Saving Sunshine by Saadia Faruqi and Shazleen Khan

Twins Zara and Zeeshan Aziz live in New York with their parents, Dr. Bilal Aziz and Dr. Rasheeda Aziz. The entire family are traveling to a pediatrics conference in Florida.  There, Rasheeda will receive the pediatrician of the year award, the first Muslim woman to be given this recognition.

Zara and Zeesh do not get along and their constant bickering is overwhelming their parents. When they arrive at their hotel in Key West, Zeesh steps on Zara's suitcase, causing her to fall. Fed up with the two of them, their father takes away their phones. He tells them they "need to figure out how to be friends." Both are upset: Zara because as an animal activist she won't be able to post pictures on social media, and Zeesh because he won't be able to watch the NASA space videos he loves.

At the Tortuga Hills Resort in Florida, the two siblings unsuccessfully attempt to find where their parents have hidden their phones, even trying to crack the code for the safe in their room. It seems they will have to put up with one another. 

A kayaking trip sees Zara find a sick leatherback turtle on the beach. His eyes appear to be infected and the turtle seems lethargic, making Zara believe he is sick. She decides to name him Sunshine. When they return to the resort, Zara asks the concierge if there is an animal hospital nearby, telling him she has found a sick turtle on the beach. He offers to call a local vet to come to the beach.

While Rasheeda and Bilal attend the conference and award ceremony, Zara and Zeesh struggle to get along. Making the situation even more challenging, is the misunderstanding and racism they experience from people at the hotel. Can they learn to understand one another and work together while also supporting each other when others around them do not?

Discussion

Saving Sunshine is a story about sibling rivalry set within the experience of being Muslim in America. Twins, Although Zara and Zeesh are American-born, they experience bias, misunderstanding and racism. Their parents, Bilal and Rasheeda who were born in Pakistan, are searched at the airport, something Zeesh notes happens almost all the time and makes him angry. At the reservation station, the ticket agent struggles to pronounce their names while at the hotel, the concierge asks where they are from based on how they look, He also assumes the Middle East is a desert, demonstrating his ignorance. When this angers Zeesh, his father tells him he has learned to discern people's intentions rather than assuming the worst.

Zara also experiences ignorance and misunderstanding over her headscarf. When the concierge compliments her on her headscarft, this triggers a memory of a year ago when she when she wore the hijab to school for the first time in sixth grade. Zeesh wasn't supportive, not defending her when his non-Muslim friends make fun of her. Like Bilal, Rasheeda encourages Zara not to get angry at every person who taunts her, explaining that the hijab is about sacrifice. But once again when Zeesh makes some new friends at the resort and they comment on her hijab, he does nothing. 

While dealing with prejudice and ignorance, Zara and Zeesh gradually come to understand each other and work to save Sunshine with the help of a local vet. Dr. Anthony Sergio guess that they are from India angers Zeesh . But Dr. Sergio tells him that everyone is from somewhere and that people are just curious and generally mean no harm. 

As they spend more time together, the two teens begin to understand one another and become more supportive. On a walk at the beach in the evening, Zara begins to see the beauty of the stars and is eager to visit the Wendell Family Observatory (strangely on top of what looks like a lighthouse). Zara understands that Zeesh is missing his NASA videos so she hopes this will fill that void and Zeesh is thrilled. Later, as they are eating burgers, Zeesh's new friends arrive. When they insult Zara for wearing her hijab, this time he defends her, much to Zara's shock. When Zeesh gets himself into trouble, after running away in anger from their parents, Zara comes to his rescue. Zeesh returns the favour by working with Zara to help her rescue Sunshine during a violent storm. 

Saving Sunshine offers plenty of positive messages such as not making assumptions about people, and about working together to help each other . Zara and Zeesh's parents both tell them that they try to understand what people's intentions are instead of assuming the worst and responding angrily. It turns out that this is what both Zara and Zeesh must, in order to better understand each other.  When their parents remove the distraction of their cell phones, they are forced to focus on their relationship as brother and sister,  This leads each to understand what is important to the other, and to act with kindness. The colourful graphic art, done with Procreate and inked and coloured on Paint  Tool SAI, reinforce this message.

Saving Sunshine also offers non-Muslims the chance to explore how insensitive words, meant with the best of intentions, can be hurtful and divisive. 

Book Details:

Saving Sunshine by Saadia Faruqi
New York: First Second      2023

221 pp.