Eat, Read, and Be Mommy

My 10-year-old has been hassling me about Sunny Rolls the Dice for weeks–“Are you done with Sunny yet? Are you almost done with that? When are you going to be DONE?” I’ve been working on other books, but last night I went ahead and finished it in the interest of self-preservation. Afterward, while I was trying to get comfy and fall asleep, I thought about how I was going to review it. So here’s the thing:

On the one hand, this sends all kinds of good messages to kids, because it’s about two friends whose interests diverge as they reach 7th grade; it’s handled realistically well. Sunny’s interests are less mainstream, and that’s handled realistically well, also. Good messages, well handled, fairly engaging art. A win, right?

On the other hand, this is one of those books where the setting–in this case, the time period–is another main character in its own right. This can be an incredible device, but here, well…I felt like as a character, the 1970s have a lot of personality but don’t actually do much in the story. The themes here are timeless; it’s the accessories that differ, and those accessories seem relatively trifling as a plot point. I honestly wonder if it’s mostly a nostalgia thing for the Holm siblings.

Ultimately, however, I’m not the intended audience, and I don’t think IT is going to mind–I’m certainly expecting my 10-year-old to love it! If you read it, let me know what you think.