Ways to Make sunshine by Renee Watson

Oh, my stars! Ways to Make Sunshine is an adorable book by Renee Watson @harlemportland starring Ryan Hart. Ryan’s name means “king”, and her parents remind her every morning to be who they named her to be, a leader who does the right thing.  Here are some reasons I like this book:

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• Ryan is an African-American girl in 4th grade. My library needs more books about African-American girls and about 4th graders. Seems there are a lot of books about 6th  and 2nd graders, not so many about 4th graders.
• Sometimes she succeeds. Sometimes she doesn’t. She can be nice, and she’s good at helping people. But she can also be petty, like when she makes her brother’s chicken wings extra spicy because he made her mad.
• She loves to cook. I like characters who have a passion.
• Her parents are really good parents. Although things are tough financially right now, they press on together to do what is right for their kids.
• Ryan is learning to deal with people who are different from her. For instance, there is a girl named Red. Red has white girl hair and doesn’t understand that Ryan isn’t afraid to swim, she’s afraid of what her mom will do if she gets her hair wet. Ryan knows if she jumps in the pool, her nice, straight hair that her grandma spent a lot of time pressing will poof up instantly. Red hounds Ryan into a breath-holding contest. Too late, Ryan realizes she didn’t need to prove anything to Red. She messed up her hair, and worse, she was showing off. That is not who her parents raised her to be.
• At the end, Ryan learns that she is braver than she thought she was because she stepped in to help a friend.

This was a short read at around 170 pages. It looks like this is the first book in a planned series. I know my students will love it.