Slumber Party CL

As this restive story opens, Jane writes invitations to her birthday slumber party. Wild ( Let the Celebrations Begin! ; The Very Best of Friends ) then introduces the guests by describing what each one packs to bring to the bash: Cassie stows her electric toothbrush, since ``she brushes her teeth all the time''; Brenda lays in ``her water gun, some water balloons, her plastic doggie doo, and her black rubber spider''; Liam chooses his summer space-suit pajamas, ignoring his mother's warnings that they're not warm enough. The rather choppy text is presented as a series of extended captions alongside panels of Cox's ( Bossyboots ) copious, blithely energetic watercolors; the tale continues by chronicling the events of the evening. Jane's new white mouse escapes (and shows up later in her parents' bed); Emma suffers because her best friend is ignoring her; Brenda sneaks an unlikely midnight snack of birthday cake followed by ``half a jar of dill pickles and the next day's chicken''; Cassie brushes her teeth incessantly. By the time Wild and Cox finish reporting on this busy but uninvolving party, however, the strongest impression may be that you really had to be there. Ages 4-7. (Aug.)