A Place to Shine

From Marie Arnold, author of The Year I Flew Away, comes a moving novel that uses humor and magical realism to explore grief as ten-year-old Sunny Williams and her little brother, Miles, find love, family, and beauty in the most unexpected of places after their grandmother develops dementia.

Ten-year-old Sunny Williams is resilient—she knows this because it’s what her beloved grandma, Nanna, always tells her. So when Nanna is put into a care home after her memory loss issues get worse and social workers intend to put Sunny and her seven-year-old brother, Miles, into a foster home, she takes charge and hatches a plan for them to avoid getting split up.

Luckily, Sunny also realizes Nanna has left her a message in the form of their favorite story. With the help of their guide (and temporary guardian), Mr. Darrious Evens, and her best friend, Folake, Sunny embarks on a quest to collect the three magical ingredients that are sure to cure Nanna’s dementia and help them find their way home again. 

Mr. Evens also happens to be the choir director and he encourages Sunny, with her beautiful singing voice, to perform in front of the school, even though Nanna isn’t there to cheer her on. Sunny’s quest to fix her nanna will lead her to understand herself and what’s important—and that home can be any place you feel loved. 

Marie Arnold was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and came to America at the age of seven. She grew up in Brooklyn, New York, alongside her extended family. Marie enjoys creating stories full of adventure and wonder that center on girls of color. When she’s not writing, she’s adding to her insanely long Netflix queue and trying not to order pizza. She lives in Los Angeles, California. She is the author of the well-received The Year I Flew Away and I Rise.