100 Days of Sunshine - Kendal Chang

This book is about a girl, Tessa Dickinson, whose life flashes before her eyes when she gets in a car accident and loses her eyesight. Doctors warn her that she might be blind for 100 days. Tessa is scared and feels her entire world collapse. Writing and blogging were part of her identity and her happy place. When she loses that, she is scared that her life is meaningless now. A boy named Weston becomes a source of comfort and encouragement. He makes her feel like life is meaningful again. Over time, Tessa’s feelings of anger and despair slowly transform into appreciation. With Weston’s help, she is able to rediscover the world, not through her sight, but with her other senses. She is able to “see” the world from a different perspective. When Tessa is about to gain her eyesight back, Weston is scared that Tessa is going to think of him differently when she sees his disability. Tessa has to decide if she can see past physical appearances and embrace what the journey of blindness taught her. This made me realize that journey can be beautiful when we see it in a different light. Tessa’s blindness forces her to grow even though she is vulnerable and scared to accept it. Sometimes, we have to let go to fully embrace the journey. I learned that beauty is not only beautiful because of the views, but also from the sounds and scents. Tessa learns that the world is full of beauty in ways that she has never noticed before. Meaning can come from unexpected challenges, and sometimes losing what we rely on for comfort teaches us how to truly see.

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