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That was the summer when everything started to change, and let me tell you, change is not my strong point. For starters, Mum insisted that Carl (her boyfriend), and his kids (Lyal and Saskia), help decorate our Christmas tree. Can you imagine? Tree decorating has always been my job.
Sunny, her Mum and their dog Willow get along just fine as a unit. Christmas morning means that Dad and his partner Steph join them for present-opening. But this year is going to be different. Mum’s boyfriend Carl and his two children will be there too. On Christmas morning there are two extra presents, from long-lost Granny Carmelene. Sunny is happy to have an extra present, and an invitation to visit, but Mum storms out. She doesn’t open her present and she extracts a promise from Sunny to stay away from her mother. As a heatwave grips Melbourne, Sunny tries her hardest to make sense of her world – a very challenging task as everything and everyone seems to be changing. Her best friend has started keeping secrets, their pizza business is burgeoning, her step-mother Steph is about to have a baby (and has cleared the fridge of interesting food), her mother and Carl have ‘plans’ and no one will tell her what caused the rift between her mother and her grandmother.
Sunny Side Up is a high-heat, quick-rising, multi-flavoured delight. Sunny has a wonderfully strong voice, and shares her world and her sometimes chaotic thoughts with the reader with humour and some introspection. Like a pizza-with-the-lot, her life is full to the point of overflowing. Marion Roberts gives us a view into the simplicity and complexity of Sunny’s eleven year-old brain. Sunny has enviably positive relationships with both her parents and their respective new partners. Accepting some of the other changes in her life takes a little longer, but she rises to, and meets, every challenge she is set. There are too many potential points for discussion to mention here - families, forgiveness, friendship, understanding of others are just a few. Highly recommended for 9-12 year old readers.
 Sunny Side Up, by Marion Roberts
Allen & Unwin 2008
ISBN: 9781740752366
This book can be purchased online from Fishpond. Buying through this link supports Aussiereviews.
Readers who enjoy this might also enjoy:
The Story of Cedar B Hartley (who planned to live an unusual life), by Martine Murray
The Family Tree, by Jane Godwin
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