Ways to Share Joy

Award-winning author Renée Watson continues her charming Ramona-esque series starring spirited Ryan Hart and her loving family.

Ryan Hart is caught in the middle. She has an older brother and a baby sister, and she’s in a friendship tug-of-war with KiKi and Amanda who are both vying to be her best best friend. With all that’s going on, Ryan still finds a way to see the bright side of things. But it’s terribly hard to be cheery when her brother, Ray, pulls a prank and ruins her latest baking project. And who can think about being kind to a classmate who is relentless with his teasing? But Ryan is determined not to let anything ruin her mood, and to find a way to always find a way to share her bright spirit.
With more challenges, change, and more lessons learned, book three of the Ryan Hart Series has even more humor, more love, and more sunshine.

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