The Trouble with Sunshine

Mendez, Yamile Said. The Trouble With Sunshine
March 4, 2025 by Scholastic Press
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

After the sudden death of her mother, Dorani must move to Wyoming to live with her Tia Ivette, since her father, Guti, is a film star who has never been part of her life. At first, Tia Ivette seems cold and distant, but she is just dealing with a lot of emotions about losing her sister after having fought with her years ago and not having made amends. Dorani is also dealing with not only her grief, but her guilt; if she hadn't gotten in trouble at school for reading The Diary of Anne Frank, her mother would have been in the hospital when she had a heart attack, and could have been saved. At least the students at her junior high in Cooper are friendly, and her experience is fairly good, even though she gets mistakenly placed in an English Language Learner class. Ivette is a horse trainer and rehabilitator, and works long hours with the animals. Even though Dorani is not a "horse person", she takes an interest in Sunshine, a horse who was in an accident that killed several other horses. Sunny doesn't want anyone to touch her and is very skittish, but Dorani is able to brush her, and the horse even cuddles up to her when she is crying. Dorani and her aunt slowly warm to each other, and family secrets emerge. When her new school reinforces racist policies, Dorani is finally able to rely on her friends and family to support her, and finds her voice just in time to speak up for herself when her father shows up to claim custody of her. 

Strengths: This was an interesting trip to Wyoming, and the descriptions of place are top notch. I almost wish there were a touch of Christmas to the cover, since it starts during the holidays when there is a lot of snow. Moving from Miami to Wyoming in December would definitely necessitate some flannel and nice warm boots! Tia Ivette's personality seemed perfectly explained for someone who ended up having to take care of her estranged sister's daughter; she's not irritated, but she's not all that thrilled about it, either. It was especially nice that the other students (with a few exceptions) were nice to Dorani, and the inclusion of information about book bans and questionable policies puts this on trend for 2024 middle grade fiction. 

Weaknesses: While the parallels between Dorani and Sunshine both processing grief are nicely done, this would have been more fun if there had been more information about horses. When my students see a book with a horse on the cover, they want a lot of details! That said, there were a decent amount of equine exploits, and way the grief is handled is much more positive and realistic than in many soggily sad middle grade books about grief. 
What I really think: This is a good choice for readers who enjoy horse books like Henson's The Whole Sky or Stevenson's Lizzie Flying Solo that combine horse elements with serious issues.