The Sleepover Club at the Carnival. Sue Mongredien

by Sue Mongredien

      CONTENTS

       Cover

       Title Page

      Chapter One

      Chapter Two

      Chapter Three

      Chapter Four

      Chapter Five

      Chapter Six

      Chapter Seven

       Chapter Eight

       Chapter Nine

       Chapter Ten

       Have you been invited to all these sleepovers?

       Sleepover kit List

       Copyright

       About the Publisher

      

      Howdy, fans, Kenny here. You know, the quiet, shy, retiring, polite one! What do you mean, you don’t believe me? Oh, OK, then – I’m the loud, rude one who’s always getting us into trouble. Satisfied?

      Hey, what are you doing upside-down like that anyway? What? You’re NOT upside-down? Oh – silly me! You just LOOK upside-down, that’s all. In fact, everything looks upside-down – because I’m upside-down! Derrr! I’ve been practising for the world record in standing on your head, you see. The only thing is, after a while, you forget you’re the wrong way round and it seems perfectly normal to be staring at people’s feet. My dad keeps saying that being upside-down all the time means my brain is getting squashed, and it’s only a matter of time before it turns to mush. I don’t THINK I believe him, but then he IS a doctor, so maybe he knows something I don’t?

      Hang on a second while I turn the right way again. There, that’s better! Let’s go and sit out in the garden, shall we? I hate staying indoors when the weather’s nice. Why stay inside four boring walls when you can practise your cartwheels up and down the lawn?

      Anyway, I’m glad I saw you, because the others voted for me to tell you all about the Cuddington Carnival and what we did for it. “Kenny,” they said, “as the best, funniest, cleverest and most entertaining storyteller of all of us, you MUST tell all the Sleepover Club fans what happened at the carnival. We’re begging you!”

      OK, OK, so the others didn’t quite say all of that. But as Frankie pointed out, a lot of what I’m about to tell you is MY story. And as animal-mad Lyndz would say – you might as well hear it straight from the horse’s mouth! (Not that I’m a horse, but… Oh, you know what I mean.)

      Have you ever been to a carnival? Believe it or not, I HADN’T until last week. Now I’ve been to one, I want to go to lots more – they are so megatastically awesome! And the only thing that’s keeping me from being completely gutted that this year’s carnival is all over, is the fact that it’s half term now. We’re off school for a week, yippee! But if the carnival had just finished and we still had to go back to school – that would just be too traumatic for words!

      Anyway, I’d better get on with the story. The rest of the Sleepover Club is coming over for lunch in a bit, and you know what a load of blabbermouths they are – they’ll just want to interrupt me all the time. And we don’t want that, do we?

      Well, the first I heard about the Cuddington Carnival was from my mum. She’s a pretty good source for juicy gossip, and always knows what’s going on around Cuddington. She helps out as a receptionist at my dad’s surgery and also does some hairdressing from home, so one way or another, people are always telling her their news – which she then tells to my grandma on the phone. That’s when I start earwigging.

      Over the years, I’ve built up quite a good gossip radar in my ears. There are certain words that my radar always picks up on, however boring the rest of the talk is. For example, here’s a typical conversation between Mum and Grandma on the phone. Mum tends to do most of the talking so this is what I hear:

      “Recipe for lemon cake… drone, drone… Alison Parker’s new baby… drone, drone-Mrs Ellis’s sciatica… drone, drone… Emma’s boyfriend…”

      PING! That’s where my ears prick up. Emma’s my oldest sister and she never tells me anything about her love life, even though I’m always trying to find out the gory details. Excellent blackmailing material, you see – not to mention all the fun I can have winding her up! But although Emma won’t tell ME anything, she often confides in Mum, and that’s where the gossip radar comes in handy. It means that once Mum starts yakking on to Grandma about it, yours truly gets to find out what’s going on, too!

      So a couple of weeks ago, I was sitting in my favourite eavesdropping position – at the kitchen table, pretending to flick through one of Emma’s magazines, with one ear firmly tuned to Mum. This time, I heard:

      “Cathy Clayton’s new hairdo… drone, drone… Jim’s working too hard… drone, drone… Molly’s piano exam… drone, drone… plans for the carnival…”

      PING! Carnival? What carnival? What was she talking about? I immediately tuned in fully to hear more.

      “Yes, Sheila Adams told me about it,” Mum was saying. “At the end of the month… Oh, you know, floats and dressing up and bouncy castles, I should think… Mmm, well, she’s asked me to help out with some baking, as there are going to be stalls in the main street. I was wondering if I could get your chocolate cheesecake recipe off you… Yes…”

      My radar switched itself off at the recipe word. Dull City! Then I had to wait impatiently while Mum finished chatting before I could find out any more about the carnival.

      Click! The second that I heard her put the phone down, I swung round in my chair. “Mum, what were you saying about a carnival?” I said at once. “I couldn’t help overhearing…”

      She grinned at me. “I thought I could feel the breeze of a pair of ears flapping behind me,” she said. She was pretending to be cross, but I knew she didn’t mind. Let’s face it, we both know where I get my nosiness from. “I was just telling Grandma that Cuddington is going to have a carnival at the end of the month. Something to do with Cuddington being one hundred years old. I’m going to be doing some baking for it, and—”

      “But what IS a carnival exactly?” I burst out, not wanting to hear another word about Mum’s baking plans. “I mean, what’s going to be happening? Is it just a load of soppy dancing and stuff?”

      She thought for a moment. “I think it’s all a bit up in the air still,” she said. “Yes, there’ll be dancing and music and bands playing, I should think. Then there’s probably going to be a parade with different floats, and people all dressed up. There’s going to be a funfair on the green with lots of rides and a bouncy castle. And stalls and sideshows up and down the high street. That sort of thing.”

      I bounced off my chair and jumped up and down with excitement. “Excellent!” I said. “Wait till I tell the others!”

      I was just about to get on the phone and ring round the rest of the Sleepover Club to tell them the news but Mum looked at her watch. “Not so fast,” she said. “I promised Emma she could use the phone after I’d finished. And by the time SHE’s done with it, it’ll be your bedtime.”

      “Oh, Mu-um!” I moaned. Emma’s sixteen and spends HOURS on the phone. It must be