kate looks bitchy, but just not quite right. I could see Stephanie in that outfit, but something is really wrong with her face.

The final book in the regular series! Lauren manages to look really cute while shivering. This is oddly one of her best covers. And Patti looks good, too.

I sadly no longer have my images of the Super Sleepover Guide or the Super Beach Mystery, but the guide was kind of a mess. Kate and Patti were the only ones that looked halfway right. The beach mystery was a super tall Patti in a terrible pink tee/giant orange shorts combo looking perplexed. Stephanie looked pretty, but she was wearing tie-dye. I think her suitcase got lost? Lauren all "gasp" and Kate's concerned or bitchy. I can't recall which and I'm too lazy to get it off my shelf. I maybe someday scan these covers and add them to this post!

BE PREPARED

Vera Brosgol did another graphic novel back in 2014 called Anya's Ghost. If you click the Vera Brosgol tag under this entry, you'll find my review for it. Be Prepared is far better though!

Instead of being straight up fiction like Anya's Ghost, Be Prepared is semi-autobiographical. Vera wrote it based on her two experiences at camp, plus memories from her siblings and a former counselor.

It starts with 9-year-old Vera at a friend's slumber party. There's a great scene where they're playing with American Girl dolls. All except Vera, who's too poor to have one. She begs her mother for a birthday slumber party and knows all the right elements to it, but everything goes wrong because her single mom can't afford the right brands of cake, pizza, pop, etc. The girls manage to exclude her at her own party, not staying up and talking like they did at the other girl's. Then when Vera wakes up, they're all gone already.

She perks up a bit when she learns about a Russian summer camp and begs her mom to let her attend for two weeks. She thinks that she'll meet other Russian girls there who feel like outsiders, the same way she does. However, her little brother tags along. Not that she sees much of him and he seems to be having a great time when she does.

Camp, as it turns out, is nothing like Vera expected. Even though she's only nine, she's placed with the older campers because she's a month shy of ten. But what kind of dumbass camp would put a ten-year-old with two fourteen-year-olds? Yeesh. That goes exactly how you'd expect.

The camp itself is disgusting. There's no running water. They wash their hair and bathe in a lake. They brush their teeth in a stream. The outhouse has multiple seats and no partitions like something out of the 1800s. Vera's stuck with her only real happiness being when they'd go to the lake where there was a normal bathroom.

Everyone is forced to speak Russian as much as possible, sing songs that Vera doesn't know the words to because she threw out the songbook, and once a week protect the girls' side flag from the boys while other girls go try to get the boys' flag. The side that loses the flag has to perform a menial chore for the other side.

The older girls are mean to Vera, teasing her because she doesn't wear a bra (she's NINE) and she doesn't know what a period is.

She tries in a few ways to fit in, but all she wants to do is go home. So when her mother arrives and says she and her brother have to stay for the full month because she has a job interview, Vera is distraught.

Vera eventually turns things around for herself by making friends with a younger camper and actually being the one to win the flag from the boys' side and give them the most disgusting task. She leaves camp having made a new friend, but when asked if she wants to go back, the answer from both her and her brother is a resounding no. But that's a moot point, because that job interview? Was in London. They're moving.

This graphic novel is both funny and adorable. I've never done camp, so there's nothing relatable for me here, but there doesn't need to be. It's a solid story no matter what.

AMERICAN GIRL: Kit Mystery

Kit looks really weird on this cover.

Second AG BeForever mystery of the day, second by Mary Casanova.

Once again, she provides multiple suspects that are meant to throw you off the trail, but the culprit isn't quite as obvious as in Rebecca's book.

And once again, Kit's in Kentucky and the locals don't cotton to outsiders. A bit of this is part of the plot, because they're having their land eminent domained out from under them to create the national park, but there's also at least one incident of it being said about a thing that was trivial.

This was decent, but not one of Kit's best. She seems too easily frightened and that's not the Kit I know.

Points though for them not dumbing down or sugarcoating any of the bad business going on here.

AMERICAN GIRL: Rebecca Mystery

I strayed from the AG historicals for far too long! I finally read Rebecca's mystery from this past February's mystery releases.

It's not a bad story. Very Rebecca. Her cousin Michael is working as a painter for a theater that has a rooftop farm, which was based on a real thing, so that's pretty cool. Ana and Rebecca take Michael his lunch and stumble into a job opportunity, which they sorely need, because this is set right after Rebecca's sixth book, where her uncle and other male cousin lose their factory jobs.

Being Rebecca, she thinks they're going to be performers, but no, they're farm chore girls. While she's disappointed, Ana gets along swimmingly with their supervisor, a woman named Flora. Rebecca is thrilled, however, when an up and coming Ziegfeld Girl named Olivia ("Ollie") visits the farm for her daily milk. Ollie manages to get the girls to deliver her glass of milk to the theater across the street every day.

Their employer forces Rebecca and Ana to use this opportunity to spy on the rival theater. Neither girl is happy about it, but the asshole theater owner holds Michael's job above their heads.

Rebecca is taken in by Ollie and the theater world, while Ana remains more loyal to Flora and doing what they're told.

As the story unfolds, it becomes clear someone is trying to sabotage Ollie and it's up to Rebecca to figure out who.

It's a fun story, even though the culprit was pretty obvious. There are enough red herrings that I'm not sure the target age group would figure it out as fast as I did though. I always love Beckie, so I'm pleased she got another decent book.

AGHM 21 & 22

Ah, finally, the two last American Girl History Mysteries!

Ghost Light I quite liked. It's set during the late 19th Century on an island. The main character's father is part of a rescue team and the plot is mostly her trying to figure out what the mysterious light she keeps seeing is, while doing what she can to help her best friend, who's very ill. (I can't remember offhand which type of sickness she had.)

It was a good mystery, but also interesting to learn about something I didn't know much about.

It took me a while to get through Cross Creek, because it's honestly pretty boring.

Patriots vs. Loyalists trying to get the Scots on their side. Elspeth deals with a lot: family strife, a grandmother with PTSD, headstrong cousins, wanting to be friends with a new Scottish girl but not understanding why her grandmother won't let her, and balancing her life at home with her apprenticeship as a weaver.

The end is more interesting, but it doesn't save the book or redeem the characters that completely fucked up.

AMERICAN GIRL: GotY Luciana Book 3

Luciana is back and messing things up again!

Don't get me wrong, I love Luci (har har) and she's actually my favorite GotY ever (sorry, Jess), but she messes up a lot.

So this time, Luciana's all excited because her family is going to Chile to see the rest of their family over winter break. She wants to reconnect with her four cousins who are all also twelve. She mentions that they used to message each other a lot, but she's been busy lately, so that's fallen off a bit, which is the first clue that this isn't going to go well.

Then the next morning after she arrives in the middle of the night, Luci receives a message from Claire Jacobs, AKA: the girl who left her to drown in Book 2. They've been chatting since the school year started and things seem better between them. Luci believes in giving people second chances, because she's awesome like that. Like really awesome. Who gives the person who basically left you for dead a second chance? Claire's going to be right there in Chile, too, going to a NASA Mars-based habitat in the Atacama Desert with her dad. She invites Luci along, but Luci's got family on the brain and she doesn't completely trust Claire, so she declines.

So once again, Luciana's got several problems. The first one is the cousins. Now the book makes this seem one-sided, like it's all Luci's fault. It isn't. The cousins are flat-out being assholes. She tells them when she's landing at the airport. Every one of them ignores her. Who does that? Assholes. And you know what, sure, maybe Luci does go on a bit about her experiences, but if that was my family member, I'd want to hear about it! How many kids get to do what she did? Not many! She's got a right to be proud of it and want to share it, not have Dick Boy Cousin #1 yawn at her and the others all laugh. Then they proceed to exclude her and she ends up accepting Claire's invitation. Who can blame her?

During the big party where the cousins are brushing up on their douchebaggery, a small earthquake hits and Luci's worried. Then she sees a crack in the foundation of her grandmother's house and everyone is worried. It turns out to be too dangerous for them to stay there, so it's off to one of the relatives' houses and that's when Luci learns her asshole cousins are leaving her out.

Have I mentioned she hasn't seen these people in SIX YEARS, she's only there for a few DAYS, and they're treating her like this?

I don't even care if the book's message is be a better listener. That's still not how you treat family.

So off Luci goes on a helicopter ride with Claire and Claire's famous dad. They meet the scientists working in the habitat and spend the night. Then the trouble begins when Claire gets mad at her dad, because he has to rush off to an unexpected meeting and not take the girls to see some geysers. Claire goes off in a rage, but Luci's happy because she cares more about the scientific work. She manages to get the three scientists to let her and grumpface Claire tag along and even gets to take a soil sample from deep within the earth.

And then she fucks it up when they get back and she ruins all the samples, so off the scientists go into the desert again, leaving the girls alone at the habitat.

That's when the bigger earthquake hits.

The bunk beds collapse, leaving claustrophobic Luci trapped between them. Claire talks her out of a panic attack and helps her get out, only to pass out from her own head injury. Luci works to fix that only to have Claire disappear on her, because she goes out into the desert with a head injury to look for her dad's helicopter. They have a fight out there with Luci finally saying she hasn't forgiven her for the almost drowning thing and she doesn't trust her. Claire doesn't blame her. But then the chemicals from the lab tent get a fire going and it's back to the action with Luci armed with a fire extinguisher and Claire a fire blanket. They save the habitat and go to sleep, then Claire's dad gets there in the morning.

So while talking with Claire, Luci learns that she should have listened more to her and realized that was also her problem with the cousins. She didn't express enough interest in what they were doing. Claire even says something like "You never asked."

Now here's my issue with that: communicating is a two-way street. You can't just sit back and wait to be asked to participate. Why should anyone coddle you? If you have a problem, do not wait for someone to ask you what's wrong. If you need to talk it out, YOU can initiate things. And don't think less of people for not asking, because why should they have to initiate a conversation about YOUR problem? Same goes for the thing with the cousins. Luciana took her turn talking, so instead of laughing at her and excluding her, how about you speak up and tell her about your own stuff instead of expecting her to ask you? Don't be so fucking passive.

Anyway, everyone's safe and sound. Luciana gets back to her family and then bonds with the one cousin when she asks about her photography. (Which she should not have had to do.) Then they all work together to have a New Year's party in the nearby park and surprise poor Grandma, who's lost her house because the foundation can't be fixed. So it all works out in the end.

Once again, Luciana is an excellent character stuck in a not so excellent storyline. The bones are there, but it's just not handled right. It would have been an easy fix, too. Have the cousins admit they were dicks and apologize. Have someone initiate a conversation without having to be asked about a topic. Have Claire say she could have told Luci she needed to talk about her dad.

LORE 2: Wicked Mortals

I was very excited to dig into this second Lore book and pleased I received it from Amazon the day after its release date.

Wicked Mortals is a bit of a misleading title though, because not every chapter is about mortals who are wicked.

Don't expect your modern serial killers either. The ones in these pages aren't very recent.

The book opens with H. H. Holmes, the American serial killer from the late 1800s. Other serial killers include a few different ax men, Elizabeth Bathory and Belle Gunness.

Then there are stories from broader topics such as changelings, witches, witch hunters, spontaneous human combustion, body snatchers, possessions, and doppelgängers. There was at least one flat out ghost story.

There were also chapters on the inspiration behind Jekyll and Hyde, John Dee, different Christmas season creatures, the rabbit baby hoax, and the truth behind the Pied Piper.

I quite enjoyed this, as I did the first one. Perhaps this one a bit moreso, because there were more stories that were new to me.