SUNNYSIDE PLAZA is on the Winter 2019-2020 Kids’ Indie Next List!
Wonder meets Three Times Lucky in a story of empowerment as a young woman decides to help solve the mystery of multiple suspicious deaths in her group home.
Publishers Weekly
Publication date: January 2020
Ages 8 and Up
Starred Review from Kirkus
“A tender insight into being different and wonderful.”
– Kirkus, starred review.
Take a look at the great bookseller quotes praising SUNNYSIDE PLAZA:
“Sally Miyake is a bold choice to narrate SUNNYSIDE PLAZA… She’s funny, observant and perceptive… Sally’s pitch-perfect, brilliantly meandering voice reminded me that I first read (and adored) “Flowers for Algernon,” the story of an adult man with cognitive and developmental disabilities navigating similarly dark issues…Simon has given young readers a rare chance to celebrate the extraordinary courage of someone like Sally, and a chance to understand where it comes from.”
The New York Times – click here for full review
“A wise, humane book from NPR’s Scott Simon tells a mystery from the point of view of a 19-year-old resident of a group home for people with intellectual disabilities. Mr. Simon’s respect and affection appear on every page of this gentle mystery narrated by Sally Miyake, a 19-year-old resident of a group home.”
The Wall Street Journal – click here for full review
“Scott Simon Draws The Mystery Of ‘Sunnyside Plaza’ From His Own Past: When NPR host Scott Simon was in his late teens, he took a job in an assisted living facility in Chicago, working with people who had developmental disabilities.”
NPR Interview – click here for full interview
“Sunnyside Plaza is a light in the shadows that illuminates the humanity in us all. It’s a book as special as its characters. A treasure.”
Jerry Spinelli, Newbery winning author of Maniac Magee and The Warden’s Daughter
“A beautiful book that focuses on empathy, not pity, to introduce readers to a new world. I enjoyed every minute I spent with the characters of Sunnyside Plaza.”
Stacy McAnulty, bestselling author of The Miscalculations of Lightning Girl