Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
A la Clarice Bean, this account of a bad mood is distinguished by the vivid, emphatic voice of Sunny, whose mother says she can't have any more cookies until dinner. "I have lost something very, very important. What I've lost is my smile." Sunny's crayoned face has brown bangs, two little pigtail puffs, and big, quizzical eyes. Her domestic surroundings-aquarium, dachshund, kitchen table with a toy railroad encircling it-appear in quirky, childlike perspective. Is her smile on the floor of her room? "If there is a floor under all this stuff! I don't think I have ever seen it," she admits. Hodgkinson (Boris and the Snoozebox) draws Sunny's floor dissolving into a fuchsia ocean, as jellyfish swim by and playthings become underwater plants. Soon enough Sunny is playing cards with her dog and the spat with Mom is resolved, delivering a low-key message about distraction being the best remedy for the sulks. The text highlights Sunny's engaging chatter with a variety of sizes and fonts. It's a polished performance, and Sunny is a character that children will look forward to seeing again. Ages 2-6. (Jan.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 2-Unable to have any more cookies (not even CRUMBS!) until dinner, Sunny loses her smile. Her dad suggests it might be where she last saw it, and her mom tells her where most lost things can be found. Her twin brothers irritate her with their own wide grins. Searching her messy room is daunting, so she cleans it up. She feeds her frowning fish, Glittergills, and plays cards with her dog, Mr. Honeycomb. Praised for these good deeds, Sunny finds her smile, and everyone is happy again. Her narrative is printed in various typefaces and sizes, mimicking her young voice. The childlike illustrations are done in bright colors with collage elements, occasional labels, and sometimes with sound effects. When the girl imagines that the floor in her room is really pink Jell-O, fanciful articles appear at the bottom of the spread in contrast to the more realistic items on the top. Sunny's imagination enriches her search, whether contemplating herself as a multieyed alien or thinking that her smile might be "LOST in the BIG WIDE WORLD." Youngsters who enjoy Lauren Child's "Lola and Charlie" books will love this one.-Mary Jean Smith, Southside Elementary School, Lebanon, TN (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
Denied any more cookies before dinner, Sunny loses her smile--literally--and spends the book's length trying to find it. After Mom praises her for cleaning her room, her smile resurfaces. The story's winking cuteness is somewhat overdone, but the illustrations featuring a big-eyed moppet set against collage-meets-cartoon-like backgrounds are attention-grabbing. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
When her mom says no to more cookies, chipper little Sunny loses her smile and searches the whole house hoping to get it back. She peers under the bed, sifts through the couch and questions poor Glittergills the goldfish. Even with a small, down-turned mouth Sunny remains cute as a button, and her percolating narration bounces readers from page to page. Wonderfully imperfect hand-lettered sections of text help evoke the high-pitched voice of a small girl. Charming, Lauren Childlike multimedia spreads pop with punchy colors, quirky diagrams and annotations. Sunny might have churned out the illustrations herself, bent over a kitchen table determined to tell her story. Readers learn that in scouring her home, Sunny inadvertently does quite a bit of good work: She cleans up her room, feeds Glittergills, finds Daddy's lost flip-flop and ends up quietly playing cards with Mr. Honeycomb, the family dog. Sunny's mother beams, lavishes her with praise and...Found it! Hodgkinson's vivid artwork and story capture the colorful, intricate and comedic inner workings of achild's imagination. (Picture book. 2-6) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
