Half a Sleepover

For parents & caregivers

Inside this story

Priya has been looking forward all week to her friend Hugo's first sleepover. She especially wants to show him the forty-one glow-in-the-dark stars on her bedroom ceiling. After a playful toothbrushing scene, she switches off the lamp as a surprise. Hugo asks in a small voice for the light back and says he wants to go home. Priya first protests that a sleepover means sleeping over, an ordinary mistake. Then she notices how tightly he is hugging his dinosaur pillow, accepts that his wish is real and goes to tell her mum, who phones Hugo's dad. While they wait, Priya turns his springy sleeping bag into a 'sausage' and offers Hugo the lamp switch, so he can see the stars for as long as he chooses. Hugo picks a count of three, laughs at an upside-down 'starfish' star that seems to wave, and asks for a count of five. At the door he calls it a good half sleepover. Priya answers 'The best half' and means it, mostly. Friendship appears as caring about a friend whose needs differ from your own plans. Hugo's choice to go home is respected, Priya's disappointment is allowed to remain, the adults handle the phone call and pickup, and their connection stays intact. The story ends quietly with Priya waving to the starfish star for Hugo. There is no lecture, forced apology or moral summary.