Holm's (narrative) and her brother Matthew Holm's (illustrations) Sunny Side Up I finally decided to download it on my iPad, as from the book description, this middle grade graphic novel is set in 1976 and indeed with young Sunny, also features a main protagonist who exactly like myself was ten years old in the summer of 1976 (and well, I was of course also more than curious how similar Sunny's sojourn in Florida, her personal experiences of visiting her grandfather under rather strange and trying family circumstances would be to my own as a ten year old). But after having read a few online reviews of Jennifer L. Although the cover illustration may suggest that this is strictly a children's book, it really was appropriate for ANY age over ten.Īs most of my friends probably well know by now, I am generally not all that much a fan of graphic novels as a genre.

The 70's nostalgia factor was one of the notable aspects - TaB cola, the Polaroid SX-70 'instant' camera, Dorothy Hamill's 'wedge' hairstyle, and other little details solidly ground the thoughtful story in those weeks following America's Bicentennial celebration. Buzz - who is always bedecked with a Dodgers baseball cap (woot-woot!) - then becomes Sunny's de facto sidekick / best friend, and introduces her to the world of comic book superheroes as they hustle to earn an honest dollar or two for a little spending cash of their own. (The reasons for Sunny's parents sending her away for a month soon become clear via many flashbacks.) Although initially fighting a case of terminal boredom - after all, this is set in the long-ago era before cable TV, cell-phones, and the Internet (thanks, Captain Obvious!) - Sunny soon meets Buzz, an ingratiating Cuban-American boy of similar age. A native of suburban southeastern Pennsylvania (woot-woot!), she is suddenly shipped off to spend August of 1976 with her widowed grandfather at his retirement cottage in quiet Vero Beach, Florida. Matter-of-fact graphic novel that alternates between the amusing and the bittersweet, Sunny Side Up centers on the plucky blonde ten year-old Sunny Lewin.

Sunny Side Up by Jennifer L. Holm