44 pages 1 hour read

Jason Reynolds

Sunny

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2018

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Themes

Rediscovering Life After Loss

Throughout the text, Darryl and Sunny confront their losses and learn how to grieve while continuing to live. They both struggle to cope with the loss of Sunny’s mother, Regina. For Darryl, her death means that he lost his life partner, with whom he had meticulously planned a future. For Sunny, he lost his mother before he ever had a chance to know her.

Darryl’s way of coping with this loss is to push Sunny away emotionally and pressure him to be a successful runner. He says “She didn’t get to do this. To run her race, Sunny” (90). Darryl puts pressure on Sunny to exert control over a situation Darryl feels he has lost control over. Darryl strives to make Sunny a living representation of his mother’s memory. Unfortunately, this pressure creates a wedge between Darryl and Sunny as Sunny realizes that he no longer wants to run.

It takes much of the narrative for Darryl to process the fact that Sunny is his own person with unique desires and dreams, and that Darryl’s actions have pushed Sunny away. Darryl admits to Sunny that “he didn’t feel like he could truly be a dad without my mother.

Related Titles

By Jason Reynolds

SuperSummary Logo
Study Guide
Jason Reynolds
Guide cover image
SuperSummary Logo
STUDY + TEACHING GUIDE
Brendan Kiely, Jason Reynolds
Guide cover image
SuperSummary Logo
STUDY + TEACHING GUIDE
Jason Reynolds
Guide cover image
SuperSummary Logo
Study Guide
Jason Reynolds
Guide cover placeholder
SuperSummary Logo
Study Guide
Jason Reynolds
Guide cover image
SuperSummary Logo
STUDY + TEACHING GUIDE
Jason Reynolds
Guide cover image
SuperSummary Logo
STUDY + TEACHING GUIDE
Jason Reynolds
Guide cover image
SuperSummary Logo
STUDY + TEACHING GUIDE
Jason Reynolds
Guide cover image
SuperSummary Logo
Study Guide
Jason Reynolds
Guide cover image
SuperSummary Logo
Study Guide
Jason Reynolds
Guide cover image
SuperSummary Logo
STUDY + TEACHING GUIDE
Jason Reynolds
Guide cover image
SuperSummary Logo
Study Guide
Ibram X. Kendi, Jason Reynolds
Guide cover image
SuperSummary Logo
Study Guide
Jason Reynolds
Guide cover image
SuperSummary Logo
Study Guide
Jason Reynolds
Guide cover image
SuperSummary Logo
Study Guide
Jason Reynolds
Guide cover image
SuperSummary Logo
STUDY + TEACHING GUIDE
Jason Reynolds
Guide cover image