what it is..

I remember, when I was about 11, reading Slumber Party by Christopher Pike and absolutely loving it. Slumber party was about a group of young women go to a cabin in the in mountains. Unfortunately, they had a sleepover party eight years prior that was quite catastrophic: one girl’s face, Nell’s, was scarred by a fire and another girl died. This slumber party begins to get suspenseful when Dana goes missing and someone is burned. Ironically,the events begin to resemble the last tragic sleep over party.

I think I enjoyed this book because it was a suspenseful mystery rather than a scary story. Additionally, boys were at the sleep over party and there was no parental supervision…AWESOME! To provide some further insight to why I was drawn to this book I point you to 2 things I don’t think I will ever grow out of being excited by:
· Sleep-over parties
· Making out

According to James Howe in his article, “Writing Mysteries for Children”, the “plot is the most crucial ingredient in any” (178). He also suggests that contrary to the question posed by adults when they read mysteries, “Who did it?”, children, when reading mysteries, question, “What’s going on here?”. I don’t know if I agree with that statement because the main question when I read Slumber Party, was who is the villain? - "who did it"

Interestingly, Howe’s article, illustrated how he personally approaches writing mysteries for kids instead of merely suggesting a way to do it. He states, “A mystery is a story told forward but conceived backward” (180). He leads the reader of this article on an insightful adventure of methods, cautions, and suggestions when constructing a mystery.

To entice you, if you have not read his article,I present you with following excerpt:
“Ultimately, mysteries may be most compelling because they are stories of human failing. Crime is at the core of every mystery, and no crime is committed with suffering on someone’s part. Still, compassion in the reader will not come from the writer tell the reader to be compassionate. It will only come when the writer has done the most essential thing – tell a good story” (184).

Howe, James. 1990.

Writing mysteries for children

.The Horn Book66 Mar/Apr: 178-183.


Pike, Christopher. 1985. Slumber Party . New York: Scholastic.