Overnight [Hardcover]

Adele Griffin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 10, 2003 | Age Level: 10 and up | Grade Level: 4 and up

Everyone expects Caitlin's sleepover birthday party to be perfect. She is one of the Lucky Seven, the group every sixth-grade girl wants to belong to. But those inside this enchanted circle know it's often less about feeling accepted and more about watching your step. Of the Seven, Gray is the easiest target for the others, and tonight she disappears. As the girls search for Gray, some of them worry. Others have secrets they're not telling, even to the police. And as the truth gets harder to hide, new emotions erupt, friendships become shaky, and a power struggle ensues. The Lucky Seven is in danger of falling apart. And as for Gray, she'll need to call on all of her wavering courage just to survive this turbulent night.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 4-7-The "Lucky Seven" make up the sixth-grade in-crowd at Fielding Academy for Girls. Gray Rosenfeld feels her loss of status within the group since vindictive leader Martha has made her the victim of considerable venom. In chapters told from four characters' perspectives, each narrator reveals her own reasons for staying in the group. Gray wants things to remain the same, competitive Zo' can't help but be swayed by the magnetic Martha, Leticia envies Martha's power but realizes that she can probably stage a successful coup, and Martha thrives on controlling people. The events play out at a slumber party one evening, during which Gray goes off with a mysterious young woman who appears at the back door, and vanishes. After a prolonged search, the police are called in and Martha withholds a crucial piece of information because it adds to her sense of power, a tactic that backfires in the end. The story moves quickly through its tension-filled pages, showing the self-absorption of Gray's supposed friends and their utter disregard for her circumstances. This deeply disturbing look at the dynamics of popularity and ethics is reminiscent of Amy Goldman Koss's The Girls (Dial, 2000). Readers will certainly recognize the characters in this insightful version of the universal story of ostracism and manipulation among preteens.
B. Allison Gray, South Country Library, Bellport, NY
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"This unsettling, memorable novel will have readers riveted." -- VOYA --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 10 and up
  
• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: Putnam Juvenile (March 10, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0399237828
• ISBN-13: 978-0399237829
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 7.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,092,451 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Look for All You Never Wanted (Random House) coming out in 2012.

Also Tighter is out this spring in paperback. With a really awesome new jacket.

And, if you're still interested, check out www.tighterthebook.com

You can find me on twitter, facebook, or on the web at www.adelegriffin.com.

Drop me a note and I promise to answer.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Great intro, fast moving, then ...., May 22, 2003

By 

J.D. Wise "Voracious Reader" (Londonderry, OH United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Overnight (Hardcover)

Have you ever been a part of a group so badly that you would do anything you could to hold on to your friends? This is only one of the hard-charging questions readers of Adele Griffin's Overnight will ask themselves.

Written from the perspective of the "Lucky Seven," the powerful and popular clique at Fielding Academy (an all-girls prep school) Overnight describes the consequences of keeping secrets, playing friends off of one another, group rivalries, and power grabs. After Gray Rosenfeld, a member of the Lucky Seven, disappears from a friend's birthday party, the remaining six friends make a mad dash to fill Gray's place at the same time they try to help the police and the girls' parents search for their friend.

Griffin's book has a great intro, and the chapters alternate from the perspective of each of the girls, adding a realism to the story. Readers will enjoy trying to predict what each girl is thinking and what will happen next. The book builds to a great ending that left this reader shouting "What??" 3.5 stars.