History ComicBook / SunnySeries

It's The70s and Sunshine "Sunny" Lewin is a young girl [[PeriodPiece living in Pennsylvania through them]]. The series starts with ''Sunny Side Up,'' which are about Sunny's unexpected summer vacation to UsefulNotes/{{Florida}} to visit her grandfather, Gramps, and explains [[HowWeGotHere why she's there in the first place]]. The series then continues with her starting middle school and continued adventures and issues growing up, many of them focused around her [[AgeAppropriateAngst angst and feelings]] about her brother's substance abuse and its continued effects on her and their family, and changing friendships in middle school.

* FirstLove: Deb and Regina in ''Sunny Rolls the Dice'' both think Sunny's lab partner in biology, Tony, is "groovy" and she's lucky to have him as a lab partner. Sunny doesn't see what they see in him and has no feelings for him. She also is annoyed when a boy bumps into her all night at the roller rink and Deb and Regina say it's because he likes her. Sunny later gets her own first crush in ''Sunny Makes a Splash,'' but it's on her own schedule.

* NotWhatItLooksLike: Sunny borrows a Tweety Bird shirt from Tony at work after hers gets splattered with ketchup. Later, Sunny's mom yells at her for having the strange shirt in her laundry when she says it's from Tony and she brought it home to wash. Sunny doesn't know why her mom's upset, and her mom says that boys giving girls a piece of their clothing is a romantic gesture and Sunny will understand when she's older. However, there was nothing romantic about the situation -- it was a practical situation of a stained shirt, and when she asks Tony if the shirt means a lot to him, he confusingly says it's just Tweety Bird. Her mom later gets mad about her bringing home a towel, and being late home from work, fussing that her and Gramps are acting like a bunch of teenagers.

* RebuiltPedestal: Dale [[BrokenPedastal falls in Sunny's eyes]] as a cool big brother once he starts abusing drugs. He's also sour and mean during his start in MilitarySchool. But by the end of ''Swing It, Sunny'' he's started to improve and by ''Sunny Rolls the Dice'' he's a RecoveredAddict, is in the navy, and Sunny looks up to him again.

* LastDayOfSchoolPlot: ''Sunny Makes a Splash'' starts on the last day of seventh grade, with students signing yearbooks and heading off for the summer.

* JokeAndRecieve: Sunny says on the first day of school that she's sick of hot dogs, having eaten and served them all summer. The school lunch is hot dogs.

# ''Sunny Side Up'': Sunny is sent to Florida to stay with her grandpa until Labor Day, in part because something's going on that Sunny doesn't want to talk about -- her older brother Dale's [[DrugsAreBad substance abuse]].

# ''Sunny Makes a Splash'': Summer comes around again and Sunny gets a job at the local pool's snack shack as well as her [[FirstLove First Crush]] on a boy named Tony.

** Sunny gets her long hair cut at the start of the summer in ''Sunny Side Up'' to resemble Dorothy Hamill's iconic style, the Wedge. She hates it.
** Her older brother Dale has long mullet-like hair stereotypical of the era in ''Sunny Side Up''. After he is sent to MilitarySchool to deal with his substance abuse problems, it gets [[TraumaticHaircut cut short]].
** ''Sunny Rolls the Dice'' has Sunny see winged hair like Farrah Fawcett in a teen fashion magazine and compares the wedge she's still trying to grow out. Deb has already had her hair cut into the feathered waves and rolls her hair nightly.
* ActuallyAGoodIdea: Arun brings up the idea of a debate club over lunch with Sunny. Later, Sunny's mother argues with her that she needs an after-school hobby other than watching TV (in part because Dale not having any hobbies led to his hanging out with a bad crowd and getting into drugs). Sunny argues that she's never gotten in trouble and that Dale's [[RecoveredAddict straightened out]] anyways, and TV is doing something. Her mother offhandedly says she's really good at arguing. Sunny thinks about it, and the next day, tells Arun they should start debate team.

* AnyoneRememberPogs: Being [[PeriodPiece set in the 70s]], the books mention a lot of fads and popular shows of the era. Sunny gets a fashionable haircut to resemble Dorothy Hamill's iconic style, the Wedge (but doesn't like it and spends the books afterwards growing it out). She and Deb mention the shampoo brand [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gee%2C_Your_Hair_Smells_Terrific "Gee, Your Hair Smells Terrific"]], a brand popularized in the 1970s. The family watches shows like ''Series/TheSixMillionDollarMan'', she weaves pot holders on a simple loop loom for presents, and she gets her brother Dale a Pet Rock as a Christmas gift (which he blows off at first, but later uses as [[IHaveThisFriend a symbolic explanation of his feelings]] at being sent to and adjusting to MilitarySchool). The start of ''Sunny Rolls the Dice'' has her flipping through a teen magazine and comparing herself to "groovy" looks and trends like a lava lamp, beanbag chair, and various fashions. When her parents decide to refurbish their basement, her dad has her bring her old dolls up to her room to store until it's done, which include a [[https://www.modbarbies.com/mod-barbies-blog/1974-dusty-and-skye-dolls-by-kenner Dusty doll]], a {{doll|s}} who was shaped "realistically" (and so didn't fit in Toys/{{Barbie}}'s clothing), which she and Deb try to do before ripping the item. She also watches the ABC ''Series/AfterschoolSpecial'' which gets a spotlight, and when debate club starts, one of the first debates involves her defending ''Bottle Caps'' candy, which were introduced in the decade. She and Gramps also go eat at Howard Johnson's, still an active restaurant chain, where Gramps orders [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanka Sanka]]. Her parents later throw a fondue party.

** Dale discusses a [[TheVietnamVet a Vietnam vet]] he met after joining the army who [[AnArmAndALeg lost a leg]] and was angry about it -- in part because he was [[{{Conscription}} drafted in]] and felt there was no reason that America should have gotten involved in Vietnam and it wasn't America's war to fight in.
* BathroomStallOfAngst: Sunny, while reading a ''ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk'' comic book she borrowed from Buzz's father in ''Sunny Side Up'', remembers her older brother Dale getting nasty and angry over time because of his drug use and goes into the bathroom to cry.
* BollywoodNerd: Sunny's friend Arun Patel is South Asian, plays D&D with her, and eventually starts the school's debate team with her. In ''Sunny Makes Her Case'' he complains that the school focuses heavily on sports, and gets teased in gym class for not catching a football where Sunny sees it while running track.
* ABoyAGirlAndABabyFamily: Sunny's parents have three kids in her NuclearFamily: Her, her older brother Dale, and her younger brother Teddy. Dale is separated from the family for some time due to his [[DrugsAreBad substance abuse]], which weighs emotionally on Sunny.
* BrainsVersusBrawn: Discussed in ''Sunny Makes Her Case''. Arun complains that the whole school is all about sports when it comes to competitions (and says his ideal school wouldn't even have a gym) and that there should be something else, like a debate club. This motivates him and Sunny to start one. It also comes up as their final debate topics during regionals, where the topic is "it's better to be successful in academics than sports" -- and the Devon County Day school, which has won the last three years in a row picks to argue in the affirmative, forcing Arun and Sunny to debate that sports have their purpose. Sunny's able to successfully do so and they win the competition.
* BrokenPedestal: Sunny looked up to and cared deeply for her older brother Dale. Which is why she's so upset that his [[DrugsAreBad substance abuse]] resulted in him treating her poorly, [[KeepingSecretsSucks expecting her to keep secrets]], and even [[spoiler:hitting her on accident in a drunken rage on the Fourth of July]]. She does not get over his actions easily and he's resentful after being sent to MilitarySchool to stop the problem. Sunny often wishes that he could just get better instantly--she says she misses him, but ''doesn't'' miss what he's like when he's there. She and her mother both have a good cry about it in his room when she confesses this. Things do improve; Dale finally starts to adapt to what military school is for him, becomes a RecoveredAddict, and later joins the Navy.

** When the newly formed debate team has their second place win announced in the morning announcements, two boys seated in front of her consider it news that they have one at all, to Sunny's irritation. After they take first in regionals, the same two boys ''still'' don't know they have a debate team.

** ''Swing It, Sunny'' shows in her room the crochet doll that Teezy and Ethel gifted her in ''Sunny Side Up'' as well as the bicentennial celebration flag.
** Deb mentions Sunny's skill at swing flag from ''Swing It, Sunny'' in ''Sunny Makes Her Case'' to try and persuade her to try out for cheer.

** In ''Swing It, Sunny'', Deb is not pleased at the idea of being Swamp Thing for Halloween -- she doesn't know who he is and isn't interested when Sunny explains -- and instead wants to be nurses after watching ''Series/GeneralHospital''. Sunny also fumbles with makeup when they play dress up, which she's not fond of. By the time of ''Sunny Rolls the Dice'' Deb and Sunny have gone on different friend paths with Deb interested in boys, fads and fashion, and makeup and dismissive of Sunny's interests including playing ''Dungeons and Dragons'' with boys. Sunny tries to stay connected to Deb but eventually [[ProudToBeAGeek embraces her geeky ways]] and she and Deb [[WeUsedToBeFriends go their separate ways as friends]], though they later connect again.
** Sunny has to study both sides of the debate on the draft and initially can't find a positive side, which Gramps provides. For the final round of their first competition, she's pulled to argue for the affirmative, and her talks with Gramps influence her talk.

* FoundingDay: ''Sunny Side Up'' covers the United States Bicentennial in 1976. Sunny's family and friends attend patriotic celebrations that day (as they live in Valley Forge, PA) and that night attend a picnic and cookout. [[spoiler:Things go terribly wrong during the fireworks when her [[DrugsAreBad substance-abusing]] older brother Dale shows up late and drunk and, when fighting with their father, accidentally hits Sunny hard enough to bruise her when she tries to stand between them to stop the fighting.]]

** The series briefly and frequently flashes asides of various items, with Sunny's commentary around them. These include her grandpa's car Bertha, technology of the era, comic book characters, and then-current TV shows, to inform readers of an era they don't know much about. Some also reveal her mental state about things going on around her.

* ObliviousToLove: Sunny has no idea at first that Tony is trying to ask her out on a date, partially because he CannotSpitItOut. Once Deb informs her, she's shocked to learn that's what he was doing since he didn't say so directly. Deb then tells her not to do anything, because Sunny asking him out would make him nervous.
* OldPeopleAreNonsexual: Sunny sees her Gramps flirt with the lady that takes her picture for her visitor's pass in ''Sunny Side Up'' and makes a disgusted face about it. He later gets involved with a lady his age, Myrtle, and Sunny makes a face when Dale brings up the idea they might kiss.
* PeriodPiece: The series was published starting in the 2010s but is set in the mid to late 1970s.
* PottyFailure: Teddy, who is old enough for potty training by ''Sunny Rolls the Dice'', has one while she's not paying attention to him during her D&D game with friends and she has to pause to clean him up.
* ProudToBeAGeek: Sunny starts off the series by embracing comic books with her new friend Buzz in Florida in ''Sunny Side Up'', deciding that Swamp Thing is her favorite character of them all. ''Sunny Rolls the Dice'' has the plot of her joining up and playing ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' with new friends in middle school, leading to her [[WeUsedToBeFriends eventual drifting away]] from her {{Childhood Friend|s}} Deb (who is more interested in fashion and boys).
* RecoveredAddict: Sunny's brother Dale is addicted to pot and alcohol, causing him to [[ToxicFriendInfluence hang with a bad group of two other boys]], [[BlatantLies lie to his mother]] about where he's been, and get in fights with his parents. After his outburst on the Fourth of July [[spoiler:where he hits Sunny in a drunken accident when she tries to stand between him and their dad]], he gets shipped off to MilitarySchool to clean up his act. He's resentful and bitter at first and even returns to spending time with his old friends, but starts to come around and recover, in part because he doesn't have much choice. By the start of ''Sunny Rolls the Dice'' he's cleaned up enough he's enrolled in the Navy.

** Sunny lives in one in Valley Forge, PA, with her parents, [[ABoyAGirlAndABabyFamily older brother Dale, and younger baby brother Teddy]]. However for a large part of the series, Dale is away at MilitarySchool dealing with his substance abuse problems and then enrolls in the Navy.

* ThingOMeter: Sunny spends a lot of ''Sunny Rolls the Dice'' picturing an internal "Groovy Meter" (based on one she saw in a teen magazine quiz), a mental measure of how well she's fitting in with her {{Childhood Friend|s}} Deb and new friend Regina and the new "rules" of seventh grade that make her cool or not. The levels of what are "groovy" frequently means Sunny shouldn't do a lot of things she wants to do -- like [[TooOldToTrickOrTreat go trick-or-treating]] and play ''[[TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons D&D]]'' with her new friends -- and should do a lot of things she doesn't care about like have crushes on boys and worry about fashion and looks. As Deb puts down things Sunny likes, she pictures her meter going down, and then up when she gets little signs of being "groovy," but she's not comfortable with most of what's expected. She finally mentally crosses the whole meter out when Deb talks about buying expensive jeans for them (to share) again and tells Deb she spent her money on what she wanted: a D&D Figure of her fighter character. Dropping her mental Groovy Meter is the last sign of her and Deb [[WeUsedToBeFriends drifting apart as friends]] as Sunny [[ProudToBeAGeek embraces her geeky side]] and goes back to playing D&D with her new friends.

* WeUsedToBeFriends: The major plot thread of ''Sunny Rolls the Dice''. Deb and Sunny, after still being ChildhoodFriends through the first two books, start to drift apart. Deb starts having interest in more "mature" and "groovy" with things like crushes on boys, fashion fads, makeup, and teen magazines. Meanwhile Sunny, with her love of comic books, still wants to dress up for Halloween (while Deb thinks they're TooOldToTrickOrTreat) and finds fun in playing ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' with her new friends Lev, Brian, and Arun. Deb initially plays but finds D&D boring; she calls it a game the "boys" play later when they're hanging out with new friend Regina, [[INeedToIronMyDog makes a weak excuse]] to skip one session, and drops out later on by saying she's too "old" to play games. Sunny briefly tries to stay connected to Deb and even quits D&D to try and hold on to her friendship, but reunites with the others at their awkward [[HighSchoolDance middle school dance]] where she has more fun with them than at the dance proper. The two finally go their separate ways when, instead of continuing to save her money to split a pair of Gloria Vanderbilt jeans with Deb, Sunny buys the fighter figurine she wants, and Deb reacts with silence when she sees this. Sunny [[ProudToBeAGeek embraces her geeky ways]] and returns to playing D&D. They start to be friends again by the time of ''Sunny Makes Her Case,'' but it's not the same level of closeness like before as they've both made new friends.