Jarrett Krosoczka Releases The Book Sunshine

Published: May 12, 2023, 2 p.m.

SUNSHINE, a young adult graphic memoir written and illustrated by National Book Award finalist Jarrett J. Krosoczka, is Jarrett’s account of being a teen counselor at Camp Sunshine in Maine, where he learned about the hope and determination that gets people through the most troubled of times. It’s the moving follow-up to his graphic memoir, Hey, Kiddo, which detailed growing up with a drug-addicted mother, a missing father, and two unforgettably opinionated grandparents. When Jarrett J. Krosoczka was in high school, he was part of a program that sent students to be counselors at a camp for seriously ill kids and their families. Going into it, Jarrett was worried: Wouldn’t it be depressing, to be around kids facing such a serious struggle? Wouldn’t it be grim? But instead of the shadow of death, Jarrett found something else at Camp Sunshine: the hope and determination that gets people through the most troubled of times. Not only was he subject to some of the usual rituals that come with being a camp counselor (wilderness challenges, spooky campfire stories, an extremely stinky mascot costume), but he also got a chance to meet some extraordinary kid