Skip to main content

Sunny Side Up

By


Sunny Side Up
By Jennifer L. Holm & Matthew Holm
Graphix, 2015. Comics. 217 p.

Sunny is a fun-loving ten-year-old who is depressed to be spending the summer living with her grandpa in his retirement community in Florida. After receiving her mandatory guest pass, Sunny’s fears of a depressed and boring summer are quickly confirmed when she realizes that her grandpa’s idea of “big plans” is going to the post office or grocery store. Luckily, while visiting the golf course with her grandpa, Sunny meets Buzz, the son of Cuban immigrants, and the two quickly become friends. Buzz introduces Sunny to comic books and Sunny falls in love with the stories of Batman, Superman, Spider-man and Swamp Thing.

Alternating between the time of her visit to Florida and flashback sequences of her time at home leading up to the trip, the story progresses by revealing more and more of the purpose behind Sunny being sent to spend the summer with her grandpa. Her brother, Dale, began spending time with friends who were bad influences and became involved in doing drugs and drinking alcohol. As she remembers a number of experiences, happy and sad, surrounding her brother’s transformation and her management of her feelings, she relates to her beloved superheroes to make connections and cope.

Written and illustrated by the duo behind the Baby Mouse series, Sunny Side Up is a graphic novel that is as funny and entertaining as it is sweet and moving. A great Read-Alike for Smile by Raina Telgemeier.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Painting for Peace in Ferguson

By
Painting for Peace in Ferguson By Carol Swartout Klein Treehouse Publishing Group, 2015. Nonfiction. When the city of Ferguson was overrun with so much hate and despair that homes and businesses had to be boarded up to protect property, citizens of the community decided to bring a message of hope by painting the boarded windows. Klein’s rhyming text supports the photographs of the hundreds of artists and volunteers and their artwork as they bring the messages of peace, hope, love, and that by being united they can make a difference. A great book to show children how a community rallied to make a positive change and that even a small gesture can make a huge difference. A great discussion opener on how we should treat each other.
Post a Comment
Read more

Dragon Run

By
Dragon Run by Patrick Matthews Scholastic, 2013.  336 pgs.  Fantasy      Al Pilgrommor is excited for Testing Day, when he will receive his rank, a tattooed number on the back of his neck, and a path forward to his future occupation and life.  He feels confident because his parents were fours on a scale of seven, but he is worried for his friend Wisp who doesn't have much of a chance of scoring above a two at best. But when Al is scored a zero, he not only has no prospects, he may lose his life as the dreaded Cullers are unleashed to kill him and his family to purify the land's bloodlines.  Al's world is ruled by dragons--the lords and supposed creators of humankind--so he thinks that even if he survives, he will have to make his living as a beggar or thief. But when Al sticks up for his Earther friend in front of Magister Ludi, he is drawn into the struggle of a secret organization hoping to destroy the Cullers, and perhaps the dragons them...
1 comment
Read more

Review: We're All Gonna Die-Nosaur!

By
We’re All Gonna Die-nosaur! By Kon Tan  New York: Disney Hyperion, 2025. Intermediate. 157 pages.  Pterry (the “p” is silent) pterodactyl is a worry wart. Pterry is worried about flying (he doesn’t how to fly yet), dinosaurs going extinct (he had a scary dream), and how to protect his family (he has a little brother who hasn’t fully hatched from an egg yet). Even though there is a lot of feels for Pterry, this is actually quite a funny book. Pterry tries to learn how to fly with kites as his “training wheels” and his brother who is inside an egg is quite the adventurer.  This is a funny, heart-felt comic-like intermediate fiction book that will be great for many readers. If kids love dinosaurs, this book is for them. If kids like funny graphic novels, this book is for them. If kids want to read something about facing fears and doing things even though they don’t always want to, this book is for them. Plus, even though Pterry does a lot of things on his own, he still has s...
Post a Comment
Read more