Ways to Make Sunshine

At the Easter Sunday service the next day, Ryan sits waiting for her turn to give her speech. As Ryan watches her friend KiKi give her speech “with no mistakes or pauses at all” (63) and Ray whose speech is “perfect because he is good at everything” (63). When Ryan’s turn arrives, she stands at the microphone feeling confident in her new dress and pressed hair. As she recites the title of her speech, “What Easter Means to Me” (64), the microphone screeches with loud feedback, which makes Ryan anxious. She drops the microphone which elicits another loud screech and Ryan forgets the words to her speech.

Ms. Howard, Ryan’s Sunday school teacher, encourages her to keep going, but Ryan walks out of the church. She goes to her Sunday school classroom knowing that it will be empty. She sits down in the empty room and cries until her mother arrives and reminds her that “It’s okay. At least you tried” (67). Ryan begs her mother not to make her go back into the church, but her mother says that it is important for her to support everyone else giving speeches. Ryan says that she does not want to go because everyone laughed at her, and her mother reminds her to be a leader and to live up to her name.

The chapter ends with Ryan deciding to recite her speech in the car ride home with just her family. She recites the speech perfectly, explaining all that Easter means to her, including “a brand-new day to try again, to lend a hand, Easter reminds us to put others first, to be the best that we can be” (70).

When they arrive home from church, Ryan helps her mother finish preparations for their Easter dinner. The Harts are hosting twelve people for dinner, and they crowd around the table in the tiny dining room to pray. Ryan’s mother thanks Ryan for her help preparing the meal, and for making the carrot cake for dessert almost entirely on her own.

When everyone finishes their cake, the kids begin hunting for Easter eggs. Ryan finds four eggs before she accidentally steps on an egg, crushing it. By the time she picks up all the tiny shells and egg pieces, the race is over, and Amanda has won. Amanda shares her prize–an Easter basket full of treats– with Ryan and KiKi. After the guests leave, Ryan thinks about what a fun day she had with her family and friends. She realizes that her mother is right: “Without love, all you have is a house” (76) and that it is the people that make a place home.

All week, Ryan wears a shower cap in the bath to keep her hair dry and pressed. On Friday, as she finishes packing for Amanda’s birthday sleepover, her mother reminds her that even though the invitation says to bring a bathing suit, Ryan may not swim because of her hair.

Ryan arrives at Amanda’s house and meets Amanda’s friends from her new school. The girls have fun playing video games and eating pizza, but Ryan notices that Amanda’s friend Red always finds something to be frustrated about. When Red complains that Ryan gets a bigger slice of birthday cake than her, Ryan secretly slides an even smaller piece closer to Red so that “now she really does have the worst slice that was cut” (81). Red asks Amanda if Ryan is her best friend and proclaims that Ryan cannot be Amanda’s best friend because Red lives across the street and spends more time with Amanda than Ryan does.

Red continues to bother Ryan when the girls get ready for the pool. She asks Ryan why she will not get in the pool and begins a competition to decide who Amanda’s best friend is by seeing who can hold their breath the longest underwater. Ryan decides “I am not going to let some girl named after a color in the rainbow tell me I am not Amanda’s best friend” (84), so she ties up her hair, puts on the shower cap, and gets into the pool.

Ryan wins the competition and begins celebrating that “I am Amanda’s best friend. I will always be Amanda’s best friend” (85) until she realizes that the shower cap and tie are gone, and her hair is no longer straight. Red says that Ryan’s hair looks like “it got electrocuted!” (87) and Ryan grabs her things and runs to the bathroom crying. Amanda joins Ryan in the bathroom and Ryan remembers Grandma’s words about what beauty is. Ryan reflects on her behavior, thinking that perhaps she “acted ugly” (88) today in response to Red’s teasing.

Red comes to the door and tells Amanda to come out of the bathroom and leave Ryan behind. Red asks Amanda why she is even friends with Ryan, and Amanda responds that “We just are” (88). Ryan is happy to hear this and knows that it means she and Amanda will always be friends no matter what. Ryan pulls her hair into an afro puff and decides that she likes the way her hair looks.