Planting Sunshine

Gr 4 Up–Just moments after shooting hoops with his father, Theo’s life shifts: he sees the ravages of war on television, and the enormity of it unmoors him. This novel in verse offers an intimate look into the thoughts of an adolescent trying to make sense of war and death on a scale far beyond his world. No one around him understands why a distant conflict is giving him nightmares, and Theo finds solace in a friendship with his neighbor Lena and in the quiet presence of an artist painting doves on the town’s walls. Theo’s struggle will resonate with sensitive readers—kids who worry about events too big, too complex, and too far away for tidy answers. The accessible, tightly crafted verse provides cathartic solidarity, capturing the internal dialogue of a boy desperate for understanding and searching for ways to create change. Though the novel centers on the weight of war and one child’s response to it, hope threads through Theo’s story: in the friendships he forms, the coping strategies he discovers, and the small but meaningful ways he chooses to act. Stunning digital watercolor artwork by Enzo captures the enormity of Theo’s resonant concerns through spot art and spreads as he finds empowerment in cultivating art, the land, and his relationships. Theo is depicted with light skin and red hair.