Banned Book Club: The Mighty Heart of Sunny St. James

By: Pamela Gliatis

The Banned Book Club continues with a hope-filled, heart-touching book that not only reminds you of the importance of being alive but to just live life as much as you can. This month we’re going to dive into a novel by Ashley Herring Blake, The Mighty Heart of Sunny St. James. 

But first, why was this book banned? The “Don’t Say Gay'' law in Florida has restrictions that apply to instruction books, not library books, yet many Florida districts still use this law as justification to ban books. The Mighty Heart of Sunny St. James centers around a 12-year-old girl who navigates heart surgery, reconnecting with her lost mother, first kisses, and dealing with new feelings for a girl. Sunny St. James lives with her mother’s friend, Kate, who she feels has become her true mom throughout the years. After becoming sick and undergoing a heart transplant, Sunny loses her best friend and ends up meeting a new best friend on the beach. Because of the subtle possible romance between the two new best friends who want to explore what they may be feeling for each other and navigate their first-time feelings of wanting to kiss a girl, the book became banned due to possible LGBTQ+ themes that may encourage others to feel the same way as feared by several Florida school districts and parents.

The Mighty Heart of Sunny St. James is a wonderfully written novel that has the most realistic characters, and they are represented so well that you feel like they become a part of your family while reading through this book. While a subtle romance brews between the two young girls who become best friends, two other romance stories unfold as the story plays out, interweaving perfectly with the main plot. All of the women in Sunny’s family experience potential love matches as she witnesses the possible romance scenarios play out with her legal guardian, Kate, and also with her biological mom, Lena. Although the target audience is readers aged between 8-12 years old, this is something that many adults could also read and relate to. The 12-year-old Sunny St. James endured heart disease, betrayal, abandonment, living and not living, which is more than what most adults go through and makes us realize that even in all of life’s troubles and pains, what we have is worth living for. 

The book opens up with Sunny’s heart transplant, and from there, she decides to set off on a “New Life Plan”:

“Step One: Do awesome amazing things I could never do before. Step Two: Find a new best friend. Step Three: Find a boy and kiss him.”

To her 12-year-old reasoning, it all makes complete sense. However, life is complex and will take us through a series of events that force us to face truths about ourselves. As she meets Quinn on the beach, they become instant BFFs. They both decide to go on a kissing quest to find a boy to kiss for the first time. Along the way, they both slowly realize that perhaps what they may feel isn’t directed towards boys after all. This book does an incredible job of capturing the loneliness of young gay kids. I wish there were books like this around when I was a teenager because it is helpful for queer kids and the allies who need to support them as they try to figure out growing pains and different feelings and learn to discover who they really are, like Sunny.

And the poems. There are poems interspersed throughout the story that are written by Sunny, making this an even better read with such diversity. The poems show how lonely young gay kids can be in the process of trying to understand their feelings and figuring out what they actually want. All the poems are in free verse style, but one in particular stood out for me and expresses what many kids could be feeling:

“I lost my heart but kept on breathing. 

Now all the mirrors show the same face,

But I don’t know the girl inside.

Does anyone know her?

A thousand years ago, she was lost in the ocean

But now she walks on the land.

Is she me?

Or am I her?

Or is she a new girl

who looks like

someone I used to be?”

Coupled with Sunny’s journey of getting a new heart and reconnecting with her lost family, it reminds you how precious and heartbreakingly beautiful life can be. Even reading about the other two romances going on with the women in Sunny’s life and seeing all the obstacles Sunny has had to overcome along the way remind us, as a reader and as an adult, that love is worth living for. As Sunny puts it:

“…living is messy. But it’s beautiful too. Like sitting on a surfboard in the calm water while the morning sun streaks the sky orange and pink.”

Be prepared when reading this book, as it will take you through a series of emotions, from laughter to tears. If there’s anything to be learned from this story, it is to be true to who you are and follow your heart. Let go of the past and the things that make you unhappy and move forward. Live life with love and intention because, either way, life is messy, and all we can do is live it the best way we can.