Ways to Grow Love

Newbery Honor and Coretta Scott King Author Award winner Renée Watson continues her charming young middle grade series starring Ryan Hart, a girl who is pure spirit and sunshine.

Ryan Hart loves her family and friends. She's looking forward to summer vacation, spending time with loved ones, and her first trip to sleepaway camp! But when an unexpected camper shows up, Ryan finds it's hard to share your best friend and harder to be a friend to someone who isn't a good friend to you. She's also waiting for her new sister to be born -- and hoping the baby doesn't ruin everything. The Hart family is experiencing a lot of changes, and Ryan needs to grow her patience in many ways, find ways to share the love, meet new challenges, and grow into the leader her mom and dad named her to be. This summer and the start of fifth grade just might give Ryan the chance to show how she grows and glows!

Renée Watson is the New York Times bestselling, Newbery Honor Book, and Coretta Scott King Award-winning author of Piecing Me Together, This Side of Home, What Momma Left Me, and Betty Before X, co-written with Ilyasah Shabazz, as well as two acclaimed picture books: A Place Where Hurricanes Happen and Harlem’s Little Blackbird, which was nominated for an NAACP Image Award. She is the founder of I, Too, Arts Collective, a nonprofit committed to nurturing underrepresented voices in the creative arts, and currently lives in New York City. 

Intermittently funny, frustrating, and touching. . . . Allows Black readers to see themselves and all readers to find a character they can love. Move over Ramona Quimby, Portland has another neighbor you have to meet! - Kirkus Reviews, starred review

 "Adroitly captures the uncertainty of growing up amid change through the eyes of an irrepressible black girl." -- Publishers Weekly, starred review

"A beautifully rendered series of vignettes à la Beezus and Ramona featuring a Black girl developing into her own personhood, this is a strong start to a new middle-grade series. Ryan Hart is a vivacious child [...] with personality and spirit reminiscent of some of the most well-loved heroines in classic juvenile fiction tales." -- Booklist, starred review

"A fresh beginning to a new chapter book series featuring a girl who can coax out sunshine from behind the darkest storm." -- Shelf Awareness, starred review

"This brave new world we're living in sure could use more stories about these bright and imaginative girls who specialize in 'making a way out of no way.'" -- The New York Times Book Review

 "Ryan Hart approaches challenges in her life with bravery, common sense, and humor. . . . a refreshing character." -- Horn Book Magazine

"Middle graders who like realistic fiction will enjoy getting to know this earnest girl and her supportive family." -- School Library Connection

"Plenty of charm . . . readers will look forward to Ryan's future adventures." -- BCCB