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Sleepover Friends #24
Lauren's New Friend
When they share a cabin on the class camping trip, the Sleepover Friends adopt a strange girl named Bitsy for the weekend, and they face potential humiliation when they get lost on a hiking competition with the boys
- GenresYoung AdultMiddle Grade
86 pages, Paperback
Published May 1, 1990
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September 10, 2022
Lol the Sleepover Friends are such catty bitches, I can't help but love them. Shy bunkmate Bitsy is hiding something, so she must be giving intel for the big baseball game against the boys to her jerk cousin Wayne! Ahaha but at least they talked about inviting her to a sleepover in the future. I wonder if we ever get to see that? (These books are pretty good for keeping continuity.)
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June 22, 2024Lauren's New Friend
Mrs. Mead’s fifth-grade class will be spending the weekend at Silver Maples Park. There’s this kid on the bus Wayne Miller who's bragging about how good he is doing camp stuff but is talking ish about how cleaning and cooking is for women. Real men don’t cook. Even some of the boys wish he’d shut up. The girls of course are sick of listening to him. We learn that the kids will be spending two days doing volunteer work like helping the rangers pick up litter, planting seeds where there was a forest fire, and taking care of orphaned animals. There will also be cookouts and nature walks. Stephanie plans to sketch. Kate and Laureen have brought their cameras, and Patti will be collecting water for the Quartz Club.
Also along on the trip are Ronnie who is Wayne’s friend and always have allergies. Then there’s Bitsy whose Waymes cousin and a shy girl who barely talks. Wayne continues to run off at the mouth about how girls are scared of bugs. Henry points out how they did win the bika a thon. Lauren gets tired of Wayne and challenges him to a baseball game. Mark offers to play on Lauren’s team, but Wayne says that won’t work. So Lauren says no problem. Henry and Mark agree that if they can’t play they’ll cheer them on. Wayne starts to waffle and say he doesn’t have a ball, but Mark says he has one. They arrive at Silver Maples Park. A ranger introduces himself as Ranger Richard Dalton.
Sally is assigned to the girl’s room. They find out there will be a Friday sleepover with Bitsy. The Sleepover Friends, Bitsy, and Salley are in a cabin called “Cardinals”. The cabin is pretty wuch what you’d think of in a camp. Plus there’s a nest of spiders in the room. Luckily Stephanie has insect repliant. Next, Mrs. Mason takes the Sleepover Friends and Sally to a social outing. Bitsy says she’ll catch up. After a while tho she doesn’t appear and Lauren and Stephanie go back for her. They find her sitting alone talking to her tote bag. So, they go back. When she shows up she says she broke a shoelace. When they get back to the social hall, they’ve missed the spare ribs Stephanie’s dad made. But the parents have made other good things. There’s fried chicken, deviled eggs, German chocolate cake, baked ham with pineapple slices, potato salad(with bacon and pimentos), cherry pie, and peanut butter and chocolate chip cookies.
They find out Wayne tried to bribe Kyle to be on his team. He‘s also gotten to Pete (and he’s accepted). Jane is recruited to be on the girls team (and Sally). Some other girls say they’ll be on the team Tracey and Karla (Carla). Another ranger Anabelle is introduced and they show them a slide show. The girls notice Bitsy is missing. Lauren wonders if she’s spying for Wayne and when they saw her she was talking to a tape recorder. After the slide show (which shows some of the damages to the camp) they’re told they’ll be waking up at six thirty the next morning and their teacher gives them all their schedules for the day. Mrs. Milton even has a day where the boys will prepare the meals. Then they’re dismissed.
That might, they’re going to the showers. Stephanie is saying Bitsy is a cute girl. She just needs a new hairstyle. They hear crunching and think it’s a bobcat. Then they were sneezing and see Ronnie Miller and Wayne. They catch the attention of the teacher Mr. Patterson. Mr. Patterson says he’s going to report them. (They were outside trying to give the girls a scare). After Stephanie shares her bag of choclate almonds they all go to bed. Lauren thinks she hears Bitsy’s bag making a zipping noise before she dozes off.
They wake up to the smell of sausages and pancakes and they all have breakfast. The girls see Wayne giving Bitsy a hard time. Stephanie and Lauren tell Patty, Kate, and Sally what happened the day before. They all say they wish they could see what was inside the totel. When they get back to the room, the bag with Stephanie’s sweets is empty and there’s a hole in it. The others say it wasn’t them.
Ranger Dalton comes to get them and takes them to the area where the fires were. They pass a pond that slopes uphill which leads to a desert. The fire has wiped out everything living. Ranger Myers gives them some seedlings. They’ll pant maples and evergreens. So they get organized into groups of three (peat moss, water(er), planter). Lauren is stuck in a group with Wayne and Ronnie. After this, they build a fire to cook hamburgers and hotdogs for lunch. Of course, Wayne brags he can make a bigger fire.
Then they head to the animal hospital where they see a deer who got caught in a trap. They also see a cage full of raccoons who seem to be saying let them out. Ranger Myers says nope. They’re wild animals. They might scratch or bite and he doesn’t want them to get to use to people and be made into pets. He says they’ll keep them there until they can survive on their own. He asks for volunteers to help change a squirrel’s bandage. Surprisingly Bitsy volunteers and she’s good at it. The Ranber says she must have had a lot of experience. Wayne appears and says her house is like a zoo which embarrasses her and she walks to the back of the group after she sees the girls. Lauren says she doesn’t think she’s shy like Patti says. She thinks it’s guilt from spying on them.
You’ll have to read this baseball game yourself if you're interested in it or sports. I’m just not. Sorry! No one wins the game because it’s rained out. Wayne is furious! Patti says the girls won because mother nature is a girl and she struck Wayne out.
After they come back, Stephanie brings up another bag of candy. The mouse that chewed through the bag has chewed a hole in one of her favorite socks. They get to the picnic area and Wayne is still sulking, The boys are cooking that evening. The wood isn’t enough to cook the chicken and it starts drizzling so they head back to the cabins. Stephanie overs them more candy (chocolate-covered cherries). Stephanie says she wants to try something. Lauren notices she has her tote. Kate says she’s going to rig Lauren’s Polaroid to take a picture of whatever's been in their cabin. They wait until Bitsy and Sally’s mom are gone. They set up everything and try to stay awake but they’re all worn out from the busy day.
Lauren dreams of playing baseball and then she sees lights. It’s the flash of the camera. When she wakes up the candy they set out has been moved. When the photo develops, Stephanie sees a grotesque creature. Bitsy grabs the photo. There’s something they notice up in the ceiling and they see something small and gray that has a fluffy tail. Bitsy says it’s a flying squirrel. Stephanie freaks out. Bitsy tells them she found the squirrel on the way home. He had an injury. She fixed it. Now her mom wants her to get rid of him. That’s why she brought him with her. They remind her that Kevin is a wild animal, but Kate says she won’t tell. The next morning, there’s no sign of Bitsy or Kevin. The tote is gone too. That morning they clean up the ground. At lunch, they have cheese pizza. They have an hour or free time before they go back home. Wayne tells them they’re going to check out the spring and practically dares them to come with him. The walk is rougher on the girls than expected. They stop for a break and Wayne and Ronnie are gone.
They wait thinking the boys are playing a prank. They don’t return. Finally, something jumps out of the trees. It’s a rabbit. Patti suggests they climb the trees and try to spot the campgrounds. Lauren says she’ll do it. Lauren (and Kate) spot Bitsy. Lauren is about to yell to her but Kate shushes her. Bitsy frees Kevin and Patti says good for her. Lauren calls out to her and tells her Wayne ditched them. They comment on how hard it must have been to let Kevin go and she says the Ranger was right. He’s a wild animal and she was trying to turn him into a pet. She says Wayne tried to ditch her a time or too when they went camping but she has a built-in radar for finding her way around a campground. Lauren asks if her cousin has something against her and Bisy tells her he really likes her. He just doesn’t know how to tell her. But she gets them back and they leave for home. They all have a good laugh at Wayne and Ronnie’s faces when they get back to the parking lot. All the Sleepover Friends decide to invite her to the next sleepover and that’s she’s not weird at all.
My Thoughts
I kinda knew that I wasn’t gonna really like this one from the beginning. As soon as I heard there was gonna be a baseball game challenge I kind of zoned out thinking “Oh it’s another one of *hose* books”. The rest wasn’t really all that interesting either. Again we have random characters that hadn’t been a part of the series (that I can remember) and now they have a mediocre plot. Tyoucak! Some loud-mouth boy is going around running off at the mouth on some boys are better than girls BS. Then there’s a competion and the girls win. Only this time it’s a tie (Close enough). Yada! Yada! Yada! Then there’s a whole bunch of camp activities thrown in. The other plot is a “mystery” of what the shy girl is hiding and it’s just she has a wild animal and that solves the other “mystery” of whose been eating up Stephanie’s sweets.I’ve read better camp books in a series than this one.
Rating: 5
Mrs. Mead’s fifth-grade class will be spending the weekend at Silver Maples Park. There’s this kid on the bus Wayne Miller who's bragging about how good he is doing camp stuff but is talking ish about how cleaning and cooking is for women. Real men don’t cook. Even some of the boys wish he’d shut up. The girls of course are sick of listening to him. We learn that the kids will be spending two days doing volunteer work like helping the rangers pick up litter, planting seeds where there was a forest fire, and taking care of orphaned animals. There will also be cookouts and nature walks. Stephanie plans to sketch. Kate and Laureen have brought their cameras, and Patti will be collecting water for the Quartz Club.
Also along on the trip are Ronnie who is Wayne’s friend and always have allergies. Then there’s Bitsy whose Waymes cousin and a shy girl who barely talks. Wayne continues to run off at the mouth about how girls are scared of bugs. Henry points out how they did win the bika a thon. Lauren gets tired of Wayne and challenges him to a baseball game. Mark offers to play on Lauren’s team, but Wayne says that won’t work. So Lauren says no problem. Henry and Mark agree that if they can’t play they’ll cheer them on. Wayne starts to waffle and say he doesn’t have a ball, but Mark says he has one. They arrive at Silver Maples Park. A ranger introduces himself as Ranger Richard Dalton.
Sally is assigned to the girl’s room. They find out there will be a Friday sleepover with Bitsy. The Sleepover Friends, Bitsy, and Salley are in a cabin called “Cardinals”. The cabin is pretty wuch what you’d think of in a camp. Plus there’s a nest of spiders in the room. Luckily Stephanie has insect repliant. Next, Mrs. Mason takes the Sleepover Friends and Sally to a social outing. Bitsy says she’ll catch up. After a while tho she doesn’t appear and Lauren and Stephanie go back for her. They find her sitting alone talking to her tote bag. So, they go back. When she shows up she says she broke a shoelace. When they get back to the social hall, they’ve missed the spare ribs Stephanie’s dad made. But the parents have made other good things. There’s fried chicken, deviled eggs, German chocolate cake, baked ham with pineapple slices, potato salad(with bacon and pimentos), cherry pie, and peanut butter and chocolate chip cookies.
They find out Wayne tried to bribe Kyle to be on his team. He‘s also gotten to Pete (and he’s accepted). Jane is recruited to be on the girls team (and Sally). Some other girls say they’ll be on the team Tracey and Karla (Carla). Another ranger Anabelle is introduced and they show them a slide show. The girls notice Bitsy is missing. Lauren wonders if she’s spying for Wayne and when they saw her she was talking to a tape recorder. After the slide show (which shows some of the damages to the camp) they’re told they’ll be waking up at six thirty the next morning and their teacher gives them all their schedules for the day. Mrs. Milton even has a day where the boys will prepare the meals. Then they’re dismissed.
That might, they’re going to the showers. Stephanie is saying Bitsy is a cute girl. She just needs a new hairstyle. They hear crunching and think it’s a bobcat. Then they were sneezing and see Ronnie Miller and Wayne. They catch the attention of the teacher Mr. Patterson. Mr. Patterson says he’s going to report them. (They were outside trying to give the girls a scare). After Stephanie shares her bag of choclate almonds they all go to bed. Lauren thinks she hears Bitsy’s bag making a zipping noise before she dozes off.
They wake up to the smell of sausages and pancakes and they all have breakfast. The girls see Wayne giving Bitsy a hard time. Stephanie and Lauren tell Patty, Kate, and Sally what happened the day before. They all say they wish they could see what was inside the totel. When they get back to the room, the bag with Stephanie’s sweets is empty and there’s a hole in it. The others say it wasn’t them.
Ranger Dalton comes to get them and takes them to the area where the fires were. They pass a pond that slopes uphill which leads to a desert. The fire has wiped out everything living. Ranger Myers gives them some seedlings. They’ll pant maples and evergreens. So they get organized into groups of three (peat moss, water(er), planter). Lauren is stuck in a group with Wayne and Ronnie. After this, they build a fire to cook hamburgers and hotdogs for lunch. Of course, Wayne brags he can make a bigger fire.
Then they head to the animal hospital where they see a deer who got caught in a trap. They also see a cage full of raccoons who seem to be saying let them out. Ranger Myers says nope. They’re wild animals. They might scratch or bite and he doesn’t want them to get to use to people and be made into pets. He says they’ll keep them there until they can survive on their own. He asks for volunteers to help change a squirrel’s bandage. Surprisingly Bitsy volunteers and she’s good at it. The Ranber says she must have had a lot of experience. Wayne appears and says her house is like a zoo which embarrasses her and she walks to the back of the group after she sees the girls. Lauren says she doesn’t think she’s shy like Patti says. She thinks it’s guilt from spying on them.
You’ll have to read this baseball game yourself if you're interested in it or sports. I’m just not. Sorry! No one wins the game because it’s rained out. Wayne is furious! Patti says the girls won because mother nature is a girl and she struck Wayne out.
After they come back, Stephanie brings up another bag of candy. The mouse that chewed through the bag has chewed a hole in one of her favorite socks. They get to the picnic area and Wayne is still sulking, The boys are cooking that evening. The wood isn’t enough to cook the chicken and it starts drizzling so they head back to the cabins. Stephanie overs them more candy (chocolate-covered cherries). Stephanie says she wants to try something. Lauren notices she has her tote. Kate says she’s going to rig Lauren’s Polaroid to take a picture of whatever's been in their cabin. They wait until Bitsy and Sally’s mom are gone. They set up everything and try to stay awake but they’re all worn out from the busy day.
Lauren dreams of playing baseball and then she sees lights. It’s the flash of the camera. When she wakes up the candy they set out has been moved. When the photo develops, Stephanie sees a grotesque creature. Bitsy grabs the photo. There’s something they notice up in the ceiling and they see something small and gray that has a fluffy tail. Bitsy says it’s a flying squirrel. Stephanie freaks out. Bitsy tells them she found the squirrel on the way home. He had an injury. She fixed it. Now her mom wants her to get rid of him. That’s why she brought him with her. They remind her that Kevin is a wild animal, but Kate says she won’t tell. The next morning, there’s no sign of Bitsy or Kevin. The tote is gone too. That morning they clean up the ground. At lunch, they have cheese pizza. They have an hour or free time before they go back home. Wayne tells them they’re going to check out the spring and practically dares them to come with him. The walk is rougher on the girls than expected. They stop for a break and Wayne and Ronnie are gone.
They wait thinking the boys are playing a prank. They don’t return. Finally, something jumps out of the trees. It’s a rabbit. Patti suggests they climb the trees and try to spot the campgrounds. Lauren says she’ll do it. Lauren (and Kate) spot Bitsy. Lauren is about to yell to her but Kate shushes her. Bitsy frees Kevin and Patti says good for her. Lauren calls out to her and tells her Wayne ditched them. They comment on how hard it must have been to let Kevin go and she says the Ranger was right. He’s a wild animal and she was trying to turn him into a pet. She says Wayne tried to ditch her a time or too when they went camping but she has a built-in radar for finding her way around a campground. Lauren asks if her cousin has something against her and Bisy tells her he really likes her. He just doesn’t know how to tell her. But she gets them back and they leave for home. They all have a good laugh at Wayne and Ronnie’s faces when they get back to the parking lot. All the Sleepover Friends decide to invite her to the next sleepover and that’s she’s not weird at all.
My Thoughts
I kinda knew that I wasn’t gonna really like this one from the beginning. As soon as I heard there was gonna be a baseball game challenge I kind of zoned out thinking “Oh it’s another one of *hose* books”. The rest wasn’t really all that interesting either. Again we have random characters that hadn’t been a part of the series (that I can remember) and now they have a mediocre plot. Tyoucak! Some loud-mouth boy is going around running off at the mouth on some boys are better than girls BS. Then there’s a competion and the girls win. Only this time it’s a tie (Close enough). Yada! Yada! Yada! Then there’s a whole bunch of camp activities thrown in. The other plot is a “mystery” of what the shy girl is hiding and it’s just she has a wild animal and that solves the other “mystery” of whose been eating up Stephanie’s sweets.I’ve read better camp books in a series than this one.
Rating: 5
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 1, 2025
I love that the 80s and 90s all had books and movies with camping themes and they weren't all horror stories. The BSC had a similar storyline as this one with a weird girl sharing a cabin with them who saves the day.
Anyway the school is going for a weekend at a wilderness camp, something my school did as well only it was during the week in either late winter or early spring and we had to lug extremely heavy backpacks in from the highway. It's not winter in this book but probably late fall or spring. We have Wayne the pest who likes to burp as well as being a jerk. His cousin Bitsy is also there and she and her siblings all have B names. One night the girls catch Bitsy talking to her tote bag. I clued in immediately that she had an animal with her and not that she was crazy but there wouldn't be a plot if they had too.
There's baseball game between the boys and girls that ends in a storm and a tie and the girls find out Bitsy has a squirrel in her bag that broke his leg.
Then the go on a hike with the boys and get lost and just like the BSC the weird girl stays calm and gets them home while the boys barely arrive in time for the busses home.
I vaguely remember this one, mostly the cover, it seems the cover art is most of my memories of this series, I might be mixing my memories up with Babysitters Summer Vacation although there was no squirrel in that one, but I did enjoy this story. Next up one possibly two weddings which means ugly 80s style bridesmaids dresses!
Anyway the school is going for a weekend at a wilderness camp, something my school did as well only it was during the week in either late winter or early spring and we had to lug extremely heavy backpacks in from the highway. It's not winter in this book but probably late fall or spring. We have Wayne the pest who likes to burp as well as being a jerk. His cousin Bitsy is also there and she and her siblings all have B names. One night the girls catch Bitsy talking to her tote bag. I clued in immediately that she had an animal with her and not that she was crazy but there wouldn't be a plot if they had too.
There's baseball game between the boys and girls that ends in a storm and a tie and the girls find out Bitsy has a squirrel in her bag that broke his leg.
Then the go on a hike with the boys and get lost and just like the BSC the weird girl stays calm and gets them home while the boys barely arrive in time for the busses home.
I vaguely remember this one, mostly the cover, it seems the cover art is most of my memories of this series, I might be mixing my memories up with Babysitters Summer Vacation although there was no squirrel in that one, but I did enjoy this story. Next up one possibly two weddings which means ugly 80s style bridesmaids dresses!
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