Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
WHAT A LINE. I AM SHOOK. This book is packed with the emotion of a 12-year-old boy who's a little bit lost, a little bit sad, and a little bit scared.
I'm so scared. And scared don't sound like eek. Or gasp. Scared sounds like glass. Shattering. Scared sounds like glass shattering.
No, these aren't ground-breaking, profound, quotes that someone's going to paste on their foyer wall over the front door. These are the real thoughts and feelings of a middle schooler. I think we can all agree that middle school is/was a dumpster fire, and every kid has something going on, but for Sunny, he just wants a mom that's alive and a dad that cares that he is.
Because this book is written in a diary format, we get to see all the thoughts that a normal narrative wouldn't be able to show us. We also get to see the raw emotion Sunny feels in real time. There are charts, drawings, and strikethroughs to show how Sunny is feeling and growing and reacting to his situation. Jason Reynolds just nails the inner workings of a (grieving) middle schooler's mind.
Yeah, Sunny is scared and lonely, but he's also weird. Without a doubt, the most compelling part of Sunny as a character is his weirdness. I am 100% on board with the trend of making kids (elementary-high school age) as immature and quirky as their young age dictates. Yes, it's cringey. Yes, it's annoying at times. But this is real life. I, personally, am tired of the perfect, idealized middle grade aged main character. The middle school kid who is the chosen one, the perfect kid, and who never has any baggage. I stand behind the kids who have pieces of their lives missing, like Sunny who literally puts puzzle pieces of his mom together, and who are weird and beautiful because of it.
She wanted to dance, even though she could barely move because of her belly. Aurelia said my mother wanted me to know what happiness felt like, no matter what, from the inside out.
Stay happy, Sunny. And stay weird.
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