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Pinkalicious is thrilled to be hosting a sleepover princess party! She has costumes and games at the ready. But her friend Alison is scared about staying away from home overnight, so Pinkalicious must use her imagination to help ease Alison's concerns.

This is a decent early reader that will challenge young readers just enough with short sentences and a few complex vocabulary words, which can be decipher with the help of context clues and illustrations. I liked the idea of the story -- helping a friend out and being creative in doing so, but somehow it fell a little flat. This is not a bad book, just not one I'm rushing out to recommend. ( )

Characters: Pinkalicious (a little girl), her friends, Molly, Rose, and Allison, and her parents and brother.

Setting: Pinkalicious’s home

Theme: Helping friends through new events

Genre: Picture book

Golden quote (optional): “If I was ruler, we’d eat dessert first!”

Summary: A little girl named Pinkalicious wants to have a slumber party and invites her friends Molly, Rose, and Allison. The girls arrive in party dresses and their sleeping bags are the same color as their dresses. However, Allison is very apprehensive about staying for the “sleep-over.” Pinkalicious, Molly, and Rose set forth to reassure her that everything will be fine. Pinkalicious’s parents prepare a fit-for-a-Princess meal and the girls make princess themed crafts. When it is time to go to bed, the girls reassure Allison that she will be fine and a magical, protective dragon appears and the girls go to sleep.

Audience: Pre-school through lower elementary ages

Curriculum ties: Social studies, friendships

Awards (optional):

Personal response: This book with Pinkalicious is but one in a series of cute books aimed at small children. The illustrations are well done with out being too complicated. Pinkalicious’s attitude is always positive and I like the way the girls band together to help Allison get through her first sleep-over. Even with a magical dragon, the theme is not lost. As a parent, this was a situation I dealt with several times with my own daughter. She either did not want to be away from home or her friends were unsure about a slumber party at our house. ( )

This is a really cute story about a little girl who throws her first sleep over party, and she and her family dress up as royalty and her friends do too. This story shows these characters as imaginative, creative and fun. Throughout the sleepover they pretend that they are living in a castle away from home. One of her friends starts weeping in fear of being away from home. She tells her that the king and queen will protect them tonight who is really her mom and dad. This is a cute story that brings creativity and imagination. ( )