Samiksha Jaiswal (Editor)

The Scary Sleepover

Updated on
Edit
Like
Comment
Share on FacebookTweet on TwitterShare on LinkedInShare on Reddit
Translator
  
J. Alison James

Language
  
English

Publication date
  
2002

Author
  
Ulrich Karger

Genre
  
Children's literature

Published in english
  
2002

Country
  
United States

Publisher
  
North South Books

Originally published
  
2002

Page count
  
24

Illustrator
  
Uli Waas

The Scary Sleepover t3gstaticcomimagesqtbnANd9GcRfdHUoNE4KegPf

Original title
  
Geisterstunde im Kindergarten

Similar
  
The Birthday Bear, Come Back - Pigeon, A Mouse in the House!, Spiny, Ghost in the Classroom

The Scary Sleepover is a children's picture book, written for children between three and six years of age. The story is written by Ulrich Karger and illustrated by Uli Waas.

Contents

The scary sleepover


Plot summary

The book tells about a group of children having a Halloween sleepover party at school (Kindergarten). The children prepare for it by making decorations and costumes. As night draws near, so do the children's fears. One student, Mary, shares a trick her father taught her with the other students. He gave her a special bright star - whenever she feels afraid to go to bed, she has only to think about her star. This sends the darkness and the evil ghosts from her heart. Jonas does not believe in that, but he also thinks he is not afraid of ghosts. In the end, all the children need another, older trick: keeping the hallway light on all night.

Themes

The Scary Sleepover focuses on children who learn to overcome their fears of the dark by the example of a Halloween sleepover at school. Incidentally is detected: "The most boastful of the children becomes the most afraid. The Halloween setting with masks and long shadows in the dark is the perfect backdrop for this discussion."

Reception

Vicki Arkoff positively evaluates the text and the illustrations, but sees a problem especially for American readers: "Right off the bat it's clear that this simple picture book is a translated work because of its 'this would never happen in this country' premise. After all, how many parents do you know who let their pre-schoolers and kindergarteners have sleepovers at school? Sure enough it's a German tale about what happens during a Halloween sleepover party as nighttime falls and common fears begin to arise. (..) Putting the slightly awkward premise aside, this is a gently reassuring bedtime story sure to soothe bedtime jitters in homes everywhere.' Stan Steiner sees in the book "a cute solution to help overcome those ghastly fears around Halloween."

Book Information

  • ISBN 0-7358-1712-X (Hard Cover / North South Books Inc., New York)
  • ISBN 0-7358-1713-8 (Library Edition / North South Books Inc., New York)
  • ISBN 0-439-44863-8 (Paperback for the school market / Scholastic Inc., New York)
  • In addition, this picture book with the illustrations by Uli Waas is published and translated also in the following languages:

  • German original by Ulrich Karger: Geisterstunde im Kindergarten, 2002 ISBN 3-314-01151-2
  • Dutch by Sander Hendriks: Spoken in de speelzaal, 2002 ISBN 90-5579-684-0
  • French by Anne Ruck-Sultan: Halloween à l'école, 2002 ISBN 3-314-21536-3
  • Italian by Alessandra Valtieri: Halloween all'asilo, 2002 ISBN 88-8203-504-2
  • Slovene by Andreja Sabati-Suster: Ples duhov v otroškem vrtcu, 2002 ISBN 86-7823-284-6
  • References

    The Scary Sleepover Wikipedia