A Summer Shift

There are those books read in one sitting; not because they are necessarily short but because the story is completely compelling.  These books tend to have appeal to a wide audience with a range of ages due to commonality of life experiences.  A connection between generations happens.

Last week I found myself sitting in a laundromat, the last patron there late at night, as my clothes first swished and swirled in washing machines and then spun around and around in dryers.  As I finished the last page of the book I was reading my eyes filled with tears.  No matter where you are, alone or in the company of others, a great story will strike a chord in your heart.  Everything else fades away but the book.  Sunny Side Up (Graphix, an imprint of Scholastic, August 25, 2015) a new graphic novel by Jennifer L. Holm and Matthew Holm is truly memorable.

CHAPTER ONE:
Sunshine State
August 1976
West Palm Beach, Fla.

As a plane lands and the passengers depart a young girl looks for her grandfather.  They are clearly glad to see each other but you're pretty sure she would rather be someplace different.  Spending a summer vacation in a community where children and pets are not permitted is going to be challenging for Sunny.

In the third chapter we go back two months to June.  Sunny and her best friend are excited about being able to share the family vacation at the shore together.  Clearly these two are like the proverbial peas-in-a-pod.  The question now arises as to why Sunny is in Florida alone with her grandfather instead of with her family and best friend.

Chapter by chapter moving from the present back to key incidents in the late and more recent past, readers are able to piece together the story of a family in crisis but held together by the strength of their love.  As an older sibling struggles, parents intervene and a grandparent offers sanctuary and advice, we along with Sunny grow in understanding about all the situations and about each individual.  What is said does not have the same meaning for each party present.

Fortunately for Sunny a stubborn vending machine helps her meet the son of the groundskeeper at Pine Palms.  Buzz, for Buzz Aldrin, is an avid reader and collector of comic books.  His favorite characters and their stories become a means for Sunny to address her own problems.  Golf balls, Big Al and missing cats in the community (rules are meant to be broken especially by elderly residents) supply funding for Sunny and Buzz to pursue their love of comic books.

With only a few days left before Labor Day we and Sunny realize what initially looks like a disaster can turn into a bunch of fun.  The young can learn from the old and the old can remember the joys of youth.  It's never too early or too late to learn, become friends or love one another.


As I read chapter after chapter of Sunny Side Up I continued to believe I was reading fact more than fiction; every sentence felt genuine.  These characters, what they did and said, could be any one of us.  Jennifer L. Holm has a way of writing dialog which speaks directly to her readers' hearts.  We welcome the opportunity to identify with her characters.  We are touched by the sadness and tension they experience and we laugh out loud exactly when we should.  Here is a sample section of conversation between Sunny, her grandfather and two residents on a trip out for dinner.

There you are!  I'm taking you and the girls out to dinner.  Better hurry up and get dressed.
Isn't it a little early?
Early? It's already 4:00! We need to be on the road by 4:15!
(At a traffic light about to turn red...)
Punch it, Pat!
Or we'll be late!
SCREEECH!
(Standing in front of a sign which reads:
MORRISON'S
EARLY BIRD 
SPECIAL
$1.99
4:30-5:30)
We're just in time!
Thank goodness!
Get whatever you want!
It's all delicious!
Except the creamed spinach.
Definitely avoid that.  It gave me gas last time.


The dust jacket and book case of Sunny Side Up does not convey the depth of the contents but it does reflect the title, how the title is used in the book and the growth of the characters within the pages.  On the back, to the left, we see Sunny and her grandpa standing, looking right at us, after her arrival at the airport.  Bright yellow opening and closing endpapers mirror her name.  The title page is a close-up of the text and beach ball from the pool on the front.

Matthew Holm's artwork, a series of pages and panels in varying sizes, flows together flawlessly like a motion picture.  Numerous times without words we are privy to sounds, sights, events and emotions.  To depict traumatic moments from Sunny's memory the warmth and lightness of the color palette fades to darker hues.

The facial expressions and body postures on all the characters but especially Sunny and Gramps are wonderful.  For impact, Holm zooms in on a particular aspect of important moments.  When the comic book characters are introduced to Sunny, we are treated to full page images.

I think one of the many funny segments is Sunny's introduction to Big Al.  She and Buzz are on the golf course gathering wayward golf balls for extra money.  Completely unaware Sunny is wading in a pond trying to get the twentieth golf ball.  When Buzz points out Big Al you can't help but yell out "Run, Sunny, run!"  Her travel on the water is nearly Biblical.

After reading Sunny Side Up by Jennifer L. Holm and Matthew Holm twice, I can say with confidence it gets better and better.  This sister and brother team consistently gives readers their very best and it's apparent in the narrative and illustrations of this graphic novel.  If you don't have multiple copies already, you are going to need them.

To learn more about Jennifer L. Holm and Matthew Holm please visit their websites by following the links attached to their names.  This title is one of two selected for the #SharpSchu Book Club scheduled for October 29, 2015.  Read this post by Scholastic Ambassador for School Libraries, John Schumacher, at Watch. Connect. Read.  I Love Reading 3rd grade teacher, Colby Sharp, blogger at sharpread and teacher librarian, Travis Jonker, blogger at 100 Scope Notes have started a podcast series, The Yarn.  Season One revolves entirely around this title and the people who brought this book to us.  The episodes are as follows:

Welcome To The Yarn
Raina Telgemier
David Levithan
Phil Falco
David Saylor
Lark Pien
Matthew Holm
Jennifer and Matthew Holm
Fact or Fiction

Sunny Side Up by Jennifer L. Holm and Matthew Holm

Team Laughter For The Win

Rattling around in my memory banks are cries of Red Rover, Red Rover shouted out by opposing teams as other groups of children of all ages enjoyed their daily respite on the playground of my elementary school.  Every year, same time, same place, those same boys and girls could be seen in another area huddled around a hole carefully made in the dirt as a high stakes game of marbles was being played.  The swings, slide, monkey bars and teeter-totter were our obstacle course.  We invented whole new worlds in this area outside the walls of our building.  It was amazing and we loved every minute of it.

When the word went out over the virtual wire about collaboration between ten outstanding authors/illustrators, you could almost hear the humming buzz growing into a roar of anticipation.  Comics Squad: Recess! (Random House) combines the talents of Jennifer L. Holm, Matthew Holm, Jarrett J. Krosoczka, Raina Telgemeier, Dave Roman, Dan Santat, Dav Pilkey, Ursula Vernon, Eric Wight and Gene Luen Yang.  These short stories take readers into the wonderful realm of one of the best breaks during any given school day.

A company of three dons black T-shirt masks to commence their meeting of a secret club.  Given an impossible task of proving his worth, a fourth surprises everyone with his hard-earned new super-awesome ninja mindset and moves.  Gene Luen Yang's dialog between these eight-year-old guys is genuine to a fault.  Many readers will identify with Daryl cheering him on as he pursues his dream but laughing at how he accomplishes each discipline.


Dav Pilkey starts his story with a letter home to parents from a disgruntled first grade teacher.  (Trust me when I say I was chuckling by the second paragraph.)  It seems their son, George, has made a comic instead of completing a writing assignment as required.  The comic, Book 'Em Dog Man, follows a criminal cat as he attempts to rid the world of reading.  The spelling errors like

You Reeka!
airplain and
instinkts

make this truly hilarious and authentic.


The students may be at recess but Betty of Lunch Lady fame has her hands full in more ways than one when her partner is ill on the biggest lunch day of the week, Pizza Day.  In an attempt to feed the hungry hordes their favorite food on time, Betty creates problems of monstrous proportions. Super tools in hand she seeks to thwart her foe in the hallways with only five minutes to spare.  Betty's thoughts and spoken conversations will have readers nodding their heads and smiling, glad of another adventure by a beloved character from her creator, Jarrett J. Krosoczka.

Thank green beans, it's recess time.


Scratch calmly reading a book during recess is interrupted by his friend Squeak.  He has found, yet again, a magic acorn.  (Scratch enumerates his previous three hundred false finds.) As these two squirrel pals dash away into the woods and into a clearing, readers and Scratch will get an out-of-this-world shock.  Ursula Vernon provides the perfect platform for innocence is bliss versus being in the know.


Our fearless cupcake-loving heroine has placed herself in a pickle of historic happenings.  Jennifer L. Holm and Matthew Holm send Babymouse on a quest to enjoy recess like the other students in school.  It seems as if her imagination (or something else entirely) has other ideas as medieval meanderings and a zap to Zeus, to name a couple, attempt to foil her plans.  Readers will appreciate the narrative asides in rectangular boxes as well as the Friday finale fiasco.  TYPICAL

Talk about "Spaghetti Western."


Get ready for a puns-tastic story in Eric Wight's tale of new student, Jiminy Sprinkles, a cupcake, in a classroom with a peanut, and other assorted fruits and vegetables.  It quickly starts at recess time when Jiminy asks the peanut if he can play with him.  He replies

I'm interested!  I'm just not used to having friends.  Everyone here thinks I'm a nut.

The Mean Green Gang try to trick the newbie and his pal but never fear peppermint is here.  Super Cool Man!


Not much could be funnier than three guys having a conversation about a three hundred word essay due right after recess when two of them have not even started.  To up the laughter factor the one dude is in a panic about not having even read the book.  (I can't tell you the title because I'm laughing too much. It's a sixty-four page classic.)  Add on the fact this was assigned three weeks ago and the dialogue is downright hysterical.  In a twist of fate (puke and a girl might be involved), Dan Santat delivers a stellar school story with humor at its finest.


It's raining outside; not a drizzle but pouring.  This equals doom for the students in Mr. Guff's class.  Their kickball tournament is cancelled and a fifth-grade monitor from Dullsville (my word not their word) is assigned to their room.  What the students don't know is Boring Becca has a few tricks up her sleeves.  Raina Telgemeier and Dave Roman know guys and gals and... gaming.  It shows on every page.


Edited by Jennifer L. Holm, Matthew Holm and Jarrett J. Krosoczka Comics Squad: Recess! is a rousing read.  Every single story, panels and text combined, is a success.  Babymouse and Lunch Lady act as narrative guides conversing on six separate pages before the stories start and at the end.  Four extra pages from the duo supply extra activities for readers.  Short biographical sketches of the authors/illustrators appear at the end.

Please follow the links embedded in the cartoonists' names above to access their websites.  For a peek at pages inside the book, follow this link to the publisher's website.  On the release date, July 8, 2014, John Schumacher, teacher librarian and blogger at Watch. Connect. Read. celebrated with an interview of Matthew Holm.  Jarrett J. Krosoczka stopped in at the Nerdy Book Club to chat about this title.  I don't know about you but there will be a stack of these at my house to hand out to trick or treat children this Halloween.