Adorable Sunday

by Marlene Fanta Shyer

Thirteen-year-old Sunday Donaldson, successful television model and commercial actress, learns there is more to life than just being adorable.

Genres: Young Adult, Childrens

182 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1983

Reviews

[Amanda B · Rating 4 out of 5]

First read around 1989. I read and re-read this book as a child.

[Wendy Darling · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like many Apple paperbacks from the 80s, this is very movie-of-the-week but solidly written despite that. One of my favorites as a kid and still holds up, though probably too tame for modern kids.

3.5 stars

[Lauren Hudson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was one of many books bought my young me at thrift stores. As a child, it was a very serious and dark book for me. It is my earliest memory of reading about mental illness, especially where the characters are youth.

[eloise (2026 winter volleyball version) · Rating 3 out of 5]

This wasn't my favorite book; it was okay. The beginning of the book was okay, the middle was fine, but the end was terrible. First of all, Heather tried to commit suicide, then the news of Edwards dead fish and their horrible burial, the news of how Stewart was a shmuck to Erin just to look cool and go out with Sunday, and finally how Sunday butchered her hair to end her career. Butchering your hair is
1. An overexaggerated action
2. A complete waste of a lifetime of hair growth
It was a very unexpected and disappointing end to the book. I'm glad though that she ended her career, protected Edward from it, and put off Stewart. Not the best book, but it was okay.

[Reading with Cats · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was really good but that ending was super abrupt, leaving most of the plot threads dangling.
3.5 stars

[arane · Rating 3 out of 5]

a short book that shows the dark side of child acting

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is another book I repeatedly checked out from my childhood library, and for the most part it holds up. Rereading it, I was amazed at how many little details I remembered from it, whether turns of phrase or the fact that Virginia Woolf committed suicide via rocks in the pockets. There are a couple of less than sensitive remarks about non-English languages that hopefully wouldn't make it through the editorial process today. The high-interest premise still has gobs of appeal, but if there's a newer book that touches on commercial acting for kids, I don't know about it.

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Borrowed this book from the library at camp when I was younger (11 maybe?) and "forgot" to return it. I must have read this book 15 times. I really loved the detail and the character, it was jut a great read.

[Danielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eighth-grader Sunday starts making tv commercials and life isn't all sunshine and roses, at home or school. Nothing spectacular, and the end felt a little abrupt. A fine read, if you want to know what it was like to be a child actor in the 80s.

[Laura ExcuseMeImReading Marsh · Rating 5 out of 5]

A brain break book. Young adult fiction, read in an afternoon.