Jarrett Krosoczka wrote the very intense graphic memoir for adults and teens, Hey Kiddo, about his family’s struggle with addiction and how it affected his life growing up, and he wrote the less intense Lunch Lady graphic novels for younger kids. Sunshine: a graphic novel is, in my opinion, somewhere in the middle. It is a beautiful and moving (I cried at the end) story of the author’s experience volunteering at a summer camp for children with cancer and their families. As sad and heartbreaking as doing that kind of work can be, Jarrett has a big hand in giving these kids and their families a sense of normalcy and fun, and also a chance to really live, away from hospitals and treatment. Jarrett highlights the week at camp and how it changed him, and also his life afterwards, as he continues to do similar work, and also as he keeps in touch with one family in particular. It is both a realistic, hopeful, and heartbreaking story. I would recommend this book for anyone in grades 8 and up that likes to read graphic memoirs, with the caveat that it does discuss cancer and death, so if that is very upsetting to you, you should skip this one.
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