Sunny Side Up

Start with one quiet, perfect life.

Add: Mum’s new boyfriend, his two kids, one best friend (with a big crush), one sworn enemy, and a long-lost grandmother.

Flavor with a dash of laughter, a pinch of jealousy, and plenty of secrets.
Cook on high all summer long. . . .

Eleven-year-old Sunny (short for Sunday) is an only child, an introvert, a dog lover, and part owner of Pizza-a-Go-Girl. She and her mum live near the beach in Australia. Good thing, because this summer is one long heat wave. But the temperature isn’t the only thing that’s making Sunny hot: her perfect life is about to change in a million ways!

Marion Roberts has worked as a chef and taught people how to cook, but started writing because she wanted a job she could do in her pajamas. Sunny Side Up is her first novel. She lives in Melbourne, Australia.

ISBN:9780385906241Grade 5–7—Sunny Hathaway, 11, lives with her mother, a naturopath who smokes, and Willow, a greyhound, in an Australian town near the beach. She is on good terms with her father and stepmother, and excited about the pending birth of a half sister. Her voice is precocious and funny. Sunny frequently veers off on tangents, and she says that she needs help from the "Tangent Police" to get back on track. Although she is happy, her life is getting more confusing. Her friend Claud is suddenly interested in Buster Conroy; what will happen to the girls' Friday-night delivery business, Pizza-A-Go-Girl? Sunny likes being an only child, and now her mum's boyfriend and his two slightly annoying kids are moving in, along with their cat. And most importantly, why hasn't her mother ever let her see Granny Carmelene? Sunny's breezy tone, and the knowledge she gains, gives readers insight into her personality. Character development is strong, as the girl is quick to observe and comment on the people in her life, and the setting forms an interesting backdrop. Small black-and-white photos are liberally scattered throughout. While the novel will appeal to those who like introspective first-person narration, the frequent tangents can be distracting. Not a lot really happens, but that is not the point. It is Sunny's personal journey that matters.—Jennifer Ralston, Harford County Public Library, Belcamp, MD

Australian author Roberts debuts with a solid tale about the complexity of family and friendships. Sunny, a preteen, describes the summer when everything started to change, and... change is not my strong point. She is forced to become a member of one of those modern blended families when her mother invites her boyfriend and his two children (precooked siblings) to move in; her best friend pulls back from her and starts making overtures to the much-loathed Buster Conroy; and Sunny's maternal grandmother, Carmelene, long estranged from Sunny's mother, sends her a Christmas present for the first time, with an invitation to visit. Sunny does her best to visualize everything from seat 44K of her imaginary airplane: everything becomes minute and insignificant... and your life starts to change shape and feel like a toy life in a board game, and all your worries go away. Keeping the tone light, Roberts raises potent questions about honesty and forgiveness; a neatness to the ending doesn't flatten the exuberance of Sunny's voice. Ages 9–14. (Feb.)
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Sunny, 11, is happy with her life as the only child of amicably divorced parents. But life as she knows it is about to change when her mother plans to marry a man with two children of his own and her father’s new wife is expecting a baby. When her best friend, Claud, begins to spend more time with a boy Sunny hates, and her grandmother, whom her mother has shunned from their lives, begins sending presents, more unsettling questions arise. The story, told in Sunny’s authentic first-person voice, leads readers deep into the inner life of a thoughtful preteen. Lists and photographs are interspersed throughout the text and enhance the diary style, in which Sunny negotiates issues familiar to most young readers. The author competently charts Sunny’s developing relationship with her grandmother, which accompanies Sunny’s own emotional growth. Fans of Jacqueline Wilson’s Candyfloss (2006) will enjoy this first novel from Australia. Grades 5-8. --Monika Schroder