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Make a Move, Sunny Park!
From the author of Stand Up, Yumi Chung! comes a funny and utterly charming novel about friends—how to make them, how to let go of them, and how to be your own BFF.
This is the story of Sunny Park, a seventh-grade student at Ranchito Mesa Middle who loves the K-pop band Supreme Beat, hanging out with her cool grandma, dancing when no one is watching, snacking on shrimp chips, and being there for Bailey, her best friend since third grade. When Bailey decides that she and Sunny should audition for the school dance team in a ploy to parent-trap Bailey’s divorced mom and dad, Sunny agrees even though the thought of performing in public makes her pits sweat. After all, she’d do anything for Bailey. In a twist of fate, Sunny makes the team and Bailey doesn’t, and when Sunny reluctantly joins, it’s the start of a painful and drawn-out parting of ways for the two girls. As Sunny takes her first steps out from behind her friend’s shadow, she’ll have to figure out who she wants to be when she’s in the spotlight—and who she wants dancing alongside her.
This is the story of Sunny Park, a seventh-grade student at Ranchito Mesa Middle who loves the K-pop band Supreme Beat, hanging out with her cool grandma, dancing when no one is watching, snacking on shrimp chips, and being there for Bailey, her best friend since third grade. When Bailey decides that she and Sunny should audition for the school dance team in a ploy to parent-trap Bailey’s divorced mom and dad, Sunny agrees even though the thought of performing in public makes her pits sweat. After all, she’d do anything for Bailey. In a twist of fate, Sunny makes the team and Bailey doesn’t, and when Sunny reluctantly joins, it’s the start of a painful and drawn-out parting of ways for the two girls. As Sunny takes her first steps out from behind her friend’s shadow, she’ll have to figure out who she wants to be when she’s in the spotlight—and who she wants dancing alongside her.
352 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2021
10 people are currently reading
2120 people want to read
About the author
Jessica Kim
3 books66 followersJessica Kim writes about Asian American girls finding their way in the world. Before she was an author, Jessica studied education at UC Berkeley and spent ten years teaching third, fourth, and fifth grades in public schools. Like Yumi, Jessica lives with her family in Southern California and can’t get enough Hot Cheetos, stand-up comedy, and Korean barbecue.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews
October 23, 2023
I just love Jessica Kim’s books! This one was a delight to read. Written with so much heart and emotion, I didn’t want the story to end!! Sunny is a 12 year old girl who is starting to realize she might be tired of living in the shadow of her best friend Bailey. Even though I’m a 40-something mom of my own tween, I could relate to this feeling! I was rooting for Sunny the whole time and just wanted to see her come into her own. The dance team dynamics and routines were so fun to read about, and of course I loved all the Korean food references. Loved it all!
September 3, 2024
5 stars. Don't know what happened to my review - I had tons of notes on how great this book was, especially how I think the fictional name of Supreme Beats is really BTS, how their music appeals and heals broken hearts like halmoni's and brings people together, the excitement at the excellent epilogue at the concert. Seems really true to MG friendships, how they come and go, lessen or grow in intensity.
what remains from notes on my tweet:
T. rex costume dancing to kpop? I’m in! Outstanding MG friendship story - at the end Coach Tina has inspiring and true words applicable for all ages of friendships! Excellent epilogue, characters, and did I mention kpop? 5⭐️
what remains from notes on my tweet:
T. rex costume dancing to kpop? I’m in! Outstanding MG friendship story - at the end Coach Tina has inspiring and true words applicable for all ages of friendships! Excellent epilogue, characters, and did I mention kpop? 5⭐️
October 1, 2023
Sunny is just as much of a k-pop fanatic as me! She not only loves k-pop, but she loves dance and has a best friend that has been there for a lot. However, when these things mix, they don’t always see eye-to-eye. As Sunny has gotten older, her and her BFF are starting to drift apart. When Sunny gets the opportunity to join a dance team, she meets two new friends who are into the same interests as her (especially trying to get concert tickets to see their favorite k-pop group live). I could relate to a lot of the growing pains that comes with getting older, making new friends, and letting go to those who we aren’t as close with anymore. I really enjoyed the story and can’t wait to see more from Jessica Kim!
October 9, 2023
Sunny, who is Korean-American, has social anxiety, and loves dance and K-Pop almost as much as she hates disappointing or angering her best friend, Bailey. Bailey has no interest in K-Pop and persuaded Sunny to drop ballet, which Sunny loved, just after Sunny had been cast as Clara in the Nutcracker. Now, Bailey is struggling with her parents' separation and her mom's new boyfriend, who could soon become her stepfather. She persuades Sunny to try out for the school dance team, but when Bailey has a breakdown during tryouts, Sunny makes it and Bailey doesn't. Sunny wants to drop out, but her mother persuades her to give it a try, and Sunny learns that she loves it--and she makes two new friends, Bea and Jadyn, who love K-Pop as well, particularly Sunny's favorite group, Supreme Beats. Soon the three of them are scheming about how to earn enough money to attend a concert in SF (with Sunny's Halmoni [grandmother] as their chaperone, since she also loves Supreme Beats), but Sunny's also doin a lot of lying to Bailey about, well, everything. What will win out in the end, Sunny's fear of Bailey's anger or disapproval, or her love of dance, K-Pop, and her new friends?
This is another great one, so topical, with lots of details about dance teams, K-Pop fandom, and everything else. For instance, I loved that Sunny's parents design and build parade floats for a living--love the quirky detail of that! Her relationship with her grandmother is lovely, too, and their Korean heritage is an effortless part of their lives rather than a struggle. Sunny makes a lot of poor decisions, some based on her anxiety, but most based on her fear of Bailey, and the author shows how Sunny starts to really understand the issue in an organic if predictable way. This is such a common middle school experience, growing away from former besties (been there, done that myself), and it's really good for kids to see what's happening and maybe apply that knowledge to their own lives. I also loved the representation of fandom, and how some people denigrate it, but they shouldn't because it's a ton of fun! Don't be ashamed of your fandoms, peeps! Overall a winner, though I'll admit I had to read it backwards because I could see the meltdown and its cause coming from almost the start, and it was too suspenseful for me because I'm a wimp like that. Thanks to Libro.FM for a free educator copy of the audiobook.
This is another great one, so topical, with lots of details about dance teams, K-Pop fandom, and everything else. For instance, I loved that Sunny's parents design and build parade floats for a living--love the quirky detail of that! Her relationship with her grandmother is lovely, too, and their Korean heritage is an effortless part of their lives rather than a struggle. Sunny makes a lot of poor decisions, some based on her anxiety, but most based on her fear of Bailey, and the author shows how Sunny starts to really understand the issue in an organic if predictable way. This is such a common middle school experience, growing away from former besties (been there, done that myself), and it's really good for kids to see what's happening and maybe apply that knowledge to their own lives. I also loved the representation of fandom, and how some people denigrate it, but they shouldn't because it's a ton of fun! Don't be ashamed of your fandoms, peeps! Overall a winner, though I'll admit I had to read it backwards because I could see the meltdown and its cause coming from almost the start, and it was too suspenseful for me because I'm a wimp like that. Thanks to Libro.FM for a free educator copy of the audiobook.
August 28, 2024
Sunny Park is the cousin of Yumi Chang who has social anxiety and a passion for dancing. The story focuses on how after joining her middle dance team, Sunny starts to realize how toxic her friendship with her best friend Bailey truly is. They have an all-take, no-give relationship with Sunny as the giver and Bailey as the taker. Ever since her parents got divorced, Bailey has become possessive of Sunny and wants all her attention as her ride-or-die friend. Sunny acts like a people pleaser towards Bailey and always sacrifices whatever she is doing to tend to Bailey's needs. An example of this is when Sunny quit ballet when Bailey did due to her parent's divorce.
While on the dance team, Sunny makes two new friends named Jadyn and Bea who like the same k-pop band as her, Supreme Beat. They later team up to raise money to go to a Supreme Beat concert. However, Sunny keeps having to leave them to avoid upsetting Bailey. Eventually, Jadyn and Bea call out Sunny for flaking on them in favor of helping Bailey. They point out that while Bailey expects Sunny to always act as her caretaker, Bailey never does the same for her.
When Sunny and her friends have to lead a dance routine for an upcoming competition, the coach encourages Sunny to stop being a people pleaser and give the other dancers more effective feedback when they have trouble adapting to the new routine. Things come to a head when Sunny refuses to bail on a dance competition that is on the same day Bailey's mom is getting remarried. Bailey retaliates by putting a video on social media that she edited together of Sunny insulting her new friends and dance team.
Sunny only said those things because Bailey made fun of Jadyn and Bea behind their backs and pressured Sunny to do the same. After that massive breach of trust from Bailey, Sunny realizes that always being a people pleaser to Bailey cost her the new friends she truly wants to keep. In the end, Sunny makes up with Jadyn and Bea and attends the concert with them.
Bailey later apologizes to Sunny while not really acknowledging how badly she hurt Sunny. Sunny makes peace with how her and Bailey are growing apart due to different interests and moves on with her life
While on the dance team, Sunny makes two new friends named Jadyn and Bea who like the same k-pop band as her, Supreme Beat. They later team up to raise money to go to a Supreme Beat concert. However, Sunny keeps having to leave them to avoid upsetting Bailey. Eventually, Jadyn and Bea call out Sunny for flaking on them in favor of helping Bailey. They point out that while Bailey expects Sunny to always act as her caretaker, Bailey never does the same for her.
When Sunny and her friends have to lead a dance routine for an upcoming competition, the coach encourages Sunny to stop being a people pleaser and give the other dancers more effective feedback when they have trouble adapting to the new routine. Things come to a head when Sunny refuses to bail on a dance competition that is on the same day Bailey's mom is getting remarried. Bailey retaliates by putting a video on social media that she edited together of Sunny insulting her new friends and dance team.
Sunny only said those things because Bailey made fun of Jadyn and Bea behind their backs and pressured Sunny to do the same. After that massive breach of trust from Bailey, Sunny realizes that always being a people pleaser to Bailey cost her the new friends she truly wants to keep. In the end, Sunny makes up with Jadyn and Bea and attends the concert with them.
Bailey later apologizes to Sunny while not really acknowledging how badly she hurt Sunny. Sunny makes peace with how her and Bailey are growing apart due to different interests and moves on with her life
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 14, 2024
"Make a Move, Sunny Park" is an engaging and heartfelt middle-grade novel that explores themes of friendship, personal growth, and the challenges of stepping into the spotlight. Sunny Park, a seventh grader with a passion for the K-pop band Supreme Beat and dancing in private, faces a pivotal moment when her best friend, Bailey, persuades her to audition for their school's dance team. The plan? To bring Bailey's divorced parents back together. But when Sunny makes the team and Bailey doesn't, their friendship is tested in ways neither of them expected.
As Sunny grapples with her newfound position on the dance team and the visibility it brings, she starts to emerge from Bailey’s shadow, discovering her own identity and capabilities. This transition is not without its difficulties, as it strains the girls’ friendship and forces Sunny to confront the realities of who she is and who she wants to be.
I liked "Make a Move, Sunny Park" for its compelling writing and authentic portrayal of middle school dynamics. The novel does an excellent job of depicting the complex emotions and conflicts that can arise when one friend's success leads to another's feelings of abandonment and jealousy. The narrative addresses the tough lessons about friendship, including the importance of supporting each other's individuality and successes, even when it's hard.
While the book is celebrated for its strong messages and relatable protagonist, I felt that Bailey's actions and her repercussions could have been addressed more thoroughly to provide a fuller resolution to her character development. Nonetheless, the story provides valuable insights into navigating changes in friendships and growing up.
Overall, "Make a Move, Sunny Park" is a heartfelt story that resonates with young readers facing their own challenges of friendship and self-discovery. It is a recommended read for those who enjoy stories about personal growth, the excitement and anxiety of new experiences, and the enduring power of friendship.
As Sunny grapples with her newfound position on the dance team and the visibility it brings, she starts to emerge from Bailey’s shadow, discovering her own identity and capabilities. This transition is not without its difficulties, as it strains the girls’ friendship and forces Sunny to confront the realities of who she is and who she wants to be.
I liked "Make a Move, Sunny Park" for its compelling writing and authentic portrayal of middle school dynamics. The novel does an excellent job of depicting the complex emotions and conflicts that can arise when one friend's success leads to another's feelings of abandonment and jealousy. The narrative addresses the tough lessons about friendship, including the importance of supporting each other's individuality and successes, even when it's hard.
While the book is celebrated for its strong messages and relatable protagonist, I felt that Bailey's actions and her repercussions could have been addressed more thoroughly to provide a fuller resolution to her character development. Nonetheless, the story provides valuable insights into navigating changes in friendships and growing up.
Overall, "Make a Move, Sunny Park" is a heartfelt story that resonates with young readers facing their own challenges of friendship and self-discovery. It is a recommended read for those who enjoy stories about personal growth, the excitement and anxiety of new experiences, and the enduring power of friendship.
November 18, 2025
Wow! I don’t even know what to say after reading this book, it was that good. The cover isn’t my favorite, I would have preferred a more anime style but who cares, lets move on to characters. First off, Sunny Park. She was such a cool character and I liked how she developed a bit towards the end and set up healthy boundaries with her “friend”. Speaking of that, lets move on to Bailey. She seemed interesting at first, indie music enjoyer and earl grey enthusiast, she seems like a fun friend, as Sunny originally thought. But the truth is, she is much more toxic than Sunny realized. From insulting and degrading her friends interests to pressuring her friend to quit hobbies to literally posting her mistakes online, Bailey is as toxic as they come. Sunny then joins dance camp to afford tickets for the new kpop concert, but she keeps it a secret from Bailey, while also bashing her new friends behind their backs (the secret Bailey reveals). The book had a interesting plot twist and I really enjoyed it, it teaches lessons of kindness and figuring out who your true friends are.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 12, 2024
At last a K-pop book for my shelves -- a frequent request from my readers! Sunny Park tries out for the school dance team after being talked into it by bestie Bailey, but their relationship starts to splinter when Sunny makes the team and Bailey does not. As Sunny makes new friends on the team (who share her obsession with a K-pop group rather than mock it as Bailey does), she finds herself choosing new friends over old, feeling conflicted as she hides her true self from Bailey. Spinning a web of lies comes predictably to crashing end as Sunny is forced to deal with all she has been hiding. More mature readers will identify with Sunny's mortification as she gets her first period at school, but they will also roll their eyes at the logistics around the K-pop concert tickets.
November 6, 2023
A great middle school book with characters and friendship problems kids will relate to. The character flaws are so realistic and represents middle schoolers well. Sunny struggles with social anxiety and being honest with her friends, values her relationship with her Korean grandma, and uses her ingenuity to earn money to buy tickets to see her favorite K-pop group. From the author of Stand Up, Yumi Chung, a book middle schoolers will love!
November 26, 2023
The title suits this book on many levels. I enjoyed experiencing the main character, Sunny, navigating friendships and learning to stand up for herself and her needs and wants so as not always to give in to others. I also enjoyed experiencing Sunny's family dynamics and how they contributed to her sense of self.
September 11, 2023
Even if you friend has been your BFF since you were little, they should not control you. There was a lot of deception and lying through a majority of the book and most of the plot was built on those lies. Boundaries were eventually established. Of course I loved Sunny’s grandma!
August 29, 2023
Jessica Kim has done it again. This is a great story about family, friendship, and following your dreams! I also recommend Stand Up, Yumi Chung by this author.
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September 29, 2023EpicFest 2024 author. This was such a fun read with so much heart. I loved it, and will be adding Jessica Kim's other books to my TBR.
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September 30, 2023This is darling! I loved Sunny.
November 11, 2023
Highly recommend! Kpop fans, this is the book you've been waiting for! A perfect middle grade read for kpop fans.
November 23, 2023
Really good story about shifting friendships and navigating middle school. Highly recommend!
December 9, 2023
Great book about navigating toxic friendships.
January 7, 2024
all about friendship, school, and more! Love this representation of korean-american culture!!!
January 13, 2024
This had a lot of great life lessons in it, especially about healthy friendships. Highly recommend it for upper elementary students!
February 27, 2024
This take on friendship felt really fresh to me. Delightful stuff here!
July 11, 2024
This fulfilled the k-pop prompt for the 2024 PopSugar Reading Challenge. Otherwise, I would not have read this. I usually do enjoy middle school fiction -- but this one was just meh for me.
December 31, 2024
This had a lot of great life lessons in it, especially about healthy friendships. Highly recommend it for upper elementary students!
March 13, 2025
I really liked how the author illustrated how much Bailey was controlling Sunny's life, and the ending was perfection!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 26, 2025
It was awesome!!!!
May 21, 2025
A sweet, moving story full of fun times and tender moments! Love the friendships in this novel!
Sunny Park is a great character—very relatable and humorous! Her voice was distinct and unique, and the storyline was wonderful! 😊
Sunny Park is a great character—very relatable and humorous! Her voice was distinct and unique, and the storyline was wonderful! 😊
July 19, 2023
Sunny and Bailey have been friends for years. They even took ballet classes together. But when Bailey tired of dancing, she made Sunny quit, too. Now, Bailey wants Sunny to try out for the 7th grade dance team with her (Bailey has an ulterior motive.) When Sunny makes the team, and Bailey does not, Sunny's mom convinces her to try the team for a week before she decides, and Sunny makes some new friends. They are different from Bailey - they are nice to her, and they also love Sunny's favorite K-Pop band, the Supreme Beats.
There is a lot to love about Make a Move, Sunny Park. While Sunny has social anxiety, she doesn't use it as an excuse, and she has a therapist. I loved that there was a boy on the dance squad. I loved that the energy between Sunny and Bailey didn't just start with a huge fight - I loved that Sunny worked through both the dissolving relationship with Bailey as well as learning to balance having other friends as well - which didn't happen gracefully. I liked that her new friends were honest with her. This would work nicely in a book group. Sunny is Korean.
Cross posted to http://kissthebook.blogspot.com
There is a lot to love about Make a Move, Sunny Park. While Sunny has social anxiety, she doesn't use it as an excuse, and she has a therapist. I loved that there was a boy on the dance squad. I loved that the energy between Sunny and Bailey didn't just start with a huge fight - I loved that Sunny worked through both the dissolving relationship with Bailey as well as learning to balance having other friends as well - which didn't happen gracefully. I liked that her new friends were honest with her. This would work nicely in a book group. Sunny is Korean.
Cross posted to http://kissthebook.blogspot.com
April 22, 2023
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus
Stand Up, Yumi Chung's cousin Sunny Park isn't quite as gregarious as her relative in Los Angeles. While she's taken ballet with her long time best friend Bailey, she has a lot of social anxiety and feels better dancing if she can do it at home, filming to upload, while wearing an inflatable dinosaur costume. She is enamored with the K-Pop band Supreme Beats and is active on their discussion forum, but Bailey thinks they are silly. Bailey is also the reason Sunny quit ballet; Sunny got a better role in the production of The Nutcracker than Bailey did, and Bailey's parents split, so she quit dance and pressured Sunny to do the same. Now, Bailey thinks that if she tries out for the school dance team at Rancho Mesa Middle School, she can trick her parents into getting back together when they come to watch her perform, even though her mother is now dating Darren. Sunny agrees to try out as well. She practices a lot, and meets Bea and Jayden at the tryouts. Bea knows Sunny from the Supreme Beats forum, and Jayden is the only boy trying out for the squad. On the day of tryouts, Bailey finds out her mother has gotten engaged to Darren, has a melt down, and doesn't try out. Sunny helps her get home after doing a solid job of dancing. Sunny makes the team while Bailey does not, and decides that she will try out the team for a week and then quit. She ends up enjoying it so much that she stays on the team, which makes her relationship with Bailey a bit strained. Sunny's grandmother, Halmoni, lives with Sunny's family and is helpful in convincing Sunny to stay on the team and have some activities that don't involve Bailey. The dance team hopes to make it to a regional competition in San Francisco, and Bea, Jayden, and Sunny try to earn enough money to go to the concert, with Halmoni as their chaperone, but this also means lying to Bailey. Bailey is convinced that Darren is cheating on her mother, and spies on him trying to get proof. Sunny finds herself more and more irritated with Bailey, and enjoys being around her new friends and involved in the dance team more than she enjoys Bailey. It doesn't help that Bailey is mean to her friends, and often calls Sunny away from activities that involve dance team to deal with her crises. When Bailey's mother moves her wedding up to the weekend of the dance competition, Sunny lets her know that this is something she just can't drop. When will Bailey start to support Sunny in the same way that Sunny has supported Bailey?
Strengths: Losing a friend in middle school is such a common occurrence that I am surprised there are not more books about friends who part ways. Bailey is very self involved, which is not an uncommon trait in middle school students, and Sunny is terrified of losing her long time friend. I did enjoy the fact that Sunny made the dance team and enjoyed it even though she tried out just to please Bailey! Bea and Jayden are much more pleasant friends to have, and its good to see them connect and do activities together. Sunny's homelife is interesting; her parents run a parade float making business! Halmoni is a calm and constant presence in Sunny's life, and it wasn't a surprise to read that the character was based on Kim's own grandmother. I love that the grandmother still dances and isn't decrepit at... probably my age! Even though there were some problems in the story, they were every day middle grade ones, this wasn't a sad book. I'm not sure how many of my readers are into K-Pop, but Florence's Sweet and Sour has circulated very well in my library, so my students must not mind it at all!
Weaknesses: There was a lot going on in this book, and there were several plot lines that could have been removed to make this a tighter story. 352 pages is a bit long for a middle grade book. Also, did we have to mention sending Halmoni back to Korea? That just made me unnecessarily sad!
What I really think: Definitely purchasing, and I think this will be a popular choice with readers who want the ever popular "friend drama" books!
Stand Up, Yumi Chung's cousin Sunny Park isn't quite as gregarious as her relative in Los Angeles. While she's taken ballet with her long time best friend Bailey, she has a lot of social anxiety and feels better dancing if she can do it at home, filming to upload, while wearing an inflatable dinosaur costume. She is enamored with the K-Pop band Supreme Beats and is active on their discussion forum, but Bailey thinks they are silly. Bailey is also the reason Sunny quit ballet; Sunny got a better role in the production of The Nutcracker than Bailey did, and Bailey's parents split, so she quit dance and pressured Sunny to do the same. Now, Bailey thinks that if she tries out for the school dance team at Rancho Mesa Middle School, she can trick her parents into getting back together when they come to watch her perform, even though her mother is now dating Darren. Sunny agrees to try out as well. She practices a lot, and meets Bea and Jayden at the tryouts. Bea knows Sunny from the Supreme Beats forum, and Jayden is the only boy trying out for the squad. On the day of tryouts, Bailey finds out her mother has gotten engaged to Darren, has a melt down, and doesn't try out. Sunny helps her get home after doing a solid job of dancing. Sunny makes the team while Bailey does not, and decides that she will try out the team for a week and then quit. She ends up enjoying it so much that she stays on the team, which makes her relationship with Bailey a bit strained. Sunny's grandmother, Halmoni, lives with Sunny's family and is helpful in convincing Sunny to stay on the team and have some activities that don't involve Bailey. The dance team hopes to make it to a regional competition in San Francisco, and Bea, Jayden, and Sunny try to earn enough money to go to the concert, with Halmoni as their chaperone, but this also means lying to Bailey. Bailey is convinced that Darren is cheating on her mother, and spies on him trying to get proof. Sunny finds herself more and more irritated with Bailey, and enjoys being around her new friends and involved in the dance team more than she enjoys Bailey. It doesn't help that Bailey is mean to her friends, and often calls Sunny away from activities that involve dance team to deal with her crises. When Bailey's mother moves her wedding up to the weekend of the dance competition, Sunny lets her know that this is something she just can't drop. When will Bailey start to support Sunny in the same way that Sunny has supported Bailey?
Strengths: Losing a friend in middle school is such a common occurrence that I am surprised there are not more books about friends who part ways. Bailey is very self involved, which is not an uncommon trait in middle school students, and Sunny is terrified of losing her long time friend. I did enjoy the fact that Sunny made the dance team and enjoyed it even though she tried out just to please Bailey! Bea and Jayden are much more pleasant friends to have, and its good to see them connect and do activities together. Sunny's homelife is interesting; her parents run a parade float making business! Halmoni is a calm and constant presence in Sunny's life, and it wasn't a surprise to read that the character was based on Kim's own grandmother. I love that the grandmother still dances and isn't decrepit at... probably my age! Even though there were some problems in the story, they were every day middle grade ones, this wasn't a sad book. I'm not sure how many of my readers are into K-Pop, but Florence's Sweet and Sour has circulated very well in my library, so my students must not mind it at all!
Weaknesses: There was a lot going on in this book, and there were several plot lines that could have been removed to make this a tighter story. 352 pages is a bit long for a middle grade book. Also, did we have to mention sending Halmoni back to Korea? That just made me unnecessarily sad!
What I really think: Definitely purchasing, and I think this will be a popular choice with readers who want the ever popular "friend drama" books!
December 10, 2025
I was suprised by how much I liked this book, because I am not interested in the main things that this book was about, but it was really good
May 22, 2023
Thank you to Penguin Young Readers Group for providing me with an ARC of this title. Sometimes you just have to dance it out…in an inflatable dinosaur costume. Tackling middle school when you have anxiety is hard, but Sunny has a great support system to help. At least, she thought she did. When she makes the school dance team and begins building new friendships without her longtime BFF Bailey, things begin to spiral out of control. Sunny tries to balance the different aspects of her life, but can she keep it all together? Jessica Kim captures the struggles of friendship in the latest addition to her middle grade repertoire. She provides a sensitive and thoughtful look at a toxic friendship through Sunny and Bailey. The book provides an excellent contrast between healthy and unhealthy relationships. Kim also does an excellent job of portraying a flawed main character who makes mistakes, faces consequences to her actions, and uses her experiences to grow as a person. As a former dancer in my childhood, I also loved the dance team elements in the book. Kim captured the camaraderie of being in this environment. This would be a great pick for anyone starting/about to start middle school, dancers, or K-Pop fans!
May 28, 2023
A delightful MG follow up to Stand Up, Yumi Chung!
💃🏻
Sunny loves dancing, her family and her best friend, Bailey. She especially loves the k-pop group Supreme Beat, despite the fact that her BFF isn’t that into it. When Bailey decides for the both of them that they should try out for the school dance team, Sunny is reluctant, as she has social anxiety. When Sunny makes the team and Bailey doesn’t, it creates a rift between the two girls and allows Sunny to actually venture outside their friendship to learn more about herself and make new friends.
💃🏻
I loved the peripheral book about Yumi’s cousin, Sunny. I see this in friendships all the time in elementary and middle schoolers: they rely so heavily on their friend’s opinions that it effects their decisions and what clubs, sports, activities, etc. that they do. I can’t wait for this novel to be out in the world August 15!
CW: death of a grandparent (recounted), cancer, anxiety, bullying, microaggressions
💃🏻
Sunny loves dancing, her family and her best friend, Bailey. She especially loves the k-pop group Supreme Beat, despite the fact that her BFF isn’t that into it. When Bailey decides for the both of them that they should try out for the school dance team, Sunny is reluctant, as she has social anxiety. When Sunny makes the team and Bailey doesn’t, it creates a rift between the two girls and allows Sunny to actually venture outside their friendship to learn more about herself and make new friends.
💃🏻
I loved the peripheral book about Yumi’s cousin, Sunny. I see this in friendships all the time in elementary and middle schoolers: they rely so heavily on their friend’s opinions that it effects their decisions and what clubs, sports, activities, etc. that they do. I can’t wait for this novel to be out in the world August 15!
CW: death of a grandparent (recounted), cancer, anxiety, bullying, microaggressions
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