Winnie Nash Is Not Your Sunshine by Nicole Melleby (review)

Reviewed by: Winnie Nash Is Not Your Sunshine by Nicole Melleby Adam McConville Melleby, Nicole Winnie Nash Is Not Your Sunshine. Algonquin, 2024 256p Trade ed. ISBN 9781643753133 16. 99 E-book ed. ISBN 9781523527458 9. 99 Reviewed from digital galleys R Gr. 5-8 Twelve-year-old Winnie "Winifred" Nash might have a name that blends right in at a senior center book club (she knows, she joined one), but that doesn't mean she's happy about spending her summer in a senior citizen community on the New Jersey coast, with a grandmother she barely knows. Still, Winnie remembers how her mother's last pregnancy ended in tragedy and sadness, so she'll do whatever is needed to make her mom happy. A cute, exuberant girl named Pippa is a bright spot in the summer boredom, but even she poses a problem because Winnie's parents told her to keep her sexuality a secret from Grandma, in addition to keeping quiet about her mother's depression. The distant skyline of New York City and the dream of a Pride that Winnie can't attend fill her thoughts as the summer continues; the longing for easy acceptance in an idealized, celebratory community makes her take a big risk. Winnie is sad, scared, and lonely, forced back into the closet and asked to bottle her feelings by well-intentioned but misguided parents: no one has explained miscarriages or depression to her, so she blames herself for her mother's illness and sadness. Third-person narration at times seems at odds with the intensity of Winnie's feelings, telling rather than showing her emotional state, but it adds to the frustrated sense of isolation and reinforces her vulnerability as a young queer child dependent on others who may or may not accept her. Fortunately, Winnie's grandmother becomes her rock, a steady, stubborn force who may not understand queerness but loves her granddaughter enough to try, and Winnie's parents eventually reckon with the unhealthy environment they've created and promise to seek help as a family. The realism and ultimate celebration of queer community make this a good read alike for Kate DiCamillo and Kyle Lukoff. Copyright © 2024 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois