Ways to Make Sunshine is a 2020 book for children written by Renée Watson and illustrated by Nina Mata. A New York Times Best Children’s Book of the Year award-winner, Ways to Make Sunshine follows protagonist Ryan Hart as she navigates the challenges of moving, confidence, and relationships. Through facing challenging situations head-on and by looking on the bright side of life, Ryan learns what it means to be a leader and how perspective changes the way people experience the world. This study guide refers to the Bloomsbury Children’s Books edition.

Plot Summary

Ryan Hart is determined to live up to the name her parents gave her, which means “leader.” When a classmate teases Ryan, saying she has a boy’s name, Ryan sticks up for herself and states that her parents gave her and her brother, Raymond, meaningful names so that they always have something to aspire to.

At home, Ryan and Ray’s parents greet them with ice cream before dinner. They have some uplifting news: Ryan’s father recently lost his job but has found new employment. The downside is that the Hart family now has to move to a smaller rental home in order to adjust for her father’s new salary. Ryan begins to cry, and her mother reminds her that change is difficult. This reminder does not comfort Ryan, and she refuses to eat the ice cream, which is her favorite dessert.

Ryan finds that their new house is actually quite old. As she explores her new home, she is upset to find that the kitchen counters are too high for her to reach. An aspiring chef, Ryan loves to help her mother cook and to try out new recipes. Ryan finds a step stool in the kitchen closet, which is the perfect height for her to reach the counters. Ryan begins to take a more curious stance towards her new home, especially when she finds an old tin canister in her closet.

Ray tries to convince Ryan that the canister is haunted and that they should leave it alone, but Ryan’s curiosity is piqued. When she opens the canister, she finds a series of small trinkets including some seashells, an embroidered handkerchief, and dried rose petals. Most interesting to Ryan are three gold hairpins decorated with silver flowers. Ryan decides that she will try to solve the mystery of who owned the canister before her.

The Harts begin to settle into their new home, but Ryan continues to struggle with missing their old house and her life before the move. When she burns dinner she blames herself. Her father reminds her that it is okay to make mistakes and that no one expects her to get everything right on the first try. This inspires Ryan to put rosemary on her pizza slice for dinner as she begins to learn how to look on the bright side of challenging situations.

Ryan’s grandmother visits the family at their new home before the Easter Sunday service at church. Ryan practices her Easter speech, which she worries about every year because she struggles with public speaking. Grandma uses a hot comb to straighten Ryan’s naturally curly hair, and when Ryan exclaims that she thinks she is more beautiful with straight hair, Grandma tells her that how she wears her hair is her choice alone. Grandma also tells Ryan that beauty comes from within, and that it is how Ryan treats others that decides her beauty, not how she looks.

On the day of the Easter service, Ryan stands up in front of the congregation ready to deliver her speech. The mic screeches with feedback which startles Ryan and causes her to drop it. Forgetting her speech entirely, Ryan runs out of the church. Ryan’s mother finds her taking refuge in her Sunday school classroom and tells Ryan that it is okay to make mistakes. She tells Ryan that she is still a leader, and that what matters most is that she tried. On the way home from church, Ryan feels safe enough surrounded by her family to recite her speech in its entirety.

The next week, Ryan’s mother instructs her to keep her hair dry before she drops Ryan off at her friend Amanda’s birthday party. Even though the girls will be swimming at the party, Ryan’s mother tells her not to undo her straight hair and forbids her from swimming. At the party are a bunch of Amanda’s friends from school whom Ryan does not know. Another partygoer, Red, is jealous of Ryan’s friendship with Amanda and teases Ryan. Ryan, frustrated with Red, switches her piece of cake with a smaller one after Red complains that Ryan’s piece is bigger than hers. Red finally pushes Ryan to get into the pool and do a breath-holding contest to decide who Amanda’s true best friend is. Ryan wins, but when she re-surfaces she feels her hair going back to its curls. Embarrassed, Ryan runs to the bathroom and locks herself inside.

Inside the bathroom, Ryan reflects on her behavior and realizes that she was not living up to her Grandma’s lesson about acting with inner beauty. Ryan decides that she likes her hair the way it is, naturally curly, and decides that moving forward she wants to be the person her Grandma expects her to be.

Ryan faces a challenge to her resolve soon after when at school she and her friend KiKi hear another classmate, Hannah Wilkerson, practicing her song for the upcoming talent show. Hannah is a talented singer, but as they listen KiKi states that Hannah is stuck up. When KiKi asks Ryan if she agrees with her, Ryan does, although she admits to herself that it feels wrong.

That weekend, Ryan’s mother takes her and Amanda to the Saturday Market, where Ryan’s mother sells knitwear. She allows Ryan and Amanda to explore the market on their own, and as the girls explore, they come upon a booth selling vintage items. Ryan is shocked to see a hairpin that matches the ones in her canister resting on the table, and when she picks it up the woman running the booth tells her it belonged to her grandmother. Ryan leaves the market feeling like she may be closer to discovering the story behind the canister.

Ryan joins her mother on a grocery shopping trip and sees firsthand the effects of her family’s strained financial situation. Ryan resists asking for any brand-name items and reflects that their shopping trips take much longer now because they need to stop at more stores to get coupon deals. Ryan’s mother also takes them to the can redemption center, so that Ryan can use the money from the redeemed cans to buy special spices or ingredients for her new recipes. In the back of the line, Ryan recognizes Hannah Wilkerson from school. As she waves hello to Hannah, who waves back, Ryan realizes the importance of treating others with kindness, because it is impossible to know what people are going through just by looking at the surface.

Ray asks their mother if he can go race bikes with his friends and Ryan goes with him. Ryan ends up racing Ray to the top of the hill, and when she wins, she flings her helmet off her head and into a nearby bush. When she retrieves it, a swarm of bees chases her all the way home. When Ray asks to go biking again the next day, he refuses to allow Ryan to join because of the bee incident. In retaliation, Ryan adds extra spicy sauce to Ray’s chicken wings for dinner. Ryan’s parents send her to her room as punishment for her prank.

The next day, Ryan apologizes for the prank. Ray forgives her and helps Ryan brainstorm talents she can perform for the talent show. Ray helps Ryan try out a new smoothie recipe for the talent show and the siblings bond. When Ryan laments that she does not have any talents, Ray makes up a rap about how Ryan’s talent is that she has heart and is kind to others.

On Saturday, Ryan returns to the market with the hairpins from her canister. She approaches the vintage booth and asks its vendor about the identity of the person who owned the matching pin. Ryan is disappointed to learn that the vendor does not know anyone who ever lived at Ryan’s address. The vintage booth owner, Laura, later visits Ryan’s house and shows her a photograph of two young girls, one Black, one white, standing together wearing the matching pins. Laura explains that the photograph depicts her mother and her best friend, Gloria Mae. Ryan believes that Gloria Mae is the owner of the hairpin who used to live here and imagines a story in which Gloria Mae shares her favorite pin with her best friend.

Ryan overcomes more disappointment when she and her friends Amanda and Zoe learn they cannot attend the Rose Festival Parade because of rain. Ryan’s mother tells them to use their imaginations to have fun inside, and Ryan decides to make her own sunshine. She instructs her friends to cut out suns from construction paper and sets up her stuffed animals to act as spectators in the parade. She and her friends take turns pretending to be Rose Festival Princesses, riding Ray’s scooter as a makeshift float.

On the last day of school, Ryan learns that KiKi is sick and there will be no master of ceremonies for the talent show. In an effort to live up to her name, Ryan volunteers to be the announcer, which saves the day. In the audience she sees her father cheering her on, and Ryan overcomes her fear of public speaking.

At the end of the text, Ryan’s parents reveal that there is a new baby sister on the way. At first Ryan is upset to learn this news, but then she thinks about how she would not want her baby sister to know how upset Ryan was. She puts aside her feelings and focuses instead on how a new sister will mean that the girls outnumber the boys in Hart family votes. Ryan eats her ice cream alongside her mother, excited about what the future holds.