Ryan Hart, a next-generation Ramona Quimby, makes sunshine out of challenges in this warm-hearted series opener.
Ways to Make Sunshine by Renee Watson. Bloomsbury, 2020, 175 pages.
Reading Level: Middle Grades, ages 8-10
Recommended for: ages 7-11, or 5-10 as a read-aloud
Ryan’s name means “king”–that’s her comeback when people observe it’s a boy’s name. It’s a leader’s name, and Ryans parents gave it to her because they want her to feel powerful when her name is called. Not in a bossy way, but in a self-assured way. But how do you feel powerful when your dad loses his job? and the landlord decides to sell the house you’re living in? and the house you’re moving to is smaller and doesn’t feel like home? Circumstances do get in the way of feeling powerful, but it’s those very circumstances that build emotional muscle.
Ryan Hart is marketed as a next-generation Ramona Quimby of a different color. Besides calling Portland home, like Beverly Cleary’s lovable creation, Ryan’s adventures follow a similar episodic pattern: challenges with the move, a mystery about previous occupants of the new house, a snarky white girl, a long-standing fear of public speaking. If, like Ramona, Ryan has further adventures in store, she’ll meet them with the same spunky trepidation, backed up by loving parents and a loyal, if annoying, older brother. Young readers in the 3rd-5th-grade range will enjoy spending time with her, and may even pick up some tips on “making sunshine.”
Overall Rating: 4.5 (out of 5)
- Worldview/moral value: 4
- Artistic/literary value: 4.5
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More at Redeemed Reader:
- See our starred review of Betty before X, by Renee Watson and Ilyasah Shabazz (daughter of Malcolm X).
- Also by Renee Watson: Piecing Me Together is about finding one’s identity through art; Some Places More than Others is about the importance of family heritage.
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Well my daughter came to me saying that the main characters dad said something really strange. This is what she read, “Amanda and I used to be neighbors at our old house but she moved last month to Lake Oswego, a place Dad says is too far and too white.” (pg42) I was FLOORED!! How did this book earn a Coretta Scott King award? Because that line is obviously racist. My daughter also says Ryan, the main character, is boring and complains way to much. I am disappointed Redeemed Reader suggested this title. I will be much more careful in the future taking book reviews at face value on here.
Lori,
Thank you for sharing your concerns about this book. Other readers may read your comment and decide not to check out the book, and that’s up to them. I’d just like to say that one thing we try to do at Redeemed Reader call attention to books that present different perspectives from what might be called “typical white Christian America”). Under the circumstances, I find it understandable for Ryan’s dad to say that Lake Oswego was “too white.” He’s not necessarily expressing animus against white people, only that he might feel uncomfortable being one of very few black families among all that whiteness. You or I might feel the same way (assuming you’re white!) visiting an amusement park frequented mostly by African Americans. As for Ryan’s personality, she is what she is. I can understand how a reader might not like her personally, and that’s okay. (I remember having some problems with Ramona too!)