Ways to Make Sunshine
From New York Times-bestselling and multi-award-winning author Renée Watson comes the start of a character-driven, young middle grade series starring a black girl and her relatable and lovable family
'Without ever shying away from difficult topics such as racism and financial hardship, this is a positive, optimistic story. For readers who are going through tough or troubling times, this book will be a welcome dose of happiness' BookTrust Great Books Guide 2021
Ryan Hart and her family live in Portland, Oregon, and her dad lost his job a while ago. He finally got a new one, but it pays less, and he’ll have to work nights. And so they’re selling the second car and moving to an (old) new house.
The Harts are an everyfamily – a family with siblings who bicker, parents who don’t always get it right, but a family that loves. A family working hard to make it in tough economic times, a family with traditions and culture, a family that tries new things. This is a black family growing up in middle class America.
And Ryan is a girl who has much on her mind – school, family, friends, self-image – but who knows how to make sunshine out of setbacks.
Packed with humour and heart alongside meaningful and thoughtful moments, Ryan Hart is the character everyone will want to be best friends with.
RENÉE WATSON is the Newbery Honor and Coretta Scott King Author Award-winning author of the novels Some Places More Than Others, Watch Us Rise, co-written with Ellen Hagan, Piecing Me Together, This Side of Home, What Momma Left Me, Betty Before X, co-written with Ilyasah Shabazz, and two picture books: Harlem's Little Blackbird and A Place Where Hurricanes Happen. Renée is the founder of I, Too, Arts Collective, a nonprofit committed to nurturing underrepresented voices in the creative arts. She lives in New York City.
www.reneewatson.net; @harlemportland (Instagram); @reneewauthor (Twitter)