Book: Ways to Make Sunshine (A Ryan Hart Story book #1) by Renée Watson with illustrations by Nina Mata
Cover Art by Nina Mata
Cover Design by Danielle Ceccolini
Edition: Paperback
Description:
Ryan Hart can be and do anything.
Her name means "king", that she is a leader, and she is determined to keep growing into the name her parents gave her. She is all about trying to see the best in people, to be a good daughter, sister, and friend. But Ryan has a lot on her mind.
For instance: Dad finally has a new job, but money is still tight. That means some changes, like moving into a new (old) house, and Dad working the night shift. And with the fourth-grad talent show coming up, Ryan wonders what talent she can perform on stage in front of everyone without freezing. As even more changes and challenges come her way, Ryan always finds a way forward and shows she is a girl who knows how to glow.
Rating: 5 stars
Review:
Ways to Make Sunshine is a delightful and well-written read as the story follows fourth grader Ryan Hart as she deals with family, friendship and school issues. I like the way this story and the interesting way the characters were written, they have a realness to them. In this story, being a little kid isn't always easy because in between playing and having fun, Ryan was trying to sort through her feelings of her family moving to a new (old) house and getting used to living there. There were some pros and cons with the new (old) house such as the pros being close to her friend Kiki and allowing Ryan and her older brother Ray to walk to school. While the cons were that it was older and smaller, especially the kitchen since she likes to help her mother cook as well as experiment with different recipes herself.
But the house did include a surprise, Ryan found an old tin can in the closet of her new bedroom. Inside contained small mementos from someone who may have once lived there. Aside from getting used to her new (old) home and new find, Ryan was hanging out with friends Kiki and Amanda and trying to get along with her older brother Ray. She had an unpleasant experience at her friend Amanda's birthday slumber party. One of the girls named Red was there being an antagonist bully towards Ryan because Ryan was Amanda's bestfriend instead of her. It's disappointing that the girl whose bullying had very loud tones of microaggression never apologized for constantly harassing Ryan. But Ryan did learn a life lesson to not let someone's mean comments make you feel like you have to prove something to them. Because nothing will make a difference in changing their opinion.
Ryan and Ray have a typical sibling relationship where one minute they are annoying each other and the next they are being encouraging and supportive. It was surprising how supportive Ray was when Ryan was trying to figure out what she could do for the fourth grade talent show. I really enjoyed reading this first book in the series, it's such a cute, fun and lovable little story. And it has me interested in reading the next book with the way the ending is set up.
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