SUNSHINE: HOW ONE CAMP TAUGHT ME ABOUT LIFE, DEATH, AND HOPE

SUNSHINE: HOW ONE CAMP TAUGHT ME ABOUT LIFE, DEATH, AND HOPE by Jarrett J. Krosoczka

If you are looking for a moving graphic biography then you will want to check out Sunshine by Jarrett J. Krosoczka. This tear jerker of a book tells the story of a summer Jarrett spent as a counselor at a camp for kids that have cancer. Initially, Jarrett expects that it's going to be a depressing summer surrounded by all these kids dealing with such serious life situations. Instead, he finds a camp that desires to give these kids a real camp experience, and most of these kids are ready for it. They're tired of always being the person that everyone feels sorry for. At camp, everyone is in the same boat. What they're experiencing is the norm. It's the healthy people that are the exception. The relationships that Jarrett forms are ones that affect him for the rest of his life. I can attest personally to this, because I worked my high school summers at a camp for the disabled.

HEADS UP- There are a handful of profanities. (No F-bombs.) At the start of the story the teachers lay down the law to the counselors - boys in the boys' cabin, girls in the girls' cabin. When one of the smart mouth kids asks "why" the teacher responds that they don't need any girls going home pregnant.