Sweet Valley Kids #22: Sweet Valley Slumber Party

The Wakefields are going out of town for the weekend and Steven went to stay with their grandparents, but Alice's Aunt Nancy arrives to take care of the twins. The twins are a little nervous because they don't remember ever seeing her before, but it turns out that she's a pretty cool older lady.

Lila, Ellen, Ava, and Amy come over to the house for the party. Lila brags about her new purple sleeping bag and won't let anyone touch it, and she wants to brag about her new stuffed unicorn toy. It turns out that Amy has the same toy, and Lila gets really snotty about it because hers is clearly better though no one will listen to her. She walks out of the room and everyone has to follow her. She tells Jessica that Amy ruined the party for everyone, and Jessica wonders if their friends can get along.

The girls head upstairs and find a few of Alice's dresses on the bed. Lila wants to play dress up, but then she decides that they need makeup. When they go into the bathroom, she trips and rips a big whole in Alice's favorite dress. The girls start flipping out and wondering what to do, but then Aunt Nancy pops up. She was planning to shorten and hem the dresses because Alice asked, so she can fix the damage without any problems.

They go back downstairs and have a major pillow fight, tossing pillows and stuff all over the room. After playing around the house and going back into the den, Amy grabs her stuffed unicorn. Lila pitches a fit because she says that it's her toy, and the girls divide right down the middle. After a big fight, they check out the whole house and don't find it.

Aunt Nancy gets in the middle and decides to take the unicorn from them until they can find it. She orders pizza, which cheers everyone up, but they start fighting over the toy again. She tells them that she found it and divides them into two teams for a scavenger hunt, mixing up the friends.

Their first clue says that it's something that leans but doesn't fall. They check rocking chairs, books, clocks, and a bunch of other stuff before each group asks for a second clue. Aunt Nancy says that whoever finds the toy first will get to pick where they go for dessert. She gives them a list of words, and it turns out that the first letter of each word spells out recliner. They find the other unicorn, and the girls admit that they can't tell which one is which so they both just take one.

Aunt Nancy treats everyone to ice cream, and the twins decide that they can't wait to see her again. Ned and Alice come back just in time to hear everyone talking about Halloween.

*Aunt Nancy apparently hasn't seen the twins since they were babies, which seems odd. Why would you agree to specifically come into town to sit for two kids when their parents can't even be bothered to let you see them for years?

*This book mentions that Elizabeth and Jessica "sometimes" wear the same outfits but usually dress different. Yet the whole point of the first SVT book is that they dressed alike until sixth grade.

*Why the heck would Alice want her aunt to turn three dresses from long dresses into shorter/knee-length dresses and why would she agree? Nothing sounds like more fun than babysitting and sewing on vacation!

*Lila is such a little bitch! She says that her unicorn is better because it's new and acts like Amy's is some ragged toy. Then, after the girls all start searching for the missing toy, she sits on the couch, pouts, and won't help anyone. She says that she shouldn't have to help because she already knows where her toy is and that Amy is the one missing a toy.

*When they play dress up, Elizabeth spends the whole time worrying that they might get in trouble, even though Jessica literally just said that Alice lets them do it.

*I have a hard time picturing Amy Sutton of all people playing with a stuffed unicorn and even bringing it to a sleepover.