July 1, 2025 by Graphix
Copy provided by Young Adult Books Central
Sunny is living her best 8th grade life in 1978 (easily pinpointed by the mention of the Star Wars Christmas special, which aired in November of that year). She's sort of dating Tony, who plays hockey, has a big family, and worked at the snack bar at the pool where they met in Sunny Makes a Splash. She and Tony don't necessarily do all of the things that couples are "supposed" to do, but her best friend Deb reminds her that Tony should be carrying Sunny's books, Sunny should be supportiver and attend Tony's games, and the two should double date with her and Greg when they start to go steady. Sunny, who would just as soon play drinking straw hockey at the Howard Johnson's with Tony rather than canoodling, doesn't agree. She has taken to reading a lot of paperback romance books that she gets at a resale shop, so is struggling to decide if she should run her relationship the way that "everyone" says she should, or the way that she and Tony prefer. She sees her mother struggle with societal expectations as well when she gets a job at a local gift store. This means that Sunny and her grandfather have to occasionally step up to watch Sunny's younger brother, and that her mom can't always bake for school parties the way she used to. Sunny can be supportive of her mother, and remind her that she has excellent managerial skills and deserves a promotion, but struggles to ignore Deb's insistance that she and Tony need to make out at parties and go on stuffy dates. In the end, Sunny is able to be true to herself, and finds that it makes her much happier.
Setting Sunny's life almost fifty years ago instead of in the modern day is successful for several reasons: older readers like myself will enjoy the passing of notes and "no taking calls at dinner" rule, along with the fantastic 1970s two story Colonial house where Sunny lives. Younger readers will see that while new technologies and past times may emerge, some things stay the same. It's good to see a healthy boy/girl relationship, and know that there must be tweens just like Sunny and Tony who want to hang out together without worrying about being romantic, even if they might enjoy thinking a little bit about romance from time to time.
There are a few asides about historical topics that were quite fun, and informative for readers who were born after the smart phone became widely adopted! Avon Ladies, rotary phones, note passing, air hockey, and Fantasy Island all have short but brilliant explanations. I have to admit that I have a LOT of questions about the Harrowgate (aka Harlequin) Romance books; why were these something that tweens had access to? I'm sure they are much milder than the modern day equivalents (if there is one). Of course, Sunny is in the generation that read all of V.C. Andrews' Flowers in the Attic books, so there must have just been a general lack of oversight of tweens reading material.
Matthew Holm's illustrations do a great job of setting the scene, and do an excellent job of showing excellent vintage details (wide legged pants, the grandfather's groovy shades and cardigan, school hallways and that fabulous house) while still preserving a fairly modern feel. I'm pretty sure that readers who pick up the first book do so not knowing that it is set in the past.
This even has a little bit more of a message than the other books, which I appreciated. Even though my students claim that they don't care what other people think, it would be hard to find a middle school student who is not aware of the expectations of others. Of course Sunny listens to her friend Deb's opinions... for a while. It's good to see that she and her mother are both able to come to terms with what works best for each of them.
Sunny is definitely one of my favorite graphic novel series, and addresses tween angst with a little more fun than other series do. Hand this to readers who need a break from the angst of Miller's Click series, Libenson's Emmie and Friends books, or Scrivan's Nat Enough titles.
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