Sunshine: A Graphic Novel
The extraordinary -- and extraordinarily powerful -- follow-up to Hey, Kiddo.
When Jarrett J. Krosoczka was in high school, he was part of a program that sent students to be counselors at a camp for seriously ill kids and their families. Going into it, Jarrett was worried: Wouldn't it be depressing, to be around kids facing such a serious struggle? Wouldn't it be grim?
But instead of the shadow of death, Jarrett found something else at Camp Sunshine: the hope and determination that gets people through the most troubled of times. Not only was he subject to some of the usual rituals that come with being a camp counselor (wilderness challenges, spooky campfire stories, an extremely stinky mascot costume), but he also got a chance to meet some extraordinary kids facing extraordinary circumstances. He learned about the captivity of illness, for surebut he also learned about the freedom a safe space can bring.
Now, in his follow-up to the National Book Award finalist Hey, Kiddo, Jarrett brings readers back to Camp Sunshine so we can meet the campers and fellow counselors who changed the course of his life.
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Community Reviews
Quick Summary: In high school, Jarrett was a part of a program that send students to be counselors at a camp for seriously ill kids and their families. Jarrett doesn't know what to expect? Will it be depressing? Will he be glad that his name was chosen? In that week, Jarrett found something incredible at Camp Sunshine: hope, determination, joy, smiles, and so many memories. At this camp, it didn't matter what anyone may be struggling with. All that mattered was having fun and getting to make memories outside of a hospital. This is the place where these kids could feel included instead of excluded and have the freedom of a safe space.
This book was both beautiful (artistically) and so heartwarming. It makes me want to see if something like this exists so I can volunteer too. This book shows Krosoczka's beautiful way of taking a potentially stereotypical story (life changed for the better by working with sick kids) into something so beaufitul yet realistic. Not every story has a perfect happy ending. But reading this story gives readers hope, shows readers the value of fun and friendship, and just having a good time!
This book really touched my heart and I would truly recommend it to everyone, but especially high school students. It might even encourage them to find ways to give back to those around them too!
Quotes:
"It must have been so sad. But that could not be further from the truth. I mean, a camp from pediatric cancer patients should be sad - those kids already have enough to deal with. No, camp was happy, the happiest place I've ever been. It was a space where illness didn't define the campers while they defied their diagnoses. It was uplifting, celebratory. The kids I met weren't dying - they were living. Living life to its fullest. All these years later, there isn't a day that goes by when I don't think of them" pg. 3
"It was amazing to me to hear that my classmates' lives were less perfect than they'd seemed to me from the outside. I'd assumed I was the only kid with messed-up things at home" pg. 82
"Yeah. I've lost too many of my friends in the hospital. Not gonna lie, that's why I don't want to make friends with any of the new kids that come through the hospital. They'll end up losing me. I don't want them living through that same grief" pg. 131
"Nothing really seemed to matter after camp. And by that I mean, the small stuff didn't phase me. And I realized that most everything that worried me before was small stuff. Like who was going to sit where at lunch. Or stressing about tests. What in the hell did any of that even matter? I had my share of drama with my mom's drug addiction and the whole absent father thing. None of it seemed to define me anymore" pg. 194
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