Make a Move, Sunny Park! was very good! Sunny Park is super into K-pop, and her best friend is not. When her best friend convinces her to try out for the dance team, Sunny is hesitant but agrees. She makes the dance team, but her bestie does not. This along with her bestie's parents' divorce causes a rift between the two. Sunny makes two new great friends who share her interest, and it drives a rift between her and her bestie. Sunny is also dealing with social anxiety, and her changing friendships don't help at all. Honestly, I felt anxious on Sunny's behalf because I went through a similar situation when I was in middle school. The writing was too good, and Sunny's predicaments felt too real. However, I want to put this book in the hands of every middle schooler, because I think it does a really nice job of showing the ways that relationships can grow and change.

At the urging of her best friend Bailey, K-pop fanatic Sunny reluctantly tries out for her school’s dance team. Sunny ends up being selected for the team, while Bailey is not. Sunny struggles with social anxiety, so she hesitates to join the team without Bailey, but decides to try it out. Sunny finds new friends on the team who are also super fans of the same band. As she and her new friends spend more time together in rehearsals and planning how they’ll get to get to a concert featuring their favorite band, Sunny begins to grow apart from Bailey. She resorts to telling lies to placate Bailey while trying her best to juggle her competing interests.

Make a Move, Sunny Park addresses some of the complicated issues middle grade readers will encounter as they navigate changes in their own friendships. Sunny is a well-developed character who makes mistakes, but also manages to grow and learn from those mistakes. The book also features a wonderful intergenerational relationship between Sunny and her grandmother, who’s also a big K-pop fan. This will be a great read for middle grade readers looking for friendship stories—and of course for K-pop fans, too!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC of the book to read and review.

Jessica has written another fun, accessible story about a girl trying to find her own voice. Readers will find this story relatable, and will appreciate an insider's look at the breakup of a friendship.

This is a good, straightforward middle grade novel about friendship, K-pop, and finding ones confidence. Starring a Korean American girl, this is an accessible and well-paced novel for tween readers.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group for this DRC.
Sunny Park is in middle school. She is learning friendship is hard, especially when it only goes one way. She is exploring growing up, new friendships, standing up for herself and her love of K-Pop.

It certainly brought back all my middle school angst. I enjoyed it and I am glad Sunny Park is having a better middle school life than I did!
#MakeaMoveSunnyPark #NetGalley

This was an AMAZING middle grade book about embracing who you are and growing out of friendships. I really enjoyed watching how Sunny grew out of a toxic relationships and evolved with her new friends. A great display of growth for middle grade readers,

Jessica Kim’s writing is realistic, entertaining and appealing!

The story and characters are unique and believable! This book in particular tackles family and friendship in such a meaningful way. It will be sure to help middle grade readers process some of their own friendship and family experiences.

I enjoyed every minute of reading this.

delightful MG follow up to Stand Up, Yumi Chung!
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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.
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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 Park is a socially anxious girl obsessed with her favorite K-Pop band, Supreme Beat. She has one friend, Bailey and tries to be there as much as possible (to a fault) for her—even when it means quitting ballet which she loved.

But when Bailey drags her to audition for her school’s dance team, Sunny gets in and Bailey doesn’t. Sunny’s mom insists that Sunny continues on the team, to Bailey’s dismay. As Sunny makes new friends, she starts to realize that maybe Bailey isn’t such a great one.

This was a fun, relatable (at times frustrating) story about standing up for oneself, dance, fandom, and finding true friends.

Middle school is a turbulent time for friendships - you grow apart from friends you've known for forever as you get older - and this book perfectly encapsulates what it's like to realize your ride-or-die bff hasn't exactly been riding for you. Jessica Kim expertly balances those deeper, deliberate moments with comedic quips, keeping the mood light while still addressing serious topics. As a child of the internet, I absolutely love Sunny, Bea, and Jadyn's love of Supreme Beat. It's amazing how fandom can bring people together and how someone you meet online can get you more than someone you've known your entire life. At its heart, this is a book about friends - the ones we lose and the ones we gain - and that it's okay to stand up (haha get it?) to your best friend in order to take control of your own life.

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!