A Place to Shine
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
Ten-year-old Sunny Williams is resilient—she knows this because it’s what her beloved grandma, Nanna, always tells her. So when Nanna is put into a care home after her memory loss issues get worse and social workers intend to put Sunny and her seven-year-old brother, Miles, into a foster home, she takes charge and hatches a plan for them to avoid getting split up.
Luckily, Sunny also realizes Nanna has left her a message in the form of their favorite story. With the help of their guide (and temporary guardian), Mr. Darrious Evens, and her best friend, Folake, Sunny embarks on a quest to collect the three magical ingredients that are sure to cure Nanna’s dementia and help them find their way home again.
Mr. Evens also happens to be the choir director, and he encourages Sunny, with her beautiful singing voice, to perform in front of the school, even though Nanna isn’t there to cheer her on. Sunny’s quest to fix her nanna will lead her to understand herself and what’s important—and that home can be any place you feel loved.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
After their grandmother, who's been their guardian ever since the death of their parents in a car accident, is admitted to a nursing home due to her worsening dementia, 10-year-old Sunny Williams and her eight-year-old brother Miles are determined to avoid the foster care system. They wind up staying with their school's new music teacher and choir director, who, mourning his wife's death, seems unprepared to care for the siblings. Believing that the cure for her grandmother's failing memory rests in the pages of her favorite book, Sunny searches Chicago for magical components such as the tears of a gorgon and a seashell kissed by a mermaid, a quest that pushes her boundaries, tests her friendships, and prompts her to face bullies as well as her own fears. This quietly uplifting and hopeful tale by Arnold (I Rise) examines everyday magic, the processing of grief, and the strength of family and community. Memorably rendered characters, most of whom are Black, inhabit Sunny's world, and her exuberant voice and hyperbolic tendencies add zest to this fanciful read. Ages 8–12.
