Sunny Side Up by Jennifer & Matthew Holm

Sunny Side Up by Jennifer L. Holm & Matthew Holm
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Hardcover, 224 pages
Published August 25th 2015 by GRAPHIX/Scholastic

Very gently touches upon dealing with a family member who has issues with substance abuse. In this case, a little girl's teenage brother is smoking dope and drinking beer and his being high and drunk is causing serious problems for him. It's a very moderate approach and compared more vividly with a grandfather having a tough time giving up smoking which makes the book appropriate for a young audience. Frankly, I found the story quite bland and even mostly boring. What I did enjoy was the girl's friendship with a boy who introduced her to comics and the little asides as she became familiar with new superheroes such as Spiderman and Batman. It's decent enough for what it is, but honestly it feels as if this is an "issue" story that's been forced and I would have enjoyed the simple plot of a girl spending the summer with her grandfather without the flashbacks to her brother. Meh.