House Party

by Eric Walters

As the new girl in a strange town, Casey is trying desperately to fit in and make friends. When her parents leave town for the weekend, her friend suggests she have a house party. Casey is reluctant to go along, until she realizes maybe this is the answer to fitting in and making friends—and getting back at her parents. They invite a few people and then a few more, using msn and text messaging. Hundreds of people show up and things get out of hand. Casey is in more trouble than she thought possible and now she must decide whether—and how—to do the right thing.

Genres: Realistic Fiction, Young Adult, School, Ebooks, Fiction

128 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Eric was born in Toronto in 1957, which makes him "real old". But, as Eric says, "Just because I have to grow old doesn't mean that I have to grow up!" In his many roles as parent, teacher, social worker, youth sports coach and writer he is in constant contact with children and young adults. He draws from these experiences and feels that this helps him to capture the realistic interaction between young people—the conflicts, tensions, stresses and interests that make up their lives.

Eric began his writing as a teacher. He taught in classes from kindergarten up and his stories often reflect the curriculum that he was teaching. He always read stories—picture books and novels—to his students and this helped him to understand what children liked, responded to, and were inspired by. He enjoys the enthusiasm of his students and often looks at them to provide him with the inspiration to pursue a particular topic in both the classroom and in his writing.

Eric tries to write every day. When he has a story idea he starts with research. This could involve reading books, watching a documentary, or trying to experience the things that his characters are going to go through. This could include rock climbing or riding white water (for Stars), spending time in a wheelchair (Rebound), playing and walking with tigers (Tiger by the Tail), hanging around a tough biker bar (Diamonds in the Rough), standing out in his backyard in a blizzard wearing a T-shirt and shorts (Trapped in Ice), or traveling to Africa (Alexandria of Africa).

"The most important thing anybody ever told me about writing was to write what you know . . . and the only way to get to know things is to do your homework and research before you write," Eric stated.

Once the writing begins the story is always playing around in his head. He takes any opportunity, even if it's just a few minutes between presentations, to put things down, either with pen and paper or on his laptop.

Prior to entering teaching and writing Eric was a social worker (B.S.W., M.S.W., B.A.Hons—specialized major psychology). He worked in a variety of settings including child welfare, private practice, a mental health centre, and, for twenty years on a part-time basis as a Crisis Social Worker in an emergency department. He stopped teaching 4 years ago and left the ER only last year.

The majority of Eric's time is spent in the company of his wife, children and dogs (Lola a big standard poodle and a little white dog named Winnie the Poodle).

Reviews

[Melanie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Second time reading this and this time? It was just okay. I liked how quickly the story moved and the ending was good. However, the actual story was kind of boring. It basically all revolved around one party and that was not that interesting to me this time.

[Jamison · Rating 3 out of 5]

I understand that the whole purpose of this book is to get teens into reading but even I struggled to finish this book's short number of pages. I think the reason for that is because I couldn't relate to the characters as much as the author had intended. Personally, I have always been an extrovert and never really struggled with making friends, unlike the main character Casey. Casey's friend Jen is the polar opposite and is constantly trying to be a rule breaker. Jen is a really bad influence on Casey and I didn't like how Casey had to suffer the consequences of having the party when Jen pressured her into having it in the first place. I also think Jen is a really bad friend because she pushed Casey into things that she wasn't comfortable with. Overall, I think the book had some good themes and lessons that we can all learn from.

[SeeAmandaRead · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5/5 Stars

What happens when two stupid 15 year olds throw a party when the parents go away? Hundreds of people show up, the house gets trashed, people get hurt, and the cops get called. I would say spoiler alert, but this is pretty predictable.

I would recommend this PSA book, against the dangers of MSN messenger, to tweens in the early 2000's.

I'm not sure why I read this. I just wanted something dumb and easy to read while I was sick and this fit!

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good story showing that you shouldn't give in and do something you know is wrong. Even though Casey thought she prepared the house enough, the outcome of her party showed her otherwise. I do wish that we'd have seen her parents reactions, but we kind of got an idea of what they'd be through her friend's mom.

[Adrianna · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book I read was Houseparty by Eric Walters. The hook of this book was that Casey’s parents were going out of town and her and her bestfriend Jen were planning on throwing a small party to try and fit in and make more friends knowing that there were lots of consequences if they were to get caught. Casey’s parents were leaving out of town and Casey was supposed to stay the night at Jens, instead they stayed at Casey’s and decided to throw a small party with a few people. Eventually hundreds of people started showing up and breaking everything in her house. The cops got called and Casey got in huge trouble with her parents. One thing the author did was he got straight into the conflict. Instead of going through a bunch of boring events, it was only about 40 pages of explaining and then problems started occurring. The author did this to make the story more exciting and engaging. He also used a lot of direct characterization for example on pg. 8 Casey is talking about Jen and says, “she was not the most responsible person in the world” by telling us this we are shown throughout the rest of the story how irresponsible Jen is and all the stupid decisions she makes and when she finally makes a good one, it’s surprising. Not only that but the author also cut off the story short at the end. Instead of letting the story go on and letting us find out what happens when her parents see her and the house he used foreshadowing as its says on pg. 117, “I have a pretty good idea. They’re going to yell and tell you how disappointed they are in you... then they’re going to hug you and thank god that your all right.” By using dialogue and foreshadowing the author makes the story shorter so that way us readers don’t get annoyed.The readers that would enjoy this book are definitely ones that like short reads with lots of action because at one point in the story hundreds of things are going on at a time, things are being broken, people are getting hurt, cops are coming, and everything is just so chaotic so excitement is definitely a huge part in this book. I also think that more teens rather than adults would like this book considering most teenagers can relate to this.

[Kimberly B. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read the book House Party written by Eric Walters. It is an interesting book. I really liked how it was a quick, short read. I feel like it gives a good scenario of what may happen when two adolescents decide to throw a house party without their parents consent. There are many valuable things in Casey’s house so she makes sure to place things in a secure place away from any possible danger. The book shows a scenario where things can get out of control real quick. It also shows how falling into temptation can become regretful fairly quickly. This would be supported through when Jen adds some alcohol in the punch to spike it and Casey did not want to at first but then agreed to have some added so she would not appear lame. Then when people came in, guests had added more alcohol to the punch and Casey and Jen had been drinking from it all night and had gotten drunk without knowing that the punch had been tampered with. The main characters have opposite attitudes. There is Casey whom is innocent, and likes doing things the rightful way, and then there is Jen whom is a little rebel and likes to do what she has to do to get out there and become recognized by the “cool” kids. The book shows how throwing a party cannot always be safe and how sometime people actually die at them if they are not careful with what they intake. The moral of the story would be to not throw house parties without any supervision or consent from an adult and or the rightful owner. I feel like the end was in a way frustrating because I as the reader wanted to know what punishments would be given and exactly how their reactions would lay out to be. I would recommend this book to those who like to go out all the time and party. I would also recommend this book to those who like short stories filled with drama.

[Theron · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've just read House Party, a book about two teens who decide to throw a party. This book has a few more than a hundred pages in the book, however everything is managed to get crammed in there. The main theme is teens throwing a house party while there parents are away and things get too carried away. This book really shows the difference in people's individual personalities and how realistic such events can really be. Each character shows different emotion such as worrying or excitement.
My favorite character is Jen which is one of the two girls that helped setting up the party. Jen was the one with the idea of the party. She uses logic and persuasion to get her friend to agree to personally host this party. I also liked how she said she wouldn’t get drunk at the party, but still did, however it wasn’t her fault. The punch in the punchbowl was spiked heavily with liquor so I liked how she kept her word.
The part of this book I didn’t like was when a couple upstairs wasn’t aloud up there so when they had to go, the boyfriend broke a lamp. This book really shows the possibilities of what could happen at a party leading to strangers, rude people, or even thieves. This book has plenty of conflicts that keep getting worse and worse. Although the book sounds like a total disaster at the end, the book adds in a bit of reality showing the pros and cons of a huge mistake such as forgiving/ worries parents. I highly suggest this book to anyone that doesn’t like reading books with a lot of pages and is pretty interesting for a book so small.

[Sage Heitman · Rating 2 out of 5]

Casey is the new girl at school and only has one friend so far named Jen. When Jen and her are sitting in her room one night studying for school her mom comes in and says that they have to go back to their old house to clean out all their stuff before they finally sell it. At the time Casey has a lot going on in school. She has to get ready for tests coming up and a soccer game over the weekend. So she comes up with a plan to stay with Jen so she doesn't have to miss any of that and because her mom doesn't trust her at home alone. So when her parents go out of town for the weekend they come up with a great idea to throw a party at her house since no one is there and so she can try and meet new people and make new friends. When they first start inviting people they only invite a few people but after awhile there are a lot more than expected. She gets herself in deeper than she wanted too and now she doesn't know what to do or how to handle the whole party situation.

[Kyle Coffin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really good book. If I had to rate this book out of 5 stars I would say a 4. If you have always wanted to start a party at your house then you should read this book. It is a very exciting book and wants I started reading it, it was hard to put it down.
This book has two main characters. Caesy she is the main character and it is her house where they have the party with her friend. Her friend was going to invite a couple of people like 10-15 people. Caesy and her friend got ready for the party but putting some stuff away. It was time for the party and people started to show up and more and more people that they didn’t know who they were and It starts to get really bad.

[5Chyna · Rating 3 out of 5]

this girl just moved in town and her poarents go on a 1 week vacation and her and her friend jenny is throwing a party so everyone knows who she is and she wont be the new kid. It was just supposed to be just a few people and it turned out to be a complete disaster. Cops were called and she was in trouble. Read the book and see what happened next.......

[jacey · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was a waste of time. Literally nothing happens and they just explain how their house was destroyed during an out of control party. Didn’t connect with the book and felt unrealistic in a lot of ways.

[Samantha Moffat · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a really good book, I highly recommend it if you just want a quick read.

[Kerian Samaru · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very predictable.

[5Aaliyah]

it was good

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book that i read is house party by eric walter. i think the compares of house party is the dead end job beause in both of the stores are involve great adventure with friends, solving there problems as friends and also helping each other. The dislikes of this book is the ending of the book beause at the end of the book it did'nt give more details at the end like if casey parent's found out about the party they host at there house or the pashement that casey's parents gave to her for having the party.The book house party is special is beause the give lots of details, its funny its very interesing book to read. The pros/likes are 2-4.
The main character in house party is casey.The other characters are casey friend name jen and jen's mother. The major event in the house party is that When Casey's mother tells her that they are going away for the weekend and Casey will need to go with them but casey said she wants to stay in her house alone and finish her school assigment but then jen come over to casey house but Jen come up with another plan. jen tell Casey's parents that she can stay at Jen's house, while Jen tells her mother that she is planning to stay with her friend at Casey's house so she won't be all alone. The intent of this plan is so that the girls can plan a party in Casey's house unsupervised.while Jen's encourage Casey agrees to host the party and invite at least fifteen people. Casey works hard to pack away any breakable objects and "party proof" the main rooms of the house. While she is busy with the preparation of the party while Jen is busy online inviting people and spreading word about the event on MSN. She announces that she invited more than the agreed upon fifteen just in case some of them can't come. According to Jen, it would be worse than no party at all if no one shows up.Shortly after 9:00pm the guests begin to arrive. At first the party is upbeat, and Casey is glad she let Jen talk her into it. However, in no time at all her worst nightmares begin to come true the party is out of control.The hook in the story is that they might be both in a very very big trouble.This story connects to a movie that this girl was hosting a party in her house.My favorite scene about this book is that when casey open the her door and and there lots of people that she didnt invite or didnt know them. She was really surprise and shock beause jen told that she will invite people that she know , casey didnt know some of the people. casey though that those people are collage. my opinion of this book is that students who like partys should read this book , other students who like reading intesting books and having lots of fun.

[Tyra]

it is a good book and it is a book for a teen to read so they now its a bad idea to party.

[Tiffany · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not the best book I've ever read, but not the worst either. It is very cliché. The students in my book club enjoyed it!

[Logan Bunch · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is about a high school party that turns for the worst. A simple party of around ten was the plan. Two girls decided to throw a small party but their plans were foiled. Way more than ten people showed up. In fact it may have been more than 100. Drinking and teens never mix. That is especially true in this book. Things were left broken everywhere and people were arrested.

[Elyanna Rondon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was very relatable.There was an important moral to the story that is very important to life. If you want a book with suspense you should totally read this!

[Jennifer Wardrip · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reviewed by Sally Kruger, aka "Readingjunky" for TeensReadToo.com

Sometimes, even with great planning and the best of intentions, things can go wrong - very wrong. In HOUSE PARTY, Casey and Jen learn that the hard way.

When Casey's mother announces that they are going away for the weekend and Casey will need to go with them, Casey and her friend Jen come up with another plan. The girls tell Casey's parents that she can stay at Jen's house, while Jen tells her mother that she is planning to stay with her friend at Casey's house so she won't be all alone. The intent of this deception is so that the girls can plan a party in Casey's unsupervised house.

With Jen's encouragement, Casey agrees to host the party and invite at least fifteen people. Casey works hard to pack away any breakable objects and "party proof" the main rooms of the house. While she is busy with the physical preparation, Jen is busy online inviting people and spreading word about the event on MSN. She announces that she invited more than the agreed upon fifteen just in case some of them can't come. According to Jen, it would be worse than no party at all if no one shows up.

Shortly after 9:00pm the guests begin to arrive. At first the party atmosphere is upbeat, and Casey is glad she let Jen talk her into it. However, in no time at all, her worst nightmares begin to come true. The party is out of control.

HOUSE PARTY by Eric Walters is a fast-paced story that won't sit on the shelf for long. Teens, with or without "party" experience, will relate to the girls and the predictable yet riveting action at their party.

[Bryan · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book I read is called House Party by Eric Walters. This book started out good but then I started to dislike it because one of the characters that her name is Jen, started to get annoying because she alway was crying in the whole book pretty much. The second thing i disliked about this book was that the ending was really bad i thought something more exciting would had happen. The main characters in this story are Jen the one that throwing the party and Casey one of Jen friend.other characters are Casey mom and jen mom and dad.The major event in this story was when people started to come in the house to party.The hooks thtat got me into reading this book was the title it sound good because party mean it going to be intrestin alot of fun things happen at party.This book kinda remind me of a movie called Project X because they throw a party like this book did they said only a little amount of people then there were hundreds. One special scene was when people started to rush in becuase people wouldnt let them in. I dislike this book because the ending was not great and killed the whole book when the cops didnt do noting about the party. my rate to this book will be a two.

[Gage Konrade · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book House Party by, Eric Walters, it is about two unpopular young teenagers in high school who dosen't have any friends and they are trying to get noticed.So one of the girls thought that they would get noticed by planning a party at the girls house while her parents are gone. the other one dident want to but the girl persuaded her into having one.After they both decided to have one they called only 15 people and when the party started they had over 40 people.There they wanted to to have no alchohol and people spiked the punch and every one started getting drunk.and started breaking stuff and then people heard sirens and the cops came and every one left but the two girls.they had to fix everything before the parents get home they did and the book dident tell the ending part for some reason.The author is telling you to fell scared ,estatic and releaved.Its teaching us to not get out of hand and just do your best and be your self and dont try to be something your not.

[Rosa Hernandez · Rating 3 out of 5]

House Party by Eric Walters
this book is like projectX is a movie about a boy that when his parents when to vocation he make a party in his house and he burn house and another boy throw the car to the pool. This book is special because the girl is only 15 years old a she make a party becuse her friend tell her. I like this book becuse she was so dumd to do the party and let the people put it in the internt.Casey and Jen make the party becuse they want to be popular in her school and no to be a loser she is new to the town, after a one hour in half the living room was full of people casey is try to get out all the people. When a boy throw the sterio to the window. you never know what is gona happen in the party. Connection to the world because some girls make party. When Casey dacen with mike they look happy in the party. This book have a lot of interesting things and i like how she was so frostrated becuse a lot of people where breaking things.

[Wan Yu( Stephanie) · Rating 3 out of 5]

The title of this book already tell the readers what the book is about. This book is about Casey who got convinced by Jen to open a house party when her parents go to work over the weekends. Casey thought the party is going to be alright so they invited more people to the party. But things go wrong as the time passes by: people went to Casey parents' bedroom and bathroom; random people come in for no reason;people breaking the bowl, ect. Everything got messed up. Finally, they called the police in and overcome all the problems, but there's still one big problem: her parents. I think we should think before we do anything, we should list all the prosabilities about the things that going to happen.Also, we should listen to what parents had said, because they always good to you and not hurting you on propose.

[Connie · Rating 4 out of 5]

For all the Orca series books, which this one is a part of they never reach the full climax. Therefore one star will automatically disappear. However in House Party, they actually got closer to the climax than they have ever done before. This was reason for excitement.

The two girls decide to have a party, with Jen peer pressuring the other. While all of these Orca books are about teen issues, I really liked this one even though I would never host a party.

I really liked how the little things that they wanted, with a little peer pressure worked out. I really also liked the ripple effect of who ended up coming. I think this book portrayed this topics accurately, and escalated very well. It was realistic novel overall, however I wish it just went one scene more. The rest I could take for myself, yet I wish that the one last scene was there.

[Xiao Wen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I never been to a party like the one in the book. The house party in the book is totally chaos. I do not understand that why so many people go to the party without the invitation. However, I think that Jen is a good friend because although she is the one that always disobedient to her parents, but she always help Casey no matter what happen. Although Jen creates the chaos, but while she knows Casey has a hard time to handle, she usually stand out. I think that Jen has dual personalities because when she is facing the elders, she always be good and obendient, but when she is facing peers, she is always acting she does not care about anything.

[Evelyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book I read was House Party and the Author is Eric Walters.At the end it was repeating the same what was going on. This book is unique becuase if you love mystery you will enjoy it. another thing i liked was that it makes a moral at the end of the story. The main character is Casey, from what i read she was blonde and short. She cared about her friend. The girls throw a party, when one of the parents leave out of the town.The hook of the story is that they do something they not suppose to be doing. I can connect this book to text to world. one special scene is where they are worried that noone comes to the party. my opinion is the book was really good becuase i couldnt stop reading it.

[Maddie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is called "House Party", written by Eric Walters. This book is for people who love dramatic short stories. This book is about two friends, their names are Casey and Jen. Casey is new in town and Jen is her best friend. On the weekend Casey's mom told her that she and her dad were going out of town for the weekend. Her mom thinks that Casey is going to stay at Jen's house for the weekend, and Jen's mom thinks Jen is staying at Casey's house for the weekend. It is true that Jen is staying at Casey's house for the weekend, but not just to hang out! They are having a party! I loved this book! It is a book that I think everyone would love! That's why I gave it 5 stars!

[Tina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even though I really liked this book, I rated it a 3 star because I don't quite get the "point" of the book.

The writing is quick and fast pace, the characters are good (although we don't really get to know them) and the theme of the book was interesting. The story was chugging along, until it wasn't.

The book was way too short and the author leaves us right at the point where things were reaching its peak. I feel cheated.

I know this series of books is not overly long, but I hate where they "chose" to end this one.

[Cole Benincase · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was great! It was about a girl whos parents went away on a trip. They told her mom that she was going to stay at her friend Jen's house, but they really threw a party at her house.(Caseys house) The party got out of control and the cops came. Casey and Jen had to share the cost of the damage. I learned that you should never do something you dont want to because it could lead to something worse.