Eleven-year-old Sunny Beringer and her eight-year-old sister Autumn have just been moved from their home in New Jersey to Bennetsville, North Carolina so their adopted mother can pursue a degree. Sunny misses her dad Scott, her cat Stellaluna, and her best friend Madeline, and she's unhappy living with Grandma Grace, so she comes up with Sunny's Super-Stupendous Plan to Get Mom and Dad Together. While she's working on that, she's torn between two new friend groups: popular girl Jessie and her friends, and her Odyssey of the Minds teammates, who include animal rights activist Lydia Applebaum and nerd Avi Sterling. More conflict comes from the fact that Grandma Grace owns a fur coat store, and Lydia is strongly opposed to the fur industry.
Call Me Sunflower contains examples of:
- Amicable Exes: Mom and Scott are still good friends. Sunny hopes that this will improve their chances of getting back together, but to her dismay they're never anything more than friendly no matter what she does.
- Cacophony Cover Up: Sunny sneaks out of the house at night to pick roses from her mom's "secret admirer" in an attempt at an Operation: Jealousy. She waits for the clock to bong to cover up the squeak of the back door.
- Calling Parents by Their Name: Sunny refers to her mom Rebecca as "Mom" and her dad as "Scott."
- Dedication: "To Eliana and Carissa. May you always reach for the sun."
- Disneyland Dad: Jessie's parents divorced two years ago. She rarely sees her dad now, but when she does, he buys her whatever she wants.
- Embarrassing First Name: Sunny's real first name is Sunflower. When she was in preschool, the other kids thought flower names were really cool, but by kindergarten they'd all outgrown them. Now Sunny is Only Known By Her Nickname.
- Go to Your Room!: Mom says, "Sunny Carson Beringer!" and orders her to her room for insulting Grandma Grace on TV and then to her face.
- Homeschooled Kids: Sixth grade is Lydia's first year in public school. There's a lot she doesn't know, like the fact that the cool kids' table is invitation only.
- How Dad Met Mom: Sunny asks her mom how she and Scott met, hoping to remind her of what new love felt like and rekindle their romance. Mom is less than helpful - she remembers that they met in class but doesn't remember which one, and doesn't remember their first date at all.
- Kids Play Matchmaker: Sunny's methods include blasting a playlist of Scott's favorite love songs, leaving pictures of Scott all over the house, and trying to find romantic photos for a photo album. It's while looking through a stack of photos that she finds the picture that proves her original adopted father was Mark.
- Pet's Homage Name: The Applebaums' cats are named Aristotle, Copernicus, and Einstein.
- Platonic Life-Partners: Mom and Scott aren't in love, but they are best friends.
- Playing Sick: Sunny fakes a terrible stomachache so she can stay home from school and attend an animal rights protest.
- Settle for Sibling: When Sunny was adopted, her mom was in a relationship with Scott's twin brother Mark, whose name was on the adoption papers. Mark died in a car crash three months later. In order to Give the Baby a Father, her mom tried for eleven years to have a relationship with Scott instead, but they never loved each other and eventually split up.
- Teen Idol: Cassie Evans hangs a poster of a boy with straight teeth and floppy hair in the locker she shares with Sunny.
- Waving Signs Around: On Fur Free Friday, Sunny wears a raccoon costume and sits in a cage with a sign saying "CAGED ANIMALS WAITING FOR DEATH."
