At 8 years old, Nancy is thrilled to be invited to her first sleepover party with her pal Rebecca, who she walks to school with each day. But Rebecca is worried about how the party will turn out when first her handmade invitations go missing and then she gets a mysterious note saying to expect a disaster.

This is yet another spin-off of the popular Nancy Drew series, this time with a younger version of Nancy just embarking on her first case. This book was written in the early 1990s, so maybe it's not fair to judge it by today's standards but I read it in 2023 and that's going to color my perceptions. By naming conventions, Rebecca is likely Latina; she is described as "dramatic" on multiple occasions and portrayed as such, as well as being louder than the other girls. One other side character is seen to be Black from the one illustration with her in it; she is sidelined for most of the story. That's all there is for diversity.

The mystery isn't overly complicated other than that there are several factors at play and different culprits for the smaller components of it. Nevertheless, as an adult, it was pretty obvious what was going on. I did appreciate seeing how Nancy was reasoning things out though and making deductions, rather than a big reveal that doesn't explain how she came to those conclusions.

The illustrations don't honestly add much to the story other than to confirm that these children look and act slightly older than 8 (maybe more like 10 or 11) and that this is very much 90s fashion.

Overall, I was pretty underwhelmed with this opening title in a long-running series, but I'm willing to give the series a little more of a shot as this was a short, quick read. ( )

"Kitty och Rebecca är åtta år.
Rebecca ska ha sitt kalas om två dagar. Ett pyjamasparty! Hon har själv gjort inbjudningskorten och lagt dem i kuvert tillsammans med små fina presenter.
Men nu har någon stulit inbjudningarna. Någon som vill förstöra den roliga och spännande festen.
Som tur är ska även Kitty komma till kalaset. Kitty har aldrig löst något mysterium förut, men nu har hon lovat Rebecca att försöka hitta korten. Och hon finner snart flera ledtrådar. Dem skriver hon ner i en alldeles speciell anteckningsbok. Kanske kommer allt att ordna sig till slut."

In the Slumber Party Secret Rebecca Ramirez's birthday invitations come up missing so Nancy Drew promised her she would help find them so Rebecca can still have her slumber party. In the end, Nancy solves the case of the missing invitations. This book is full of mystery and is a great pleasure reading book. ( )