"Sunny" is a manga masterpiece. Page by page, it quietly transcends similar slice-of-life comics in its depiction of children in a foster home, their caregivers and estranged parents. Written and illustrated by renowned manga artist Taiyo Matsumoto, this six-volume collection, which won the prestigious Shogakukan Manga Award in 2016, is based on Matsumoto's real-life experiences growing up in a group foster home. To read it is to enter a discordant world, populated by discarded children.

Sunny, by Taiyo Matsumoto.224 pagesVIZ Media, Manga.

One of these children is Haruo, whose free-spirited, unmarried parents flit in and out of his life, leaving only moisturizing cream and loneliness in their wake. Then there are Megumu and Kiko, who struggle to navigate friendships and make connections; and brothers Junsuke and Shosuke, who visit their ill mother at the hospital, their grimy pockets overflowing with lucky clovers for her recovery.