'Sunshine' centers on a life-changing summer for author Jarrett J. Krosoczka

For children and young adults, summer camps, particularly overnight ones, offer a chance to start fresh.

Living beyond usual routines and rhythms — away from school and family, out in nature, and bunking close to others, often initially strangers — engenders plenty of opportunity for self-discovery. For some, these breaks from everyday life carry even more meaning.

Children's writer and illustrator Jarrett J. Krosoczka's second graphic memoir, , tracks a single week at summer camp when hea cheeky, hilarious, and popular graphic novel series for kids, of ilk, about an undercover spy who also serves school lunch — Krosoczka first set out to tell his own story in . A National Book Award finalist, this 2018 graphic memoir describes his childhood and teenage years in Worcester, Mass., where he was raised by his grandparents while his heroin-addicted mother mostly communicated via phone calls, letters, and drawings — as she was often in jail or halfway housing. His birth father stayed completely out of the picture.