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Sweet Valley Kids Super Specials #1
Trapped in Toyland
The twins cannot resist the wonderful and enticing toy store when they are out Christmas shopping, but they are accidentally locked in for the night and when strange things start to happen, they realize they are not alone. Original.
112 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1994
About the author
Francine Pascal
1,142 books1,879 followersFrancine Paula Pascal was an American author best known for her Sweet Valley series of young adult novels. Sweet Valley High, the backbone of the collection, was made into a television series, which led to several spin-offs, including The Unicorn Club and Sweet Valley University. Although most of these books were published in the 1980s and 1990s, they remained so popular that several titles were re-released decades later.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
November 27, 2021
A weird take on Home Alone where the Wakefield twins fall asleep in a toy store overnight on Christmas Eve and have to apprehend the WEIRDEST burglar ever with booby traps ala Kevin.
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May 5, 2026Trapped in Toyland (Sweet Valley Kids Super Special)
It’s Christmas Eve and the Wakefields are on their way to Evelyn’s a super department store in Los Angelos. The store just opened and a lot of the twins’ friends have already visited the store. The twins talk about the enormous toy store that takes up the entire first floor. They plan to go their first. Then they’ll shop for a secret thing. They’re planning to buy Mrs. Wakefield a special Christmas present.
They’ve written and illustrated a story for Steven and made their father a picture frame out of construction paper. But they haven’t thought of (or being able to find) something for their mother. They’ve saved 15.63. At the door of the store, the Wakefields are greeted by a choir of elves singing “Jingle Bell Rock” and handing out candy canes. The inside is decorated by snow, icicles, snowmen and a huge Christmas tree. Mr. and Mrs. Wakefield tell the twins and Steven to stay in the toy department and they’ll be back to get them.
They immediately spot some car convertibles. Steven wants to get in one, but there are ribbons over the seats clearly meant to keep kids from it. Steven notices that they’re really expensive but before he can say how much they cost, the store manager comes over to him and demands to know what he’s doing. His name is Mr. Fegato. Jessica says it’s Christmas Eve. Their shopping. He asks if they have any money. They admit they don’t and he tells them to move along.
He gets a call on his walkie talkie about a robbery but assures them it’s probably just a false alarm and rushes off. Steven goes to look at the bikes. The twins go look at the dolls. Then they go down ailes of spaceships, trains, boats, taxis, steam shovels, buses, skateboards, roller skates, ice skates, board games, and stuffed animals. There’s a knock of Barney named Brenda that’s a pink rhino that the twins agree they don’t like.
They catch up to their parents and tell them they want to look at something outside the toy department, but it’s a secret. Steven comes up to them and says there’s something they have to get him. The Wakefield parents tell him to take his sisters. Steven says he’ll go with them if they get him the game he wants. They tell him he’ll go to be nice.
On the 8th floor there’s nothing but a snack bar and a salon. On the 7th floor are housewares. There’s also a book department and they try to find Alice a book on furniture but they can’t find anything she wants or on this floor. Stereo’s and a fancy gourmet food place is on the 6th floor. On six, the twins examined hundreds of little spice packets. They looked at fancy spaghetti and fancy tea. There was lots of dried stuff: mushrooms, tomatoes, cranberries, and cherries. But even tho Alice liks to cook, the think the foods are weird.
The fourth floor was crowded with sparkling makeup counters. The 5th floor is clothes. The twins find some interesting things (cozy robes, slippers, gloves, umbrella’s). There’s a red and blue scarf that’s a maybe. On the 2nd floor, the twins find a wooden jewelry box with blue satin lining. But it’s 32.00. Elizabeth wants to buy the scarf. Jessica wants to get her a pair of slippers with feathers on them. While they argue about it, Steven goes off to buy ice-cream.
While they’re arguing, a man wearing a pink baseball cap shoves Jessica to the side. Then she notices her purse is gone (and with it all their money). Elizabeth says they have five minutes to meet their mom and dad. Jessica wants to look around for her purse (and buy the slippers). So, they retrace their steps. A lady suggests they look in Lost and Found,
Unfortunately, Mr. Fegato is in the office tossing presents. Jess asks him, "Don't you want your presents?" Mr. Fegato grunts, "They're not for me, they're for the store. Nobody loves meJessica immediately wants to leave. Elizabeth explains they’ve lost their purse. He tells them he’ll keep an eye out for it and then tells them to get out of there. So, they go back to the 7th floor to find their parents, but they don’t see them or Steven. Elizabeth says they should stay in one place if they get lost. So, they wait and wait and wait.
The twins start to get hungry and sleepy. They find a bed and climb in. They both fall asleep. Jessica is awakened by Elizabeth telling her she thinks they got locked in. Most of the lights are off. Only the display lights are still on. The escalator is turned off so they have to walk down to the first floor. The front entrance has a gate pulled over it with a padlock. They decide to call 911. Only the operator thinks they’re pulling a prank and hangs up on them. Next, they try calling home collect but no one answers. Both twins admit to each other they’re afraid.
But they decide its silly to be scared and that they have the whole store to themselves so they might as well have some fun. They go to the 8th floor where the snack bar is and find a freezer full of frozen pizzas, hamburger patties, and bags of French fries. There’s an entire row of containers of ice cream. So, the twins pig out on chocolate-chip ice cream sundaes with cookies for dessert. They’re content until Jessica says that it’s the best Christmas dinner she’s ever had. Elizabeth starts to cry because they won’t be home to hear their father read The Night Before Christmas. Jessica wonders if their parents left them there on purpose but Elizabeth says they wouldn’t do that. All of a sudden the lights go out and leave them in the pitch dark.
Jessica realizes the lights must be on a timer. Like at Lila’s. Jessica has the idea that they can play dress-up with the ball gowns and wedding dresses on the 4rth floor. Then they can give each other make-overs. They go to wash off the makeup and pass Mr. Regato’s office. They see all the presents turned over on the floor and decide to help him by picking them up. His office door isn’t locked. Elizabeth reads a letter from his daughter (Jessica justifies this by saying maybe it has his number in it).. Maggie says that she’s with her mother and she misses him. Surprisingly, she talks about how much he loves Christmas. The twins come to the conclusion that he’s crabby because he misses his family. But then they hear the sound of loud music and a crash and think it’s a ghost.
They decide to go to back to the toy department and play all the video games. After they’ve played them all, they have a race in the forbidden cars. Then they get hungry again and go to the snack bar, but it’s a complete mess. They haven’t seen a night guard and ghosts don’t eat. So, who else could be in the store?
The twins decide that there must be someone else that got locked in and that they should find them before they find them. So, they follow a trail of candy wrappers and other junk and are lead to the floor with the stereo’s. They see the man with the pink baseball cap (and can I just say here that if you want to steal something you might not want to wear something like a pink baseball cap that can identify you so easily and makes you stand out that much more). And then he’s not the best thief in the world because he keeps dropping and crashing into things.
The twins decide he might be dangerous and they’d better run. Only Jessica falls. Then they see him coming toward them. The thief gives chase and tells them they won’t get away. The twins run into the toy store and hide in the tunnel of a jungle gym but the thief finds them easily. He sticks a butterfly net through the tunnel, but Jessica backs up too far, falls out, and he catches her. He tries to get Elizabeth but she gets out and hides in a play house. He then pushes Jessica inside and blocks the house with a box so they can’t get out. The twins get out through the chimney and decide to bobby trap the toy store before the thief comes back.
Liz and Jess make some staticky noises with walkie-talkies . He follows them and they lead him to the toy store. He slips on some marbles and screams and falls into a big pile of slime. Liz and Jess squirt chocolate syrup in his eyes. The thief is like, "Stop! I can't see But Liz and Jess aren't done. They tie the thief up -- with licorice rope -- and for their big finale, they turn up the stereo and blast Brenda song. The thief can’t take it and yells at them to turn it off, but Jessica tells him in your dreams.
Jessica and Elizabeth tie him up with licorice rope. Then they don’t know what to do. They call the operator and for the second time she thinks it’s a prank and hangs up on them. So, the twins decide to pull the fire alarm. The Sprinkers go off, the thief escapes, the chocolate is washed from his eyes and he grabs Elizabeth. (Oh btw earlier on in the story, Jessica discovers the thief has her purse and its hanging around his neck. He tells her nice purse. Oh kaaay). And the reason the thief could get Elizabeth was that she was standing guard.
The thief is getting closer to the exit with his car and Elizabeth. At the back of the store, all of a sudden Jessica hears sleigh bells. Using the distraction she quickly loaded the slingshot she had just unwrapped, took aim—and beamed the thief with a Brenda action figure. The thief falls to the ground. Elizabeth slipped out of his grasp and ran across the toy department to Jessica.
The lights come on and there are the police, the fire department, and the Wakefields. The police handcuff the thief. The thief says he’s been pulling jobs for years (somehow I REALLY don’t believe he’s that good) and he’s never seen anything like these girls. They’re a menace. Steven doesn’t believe they caught a thief until the police say they found his van full of stuff from Evelyn’s. Steven apologizes and the twins say they forgive him. It was fun. Most of the time.
The twins ask where they’ve been and their parents say a few minutes after the store closed, the manager insisted that they love. He told them that the twins couldn’t still be inside. They’d already searched the store twice. After that, they went to the L.A Police Department. They’ve been there ever since. A few minutes ago, one of the police told them a fire alarm had been pulled and they knew it was them. They called home, but there were no messages. The twins apologize and Mrs. Wakefield says she’s just glad everything’s ok. The store manager says it’s not ok. The toy department is trashed.
He says he ought to arrest them, but they take him upstairs and show him the present and the letter and this makes him happy. So, instead he tells them to pick out anything they want in the entire store. So, they pick the jewelry box and he even gift wraps it for them. Jessica tries to pay him back for the sundaes, but he says forget about it. If it wasn’t for them the thief would have stolen some really valuable things.
Jessica tells her parents there’s one more thing she needs to do before they go home, and she goes to look for Santaa, the one that distracted the thief. She's disappointed to find a toy Santa (she was hoping it was the real one) but Liz and Jess do have to wonder how it fell of the shelf to make its noise at just the right time. Jessica says that’s easy. It was Christmas magic.
My Thoughts:
Very fun concept, but I just kept thinking what an IDIOT this burglar was. 1) You don’t wear something to stand out if you want to commit a crime like a PINK BASEBALL CAP 2). What could you POSSIBLY think you can get from a seven years old’s purse? Your already in a DEPARTMENT STORE (I probably would have just passed them by for the bigger stuff) Fifteen dollars wasn’t even all that much when this book was written. And then to comment “Nice purse”? I guess I can see why he had on a pink baseball hat if purses are his thing. 3) I SERIOUSLY doubt he’d gotten away with this for years. He let himself get tied up with LICORICE ROPE! ITS CANDY! You could have probably just REMOVED IT or moved your arms and it would have fallen to the floor. All very ridiculous but in an amusing way.
Rating: 6
It’s Christmas Eve and the Wakefields are on their way to Evelyn’s a super department store in Los Angelos. The store just opened and a lot of the twins’ friends have already visited the store. The twins talk about the enormous toy store that takes up the entire first floor. They plan to go their first. Then they’ll shop for a secret thing. They’re planning to buy Mrs. Wakefield a special Christmas present.
They’ve written and illustrated a story for Steven and made their father a picture frame out of construction paper. But they haven’t thought of (or being able to find) something for their mother. They’ve saved 15.63. At the door of the store, the Wakefields are greeted by a choir of elves singing “Jingle Bell Rock” and handing out candy canes. The inside is decorated by snow, icicles, snowmen and a huge Christmas tree. Mr. and Mrs. Wakefield tell the twins and Steven to stay in the toy department and they’ll be back to get them.
They immediately spot some car convertibles. Steven wants to get in one, but there are ribbons over the seats clearly meant to keep kids from it. Steven notices that they’re really expensive but before he can say how much they cost, the store manager comes over to him and demands to know what he’s doing. His name is Mr. Fegato. Jessica says it’s Christmas Eve. Their shopping. He asks if they have any money. They admit they don’t and he tells them to move along.
He gets a call on his walkie talkie about a robbery but assures them it’s probably just a false alarm and rushes off. Steven goes to look at the bikes. The twins go look at the dolls. Then they go down ailes of spaceships, trains, boats, taxis, steam shovels, buses, skateboards, roller skates, ice skates, board games, and stuffed animals. There’s a knock of Barney named Brenda that’s a pink rhino that the twins agree they don’t like.
They catch up to their parents and tell them they want to look at something outside the toy department, but it’s a secret. Steven comes up to them and says there’s something they have to get him. The Wakefield parents tell him to take his sisters. Steven says he’ll go with them if they get him the game he wants. They tell him he’ll go to be nice.
On the 8th floor there’s nothing but a snack bar and a salon. On the 7th floor are housewares. There’s also a book department and they try to find Alice a book on furniture but they can’t find anything she wants or on this floor. Stereo’s and a fancy gourmet food place is on the 6th floor. On six, the twins examined hundreds of little spice packets. They looked at fancy spaghetti and fancy tea. There was lots of dried stuff: mushrooms, tomatoes, cranberries, and cherries. But even tho Alice liks to cook, the think the foods are weird.
The fourth floor was crowded with sparkling makeup counters. The 5th floor is clothes. The twins find some interesting things (cozy robes, slippers, gloves, umbrella’s). There’s a red and blue scarf that’s a maybe. On the 2nd floor, the twins find a wooden jewelry box with blue satin lining. But it’s 32.00. Elizabeth wants to buy the scarf. Jessica wants to get her a pair of slippers with feathers on them. While they argue about it, Steven goes off to buy ice-cream.
While they’re arguing, a man wearing a pink baseball cap shoves Jessica to the side. Then she notices her purse is gone (and with it all their money). Elizabeth says they have five minutes to meet their mom and dad. Jessica wants to look around for her purse (and buy the slippers). So, they retrace their steps. A lady suggests they look in Lost and Found,
Unfortunately, Mr. Fegato is in the office tossing presents. Jess asks him, "Don't you want your presents?" Mr. Fegato grunts, "They're not for me, they're for the store. Nobody loves meJessica immediately wants to leave. Elizabeth explains they’ve lost their purse. He tells them he’ll keep an eye out for it and then tells them to get out of there. So, they go back to the 7th floor to find their parents, but they don’t see them or Steven. Elizabeth says they should stay in one place if they get lost. So, they wait and wait and wait.
The twins start to get hungry and sleepy. They find a bed and climb in. They both fall asleep. Jessica is awakened by Elizabeth telling her she thinks they got locked in. Most of the lights are off. Only the display lights are still on. The escalator is turned off so they have to walk down to the first floor. The front entrance has a gate pulled over it with a padlock. They decide to call 911. Only the operator thinks they’re pulling a prank and hangs up on them. Next, they try calling home collect but no one answers. Both twins admit to each other they’re afraid.
But they decide its silly to be scared and that they have the whole store to themselves so they might as well have some fun. They go to the 8th floor where the snack bar is and find a freezer full of frozen pizzas, hamburger patties, and bags of French fries. There’s an entire row of containers of ice cream. So, the twins pig out on chocolate-chip ice cream sundaes with cookies for dessert. They’re content until Jessica says that it’s the best Christmas dinner she’s ever had. Elizabeth starts to cry because they won’t be home to hear their father read The Night Before Christmas. Jessica wonders if their parents left them there on purpose but Elizabeth says they wouldn’t do that. All of a sudden the lights go out and leave them in the pitch dark.
Jessica realizes the lights must be on a timer. Like at Lila’s. Jessica has the idea that they can play dress-up with the ball gowns and wedding dresses on the 4rth floor. Then they can give each other make-overs. They go to wash off the makeup and pass Mr. Regato’s office. They see all the presents turned over on the floor and decide to help him by picking them up. His office door isn’t locked. Elizabeth reads a letter from his daughter (Jessica justifies this by saying maybe it has his number in it).. Maggie says that she’s with her mother and she misses him. Surprisingly, she talks about how much he loves Christmas. The twins come to the conclusion that he’s crabby because he misses his family. But then they hear the sound of loud music and a crash and think it’s a ghost.
They decide to go to back to the toy department and play all the video games. After they’ve played them all, they have a race in the forbidden cars. Then they get hungry again and go to the snack bar, but it’s a complete mess. They haven’t seen a night guard and ghosts don’t eat. So, who else could be in the store?
The twins decide that there must be someone else that got locked in and that they should find them before they find them. So, they follow a trail of candy wrappers and other junk and are lead to the floor with the stereo’s. They see the man with the pink baseball cap (and can I just say here that if you want to steal something you might not want to wear something like a pink baseball cap that can identify you so easily and makes you stand out that much more). And then he’s not the best thief in the world because he keeps dropping and crashing into things.
The twins decide he might be dangerous and they’d better run. Only Jessica falls. Then they see him coming toward them. The thief gives chase and tells them they won’t get away. The twins run into the toy store and hide in the tunnel of a jungle gym but the thief finds them easily. He sticks a butterfly net through the tunnel, but Jessica backs up too far, falls out, and he catches her. He tries to get Elizabeth but she gets out and hides in a play house. He then pushes Jessica inside and blocks the house with a box so they can’t get out. The twins get out through the chimney and decide to bobby trap the toy store before the thief comes back.
Liz and Jess make some staticky noises with walkie-talkies . He follows them and they lead him to the toy store. He slips on some marbles and screams and falls into a big pile of slime. Liz and Jess squirt chocolate syrup in his eyes. The thief is like, "Stop! I can't see But Liz and Jess aren't done. They tie the thief up -- with licorice rope -- and for their big finale, they turn up the stereo and blast Brenda song. The thief can’t take it and yells at them to turn it off, but Jessica tells him in your dreams.
Jessica and Elizabeth tie him up with licorice rope. Then they don’t know what to do. They call the operator and for the second time she thinks it’s a prank and hangs up on them. So, the twins decide to pull the fire alarm. The Sprinkers go off, the thief escapes, the chocolate is washed from his eyes and he grabs Elizabeth. (Oh btw earlier on in the story, Jessica discovers the thief has her purse and its hanging around his neck. He tells her nice purse. Oh kaaay). And the reason the thief could get Elizabeth was that she was standing guard.
The thief is getting closer to the exit with his car and Elizabeth. At the back of the store, all of a sudden Jessica hears sleigh bells. Using the distraction she quickly loaded the slingshot she had just unwrapped, took aim—and beamed the thief with a Brenda action figure. The thief falls to the ground. Elizabeth slipped out of his grasp and ran across the toy department to Jessica.
The lights come on and there are the police, the fire department, and the Wakefields. The police handcuff the thief. The thief says he’s been pulling jobs for years (somehow I REALLY don’t believe he’s that good) and he’s never seen anything like these girls. They’re a menace. Steven doesn’t believe they caught a thief until the police say they found his van full of stuff from Evelyn’s. Steven apologizes and the twins say they forgive him. It was fun. Most of the time.
The twins ask where they’ve been and their parents say a few minutes after the store closed, the manager insisted that they love. He told them that the twins couldn’t still be inside. They’d already searched the store twice. After that, they went to the L.A Police Department. They’ve been there ever since. A few minutes ago, one of the police told them a fire alarm had been pulled and they knew it was them. They called home, but there were no messages. The twins apologize and Mrs. Wakefield says she’s just glad everything’s ok. The store manager says it’s not ok. The toy department is trashed.
He says he ought to arrest them, but they take him upstairs and show him the present and the letter and this makes him happy. So, instead he tells them to pick out anything they want in the entire store. So, they pick the jewelry box and he even gift wraps it for them. Jessica tries to pay him back for the sundaes, but he says forget about it. If it wasn’t for them the thief would have stolen some really valuable things.
Jessica tells her parents there’s one more thing she needs to do before they go home, and she goes to look for Santaa, the one that distracted the thief. She's disappointed to find a toy Santa (she was hoping it was the real one) but Liz and Jess do have to wonder how it fell of the shelf to make its noise at just the right time. Jessica says that’s easy. It was Christmas magic.
My Thoughts:
Very fun concept, but I just kept thinking what an IDIOT this burglar was. 1) You don’t wear something to stand out if you want to commit a crime like a PINK BASEBALL CAP 2). What could you POSSIBLY think you can get from a seven years old’s purse? Your already in a DEPARTMENT STORE (I probably would have just passed them by for the bigger stuff) Fifteen dollars wasn’t even all that much when this book was written. And then to comment “Nice purse”? I guess I can see why he had on a pink baseball hat if purses are his thing. 3) I SERIOUSLY doubt he’d gotten away with this for years. He let himself get tied up with LICORICE ROPE! ITS CANDY! You could have probably just REMOVED IT or moved your arms and it would have fallen to the floor. All very ridiculous but in an amusing way.
Rating: 6
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 30, 2011
Loved this as a little girl. The thought of getting trapped in a toy store? HEAVEN. The thought of getting trapped in a toy store with another person? SCARY. I read this over and over again.
February 17, 2024
I've been rereading a few of the Sweet Valley books, and the description of this one triggered something in my memory, so I thought I'd add it to the pile. In Trapped in Toyland, Elizabeth and Jessica go to the fancy new department store with their parents, eager to spend their collected $15.63 on a Christmas gift for their mother. (Their father and brother get a construction-paper photo frame and a handwritten story, respectively.) Now, if this were one of the SV Twins or SV High books, it seems likely that Jessica would end up spending all the money before they could buy a gift...but instead, because this is a SV Kids book* and Jessica still has some feelings for other people, she's eager and (mostly) focused on finding a gift for their mother. But shenanigans happen, and the girls find themselves locked in the department store overnight...without their purse full of money, but with everything else at their disposal—and with a rather aggressive burglar.
On the whole, this is just adorable. It makes for great wish fulfillment (who hasn't wanted to be locked in somewhere overnight? A toy store, a bookstore, a furniture store with huge floofy beds...), and I love Elizabeth and Jessica's blend of responsibility and kid-ness: when they eat ice cream from the food court (because, naturally, all they have to do is walk behind the counter and open a freezer to access all the junk food they could ever want), they make sure to clean up after themselves...but Elizabeth is readily talked into trying on fancy dresses and makeup (I remember being jealous of the sequined dress Elizabeth tries on), and it's goody-two-shoes Elizabeth who suggests a race in the toy cars. (Older Elizabeth would never.) They create a fair amount of gleeful, well-intentioned kid chaos, and the book is better for it.
There are many, many, many things about the plot that make no sense, or at least make no sense in the 2020s—the Wakefields let their seven-year-old twins wander the eight-story department store with only their brother (who is roughly nine) to provide any kind of supervision; there's no search of the mall when the Wakefields can't find their daughters; there's no accountability from the Wakefields for letting their small children wander around unsupervised; the girls are able to access everything in the department store without minor concerns like keys; they make all sorts of noise without the burglar noticing; they call 911 multiple times and are laughed at; the burglar bothers to steal a second-grader's purse while preparing for his much bigger heist; literally almost everything about the burglar; and on and on it goes. But it's a book for kids and written in the 90s, and what can you do?
*Note that even in the SV Kids books Jessica is not above spending money that isn't hers or cheating to win.
On the whole, this is just adorable. It makes for great wish fulfillment (who hasn't wanted to be locked in somewhere overnight? A toy store, a bookstore, a furniture store with huge floofy beds...), and I love Elizabeth and Jessica's blend of responsibility and kid-ness: when they eat ice cream from the food court (because, naturally, all they have to do is walk behind the counter and open a freezer to access all the junk food they could ever want), they make sure to clean up after themselves...but Elizabeth is readily talked into trying on fancy dresses and makeup (I remember being jealous of the sequined dress Elizabeth tries on), and it's goody-two-shoes Elizabeth who suggests a race in the toy cars. (Older Elizabeth would never.) They create a fair amount of gleeful, well-intentioned kid chaos, and the book is better for it.
There are many, many, many things about the plot that make no sense, or at least make no sense in the 2020s—the Wakefields let their seven-year-old twins wander the eight-story department store with only their brother (who is roughly nine) to provide any kind of supervision; there's no search of the mall when the Wakefields can't find their daughters; there's no accountability from the Wakefields for letting their small children wander around unsupervised; the girls are able to access everything in the department store without minor concerns like keys; they make all sorts of noise without the burglar noticing; they call 911 multiple times and are laughed at; the burglar bothers to steal a second-grader's purse while preparing for his much bigger heist; literally almost everything about the burglar; and on and on it goes. But it's a book for kids and written in the 90s, and what can you do?
*Note that even in the SV Kids books Jessica is not above spending money that isn't hers or cheating to win.
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March 30, 2024This is one where it just doesn't work to read it as an adult, because everything is so very unbelievable. The idea that they'd just lock up a department store with two small children lost inside it and that emergency operators would dismiss calls as hoaxes the moment they heard a child's voice at the other end of the line was just too ridiculous for this adult reader—not to mention dangerous, as it's basically telling kids not to bother calling 911 if they need help. The thief trapping stuff is basically Home Alone set in a department store, and I can imagine young readers enjoying this part.
August 26, 2024
Twins have gone Christmas shopping and Steven was supposed to keep an eye on them. A man steals Jessica's purse and while they go out looking for it, they miss Steven. The twins fall asleep on a display bed and eventually they get stuck inside the department store which leads to them catching a thief.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 12, 2021
I actually remember reading this one as a kid and it’s still fun as a reread. Who wouldn’t love being trapped in a mall department store?
March 18, 2025
Super cute!
December 6, 2021
It’s Christmas Eve and the Wakefield’s are visiting Evelyns, a massive department store near LA. The manager is grumpy but the toys are to die for! The twins want to shop for Alice, but their parents insist Steven accompany him, much to his chagrin. They have to meet their parents at 430, and they check out every single level, until they find a beautiful heart shaped jewellery box - but it’s $30 which is double what their budget is. Steven wonders off and Jess gets knocked into by a guy… only to realise her wallet is missing. Instead of putting that together and reporting it, they decide to retrace their whole afternoon. The details get a little weird here… somehow they end up falling asleep and when they wake up the store is closed. They try calling the police (who think it’s a crank call) and their parents (answering machine), before giving up and living out every kids fantasy - ice cream sundaes, dressing up, racing in giant toy cars, the works. They also find an unread letter to the Manager from his daughter, and realise why he’s grumpy. But then they hear stereos turning on and off and realise they’re not alone. It’s the purse stealer, and he’s stealing a lot more this time. Through a scene reminiscent of Home Alone, they trick him and tie him up with liquorice… call the police again (no dice) before pulling the fire alarm. But the sprinklers wet the liquorice and he’s getting free! Suddenly Santa distracts him with a bell ringing, and then the police, the manager and the rest of the Wakefield show up in time. The twins saved the store but the manager is angry about the mess - until they show him his daughters letter. He gives them Alice’s present as a thank you.
My rating - 6/10 - my highest rating yet! I love Christmas, I love super specials and I love malls. The plot was a little weak but oh well 🤷🏼♀️🎅🏻.
My rating - 6/10 - my highest rating yet! I love Christmas, I love super specials and I love malls. The plot was a little weak but oh well 🤷🏼♀️🎅🏻.
January 29, 2008
Childish.
July 9, 2013
I have read so many of these books I can't remember all of them.
April 6, 2015
I read this one a hundred times as a kid. Being locked in a toy store would be so AWESOME
August 22, 2014
In love with this book when i was a kid.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews