Destiny Ink: Sleepover Surprise (Volume 1) by Adeola Sokunbi is a fun story about worries and friendship. It has cute images accompanying the familiar and fresh take on the theme. The end.
The thing is, this is a quick read for the adult reader. There is not a lot of meat to the potatoes, but those ‘taters do have some nice butter and the skin is still on. For the aged six to nine reader, it is good. It is a solid story. They might read a chapter or two at a time, and not rush through it. The characters are fun, simple, and we know them. They are our children, nieces, nephews and grandchildren. They are normal with their feelings and thoughts. They are precocious and precious. Nothing is WOW for me, but cozy. It was a light blanket you toss on your legs when it is nippy.
And that is because it is a comfy story. A young girl is nervous about her first overnight sleepover with her friends. It would be better if it was indoors, but they will sleep in a tent. Projecting her feelings onto her pet hamster, the parents of the story help her work through feelings. But it is not until she is woken in the middle of the night by a new monster friend that has some similar feelings about being out in the human world, that helps her work out the worries.
Diversity is also a point addressed with the narrator’s family being a family of color, which makes some things that our character worries about are related to that (like would her friend’s mom know how to help her do her hair wrap). I like how things work out. I mean I knew they would, but it is how they work out that is nice. However, there is one small issue: to help her monster friend water is spilt and not cleaned up. Yet, that is an overall small situation.
