Children's Fiction Activism & Social Justice
The Sunshine Project
- Publisher
- Groundwood Books Ltd
- Initial publish date
- Aug 2025
- Category
- Activism & Social Justice, Trees & Forests, Environment
-
Paperback / softback
- ISBN
- 9781779460530
- Publish Date
- Aug 2025
- List Price
- $11.99
-
Hardback
- ISBN
- 9781773067797
- Publish Date
- Aug 2025
- List Price
- $16.99
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Where to buy it
Recommended Age, Grade, and Reading Levels
- Age: 8 to 12
- Grade: 3 to 7
Description
In the final book in the Book Uncle trilogy, Anil faces a dilemma when the city decides to build a solar panel factory on the site of a mangrove forest.
Anil loves karate, his friends and the solar power project he has been championing in his community. He doesn’t love having to speak up — as his karate sensei says, best fight, no fight. Still, Anil wishes his classmate Mohan would stop picking on him.
Then Anil learns where the city is planning to build a new solar panel factory. More sustainable energy is good news — but this factory will threaten plant and animal species and force the village people who live on the land to move. Maybe staying quiet isn’t an option anymore …
A class assignment nudges Anil into action. Now he’s a Young Reporter, so why not ask questions about the factory? With help from his friends Yasmin and Reeni, support from his classmates and neighbors, and the right book picks from Book Uncle, can Anil help the city find a solution that works for everyone? And just how loudly will he have to speak up?
A triumphant finale to the Book Uncle trilogy about the power of asking the right questions and listening when change comes to your community.
Key Text Features
chapters
dialogue
illustrations
Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.3.9
Compare and contrast the themes, settings, and plots of stories written by the same author about the same or similar characters (e.g., in books from a series)
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.3
Describe in depth a character, setting, or event in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text (e.g., a character's thoughts, words, or actions).
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.6
Describe how a narrator's or speaker's point of view influences how events are described.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.6.3
Describe how a particular story's or drama's plot unfolds in a series of episodes as well as how the characters respond or change as the plot moves toward a resolution.
About the authors
Uma Krishnaswami's inspiration for this book came from her memory of planting a mango seed as a child and seeing it grow into a tree, and also from a news story about people who planted trees in potholes. She has written many children's books, from picture books to middle grade readers to retellings of classic tales and myths, including Bringing Asha Home (CCBC Choices), The Happiest Tree (Paterson Prize finalist, CCBC Choices, Bank Street College Best Books), Naming Maya (IRA Notable Books for a Global Society) and Chachaji's Cup (Paterson Prize for Books for Young People, Bank Street College Best Books). Her latest middle grade novel, The Grand Plan to Fix Everything, published by Atheneum, received starred reviews in Kirkus and School Library Journal. She teaches at Vermont College of Fine Arts in the MFA program in Writing for Children and Young Adults and is an active blogger. Uma was born in New Delhi, India, and now lives in Aztec, New Mexico.
Uma Krishnaswami's profile page
JULIANNA SWANEY has illustrated numerous books for children, including the first two books in the Book Uncle trilogy: Book Uncle and Me and Birds on the Brain, both written by Uma Krishnaswami. She spends her time at her home in Oregon painting, gardening and daydreaming.
Excerpt: The Sunshine Project (by (author) Uma Krishnaswami; illustrated by Julianna Swaney)
I say, “Maybe they can be careful, building the factory? Maybe they can build around the trees? I mean — they’re both green projects, right?” I don’t mean to wail, but that is how my words come spouting out.
Reeni chokes on this wishful thinking. “Oh noooooo! Anil how can you say that? They’ll cut down trees. They’ll poison the place. What are we going to do?”
This shouldn’t be happening. We have two good things going on here. One: cleaning up a beach so that fish and birds and other creatures can live. Two: building a factory to make solar panels so we can burn less coal and less petroleum and stop dirtying our air and overheating the earth, which is good for us but also for fish and birds and other creatures, right? How can those two things possibly be fighting with each other?
