Sunny Rolls the Dice

Starred review from October 1, 2019

Gr 4-7-It's 1977, and Sunny is just starting seventh grade. She joins a group of boys who play Dungeons & Dragons, and she thoroughly enjoys the game, intrigued by the exciting stories and unusual monsters. Sunny also finds reminders of the game in real life, like comparing the gelatin in the school cafeteria to gelatinous cube monsters and applying the "always check for traps" rule to other risky tasks. But Sunny gets mixed messages from other girls and from teen magazines about how girls should look and act, and she starts to avoid the D & D group. It will be easy for readers to identify with likable Sunny as she struggles to balance her self-image with other people's ideas about who she should be. Colorful, cartoony art adds humor and appeal. Though the book is the third in the series about Sunny, newcomers will easily dive right in. VERDICT A sweet, funny, and silly story with a serious message at its core: stop trying so hard to be cool, and just have fun being yourself.-Andrea Lipinski, New York Public Library

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