Sunny has just started middle school and things are not going so great. In fact, almost every aspect of middle school, Sunny finds horrible and then, there is the fact that she misses her older brother Dale, who is off at boarding school. When her grandpa calls from Florida, she lies and tells him that everything is okay.
Soon Sunny begins wheezing and coughing which has her mother running her off to her doctor. After seeing a specialist, Sunny is told she has allergies and her course of treatment is shots. Sunny and her best friend Deb are talking about their Halloween costumes this year and Deb doesn’t like Sunny’s idea. Sunny sides with Deb on her idea although you can tell that Sunny likes her idea better. Sunny, just can’t catch a break.
Dale comes home at Thanksgiving and Sunny is excited to see him. Dale has changed while he was gone. Dale is now a moody teenager who snaps instead of replies to comments that are spoken to him. Sunny loves her brother and misses him when he’s gone but she doesn’t miss the Dale who he has now become.
When a new neighbor moves in Sunny finds refugee in her. Even though she is older, Neela is a great role model for Sunny and the two of them become friends.
I liked how grandpa was a constant figure in Sunny life. I liked how he made a point to check-in on her and he asked questioned about her life. I found it interesting how Sunny started to look at her relationship with Deb, after being with Neela. After talking and twirling flags with Neela, she started to ask Deb some probing questions. I’m glad Sunny has Neela close by. I liked the ending of the book, Sunny’s efforts were finally getting some results.