Sunny tries to shine despite his troubled past in this third novel in
the critically acclaimed Track series from National Book Award finalist
Jason Reynolds.
Ghost. Patina. Sunny. Lu. Four kids from wildly different backgrounds,
with personalities that are explosive when they clash. But they are also
four kids chosen for an elite middle school track team--a team that
could qualify them for the Junior Olympics. They all have a lot of lose,
but they all have a lot to prove, not only to each other, but to
themselves. Sunny is the main character in this novel, the third of four
books in Jason Reynold's electrifying middle grade series.
Sunny is just that--sunny. Always ready with a goofy smile and something
nice to say, Sunny is the chillest dude on the Defenders team. But
Sunny's life hasn't always been sun beamy-bright. You see, Sunny is a
murderer. Or at least he thinks of himself that way. His mother died
giving birth to him, and based on how Sunny's dad treats him--ignoring
him, making Sunny call him Darryl, never "Dad"--it's no wonder Sunny
thinks he's to blame. It seems the only thing Sunny can do right in his
dad's eyes is win first place ribbons running the mile, just like his
mom did. But Sunny doesn't like running, never has. So he stops. Right
in the middle of a race.
With his relationship with his dad now worse than ever, the last thing
Sunny wants to do is leave the other newbies--his only friends--behind.
But you can't be on a track team and not run. So Coach asks Sunny what
he wants to do. Sunny's answer? Dance. Yes, dance. But you also can't be
on a track team and dance. Then, in a stroke of genius only Jason
Reynolds can conceive, Sunny discovers a track event that encompasses
the hard hits of hip-hop, the precision of ballet, and the showmanship
of dance as a whole: the discus throw. As Sunny practices the discus,
learning when to let go at just the right time, he'll let go of
everything that's been eating him up inside, perhaps just in time.
