Book Review: "You Are My Sunshine" By Sean Dietrich

As I read You Are My Sunshine by Sean Dietrich, I found myself falling for the trail madness—thinking that maybe it would be fun to endure the combined 519 miles of The Great Allegheny Passage (GAP) and the C&O Canal Towpath. Horrifyingly, I began to believe that I could do it, too. 

Thankfully, Dietrich endured that suffering on a trike so that readers may traverse those trails in the passages of a book instead. 

Dietrich not only traveled all 519 miles, spanning at least three states, but he did all that while riding a trike as his wife Jamie biked those trails. 

It is comforting to know that I am not the only adult who doesn't know how to ride a bike (in his case, a fear of bikes, and in mine, I was just a strong quitter as a child) and that it is possible to accomplish such a feat on a trike.

Sean Dietrich begins You Are My Sunshine with a promise he made to Jamie before she was wheeled off for her first cancer biopsy that they would travel the C&O Canal Towpath together. They forgot that promise until one day when a mailman mistakenly delivered a sign to their mailbox at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The fateful fitness magazine launched Jamie into action, planning and packing every possible item they could need on the trail, and had me holding back fits of laughter as they began their quest. 

As a master storyteller, Sean Dietrich draws on all facets of life to create an engaging and vivid retelling of their journey. At times, this book lightly dabbles in the true crime genre as he lists different national park crimes and later as Jamie counts all the spiders she kills. 

He names each plant and wildlife they encounter to the point you might need to a field guide to identify them. Pulling information from every corner, Dietrich recounts the history of the GAP and C&O, capturing the vastness of the trails and their legacy.

His descriptions are detailed, leaving nothing to the imagination. The towns, people, and trails come to life in the pages of this book without the text becoming dense and heavy. 

What truly shines through, though, is the love he has for his wife. I laughed and cried at each episodic moment in You Are My Sunshine, but overall, each page is a testament to his love and respect for Jamie. 

He may be the writer, but she is really whom this book is about. You learn more about them individually and as a couple while they bike (and trike) the GAP and C&O, sharing insights and private moments that will have readers reflecting on their lives and those that matter most to them.

Not everyone can make this arduous trip. You Are My Sunshine makes these trails and their stories accessible to everyone as a heart-warming story of a couple on a big adventure. 

And if you ever do find yourself traveling those same roads, make a note to pack turkey feed, or you might just lose your last Kit Kat bar and your morale.  

You can purchase a copy of You Are My Sunshine online.

Sean Dietrich will be at the Central Library on Thursday, October 13, 6:30—8:00 p.m., to discuss, sell, and sign copies of his new book You Are My Sunshine. This program is free and open to the public. Currently, tickets are sold out. 

An Evening With Sean Dietrich is a part of the Local Authors Series, a series of programs highlighting local authors as it leads up to the Local Authors Expo on Saturday, November 5, from 10:00 a.m.—2:00 p.m. The 2022 Local Authors Expo's theme is marketing self-published books. 

Follow the BPL on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn for more updates on the Local Authors Series. 

Keep up with Sean Dietrich on Facebook and Instagram and subscribe to his newsletter for more from Sean of the South.  

By Cheyenne Trujillo | Library Assistant Ⅲ, Public Relations