A New York Times bestseller • One of Time Magazine’s 100 Best YA Books of All Time • Winner of the Michael L. Printz Award • A Stonewall Honor Book
The radiant, award-winning story of first love, family, loss, and betrayal for fans of John Green, Becky Albertalli, and Adam Silvera
"Dazzling." —The New York Times Book Review
"A blazing prismatic explosion of color." —Entertainment Weekly
"Powerful and well-crafted . . . Stunning." —Time Magazine
“We were all heading for each other on a collision course, no matter what. Maybe some people are just meant to be in the same story.”
At first, Jude and her twin brother are NoahandJude; inseparable. Noah draws constantly and is falling in love with the charismatic boy next door, while daredevil Jude wears red-red lipstick, cliff-dives, and does all the talking for both of them.
Years later, they are barely speaking. Something has happened to change the twins in different yet equally devastating ways . . . but then Jude meets an intriguing, irresistible boy and a mysterious new mentor.
The early years are Noah’s to tell; the later years are Jude’s. But they each have only half the story, and if they can only find their way back to one another, they’ll have a chance to remake their world.
This radiant, award-winning novel from the acclaimed author of The Sky Is Everywhere will leave you breathless and teary and laughing—often all at once.
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"Winner of the Michael L. Printz AwardWinner of a Stonewall HonorOne of Time Magazine’s 100 Best YA Books of All TimeNew York Times bestsellerNew York Times Book Review Notable Children's Book of the YearTIME Magazine Top Ten Young Adult Book of the YearBoston Globe Best Young Adult Novel of the YearHuffington Post Top 12 Young Adult Book of the YearCybil's Award FinalistYALSA Top Ten Best Fiction of the Year for Young AdultsRainbow List Selection Top Ten of the Year Publishers Weekly Best Book of the YearSchool Library Journal Best Book of the YearBooklist Edtior's Choice Book of the YearBustle.com Top 25 Young Adult Novel of the Year"
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This is the big one—the blazing story of once inseparable twins whose lives are torn apart by tragedy.
— Entertainment Weekly, "5 YA Novels to Watch Out For"Dazzling.
— The New York Times Book ReviewHave you ever wanted to put a book in all of your friends' hands? This is that kind of book . . . Heartbreakingly honest.
— San Francisco ChronicleBold, even breathtaking. You get the sense [the] characters are bursting through the words, breaking free of normal metaphors and constructions, jubilantly trying to rise up from the prison of language . . . The book celebrates art’s capacity to heal, but it also shows us how we excavate meaning from the art we cherish, and how we find reflections of ourselves within it. . . . I’ll Give You the Sun is a dazzling mirror.
— Lauren Oliver for the New York Times Book ReviewBoth structurally virtuosic . . . and emotionally wrenching. That alone is a rare combination in literature, YA or otherwise. But then add in the characters . . . This book is a rebuttal to anyone suggesting YA, because it tells stories of young people, is somehow of lesser stuff. I’ll Give You The Sun is literature. Full stop. In my opinion, it’s not just the best YA book of the year, but one of the best books of the year.
— Gayle Forman for ParadeThis book is many things at once, all of them engrossing. It's a book where teenagers think in almost indulgently poetic language while still sounding genuinely adolescent. It's two separate but equally intoxicating love stories. . . . Most of all, it's the mystery of what happened to tear Noah and Jude apart, and what—if anything—can bring them back together again.
— NPR's Guide to 2014's Great ReadsThis book is about many things: grief, sexuality, creativity, bravery, identity, guilt. But mostly it's about love. Be prepared with more tissues than you needed for The Fault in Our Stars, a chunky notebook to scribble down all the quotes and a handful of witty responses when people ask why you're chuckling to yourself in the corner. Because this book will make you realise how beautiful words can be.
— The GuardianSimply unforgettable. . . . If you’re looking for a book that’s deep and powerful and beautiful, look no further. You must read I’ll Give You the Sun.
— Lisa Parkin for the Huffington Post’s “Top 12 Young Adult Books of 2014”★ “Readers are meant to feel big things, and they will—Nelson’s novel brims with emotion (grief, longing, and love in particular) as Noah, Jude, and the broken individuals in their lives find ways to heal.
— Publishers Weekly, starred review★ "A resplendent novel...Art and wonder fill each page.
— School Library Journal, starred review★ "Nelson’s prose is replete with moments of stunning emotional clarity, and her characters are as irresistible to the reader as they are to each other . . . No matter how they hurt each other, the love among all the characters is huge here—huge enough to destroy, huge enough to forgive, and huge enough to put their broken world back together again.
— BCCB, starred review★ "In an electric style evoking the highly visual imaginations of the young narrators, Nelson captures the fraught, antagonistic, yet deeply loving relationship Jude and Noah share.
— Booklist, starred review★ "An intricate and absorbing work of art emerges from the details of the interlaced sections. Few novels about twins capture so well the rewards and challenges . . . or the way in which people who have loved us remain in our minds after their deaths.
— VOYA, perfect score★ "Readers will be hooked.
— Library Media ConnectionThe novel is structurally brilliant, moving back and forth across timelines to reveal each teen's respective exhilaration and anguish . . . Nelson's prose scintillates . . . dizzyingly visual . . . Here's a narrative experience readers won't soon forget.
— KirkusTold in poetic prose with the barest hint of magical realism . . . a compelling meditation on love, grief, sexuality, family, and fate.
— Horn BookI've gotten so involved in a book that I've missed my subway stop because I was reading; Jandy Nelson's I'll Give You the Sun might be the first time where I saw my stop and skipped it anyway.
— The Daily BeastI'll Give You the Sun is a daydream . . . otherworldly and mesmerizing . . . Nelson's evocative language envelops one's imagination . . . an exquisite surrender to wonder and possibilities.
— The Boston GlobeI'll Give You the Sun gives the word 'intense' new meaning . . . a novel that makes you want to go out and skydive, but if you can read a novel like this now and then, you don't need to.
— NewsdayThis one is going to be big . . . It is full of all the good stuff that sticks with you: love, identity struggles, loss, betrayal, and the complications of family, so you'll probably feel all the feels.
— Bustle.comA blazing prismatic explosion of color . . . I'll Give You the Sun is that rare, immersive teen novel: To read it is a coming-of-age experience in itself.
— Entertainment Weekly[These] viewpoints—Noah’s at 13 and 14, Jude's at 16—intersect in surprising ways, and eventually come together in a satisfying, if bittersweet, conclusion. . . . Young adults will learn they're not alone in navigating the emotional highs and lows of finding their identity; older readers will have moments of wistful recognition. I, for one, devoured this book.
— Montreal GazetteIt's a meditation on life, art, family, fate, and how even the most broken people can help fix one another . . . This book will tear through you like a hurricane, leaving you in ruined awe.
— Huffington Post★ "This is a passionate, vulnerable, wonderfully complete and irresistible book.
— VOYA, starred review[Nelson] writes with abandon... it's a headlong kind of book, preferably devoured at a single setting.
— Los Angeles TimesIngeniously told from the alternating perspectives of its spunky twin protagonists, this (technically) young adult noel jubilantly holds its own against the fall's grown-up offerings, with dead-on insights about surviving youth—and family.
— O, the Oprah MagazineYou'd think that we were plugging The Fault in Our Stars, but even that comparison might sell short I'll Give You the Sun... [It's] planted firmly in the positive, making for a gravity-defying, life-affirming experience.
— San Francisco Magazine[Nelson] has an electrifying facility with description, especially how her characters feel at a given moment . . . [Jude], Noah, and the fine cast of subsidiary characters . . . are most memorable for how they poignantly illustrate the most basic of human emotions—love, grief, shame, remorse, joy.
— Chicago TribuneOne of Fall’s most anticipated YA books . . . it’s filled with complex and controversial themes that are relatable to anyone who has struggled with identity, sexuality, family ties and other struggles of growing up.
— Mashable.comWill pluck at your heartstrings.
— PeopleA wild, beautiful, and profoundly moving novel. Jandy Nelson’s writing is so electric, so alive, her pages practically glow in the dark.
— Ransom Riggs, New York Times bestselling author of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children and Hollow CityJandy Nelson is a rare, explosive talent, and one of the best writers working today. Her prose is vivid, breathtaking, and drenched in passion, and her stories remind me why words can change the world.
— Tahereh Mafi, New York Times bestselling author of the Shatter Me seriesI love this book. Jandy Nelson is my new writing hero. Read this book. She'll be your favorite author as well.
— Holly Goldberg Sloan, New York Times bestselling author of Counting by 7sJandy Nelson’s writing is poetic and mesmerizing. More importantly, Nelson weaves a novel that seeps into your bones like fire on a cold day . . . I’ll Give You the Sun is a novel that promises a story like nothing else and then delivers it.
— Garret Freymann-Weyr, author of Printz Honor book, My HeartbeatThis is a stunning, artfully woven story. My heart burst open at the blazing, unforgettable end. Magnificent.
— Nova Ren Suma, author of Imaginary Girls and 17 & GoneAn extraordinary book! I've never read anything like it. Lyrical-unique-passionate-magical-tragic-hopeful—Nelson's characters will fly off the page and into your heart.
— Nancy Garden, author of Annie on my MindNelson's first novel is tender, romantic, and loaded with passion.
— The Horn BookThe author brilliantly navigates Lennie's course between despair and hope, sorrow and humor... a gripping love triangle.
— Shelf AwarenessIn this amazing tale of love and loss, Nelson introduces a cast of characters who make the reader laugh and cry.
— NPR's The RoundtableNearly everyone who's staggering through life in the wake of a loved one's death will recognize themselves in this brilliant, piercing story.
— The Denver Post★ "This is distinguished by the dreamy California setting and poetic images that will draw readers into Lennie's world...
— Publishers Weekly, starred reviewA joy to read. You'll remember [it] long after you've turned the last page.
— The Romantic Times★ "It's romantic without being gooey and tear-jerking without being campy—what more could a reader want?
— BCCB, starred reviewBrimming with humor and life, full of music and the poems Lennie drops all over town, The Sky is Everywhere explores betrayal and forgiveness through a vibrant cast of characters.
— SLJThose who think young adult books can't be as literary, rich, and mature as their adult counterparts will be disabused of that notion after reading The Sky is Everywhere... A finely-drawn portrait of grief and first love.
— The Daily BeastA story of love, loss, and healing that will resonate with readers long after they've finished reading.
— BooklistA story about love and loss... both heartfelt and literary.
— Kirkus ReviewsSky is both a profound meditation on loss and grieving and an exhilarating and very sexy romance. The book deserves multiple readings simply to savor Nelson's luscious language...
— NPR (chosen by Gayle Forman as one of the top five teen reads of 2010)How grief and love run side by side is sensitively and intensely explored in this energetic, poetic, and warm-blooded novel.
— The GuardianAn addictive, romantic, heartbreaking, and wise tale of one girl's epic loss—and equally epic self-discovery. Seriously, stop reading this blurb; start reading this book!
— Gayle Forman, author of the New York Times Bestseller If I StayWow. I sobbed my eyes out and then laughed through the tears. I have not fallen in love with a story and its characters like this in a long time. Stunning, heartbreaking, hilarious. A story that shakes the earth.
— An Na, winner of the Michael L. Printz Award and National Book Award FinalistOkay, I admit it. I have a huge crush on this book—it's beautiful, brilliant, passionate, funny, sexy, and deep. Come to think of it, I might even want to marry this book.
— Sonya Sones, author of What My Mother Doesn't KnowFull of heart, quirky charm, and beautiful writing, The Sky Is Everywhere simply shines.
— Deb Caletti, National Book Award Finalist and author of The Secret Life of Prince CharmingJandy Nelson's story of grief somehow manages to be an enchantment, a celebration, a romance—without forsaking the rock-hard truths of loss.
— Sara Zarr, National Book Award Finalist and author of Story of a Girl and SweetheartsThe Sky Is Everywhere evokes the intensity of desire and agony of heartache with breathtaking clarity. This beautifully written story will leave an indelible impression upon your soul.
— Susane Colasanti, author of When It HappensA Publishers Weekly Flying Start Title
A YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults Nominee
A Junior Library Guild Selection
Translated into seventeen different languages
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Julia Whelan is a novelist, screenwriter, lifelong actor, and multiple award-winning audiobook narrator. She graduated with a degree in English and creative writing from Middlebury College and Oxford University. She is a former child actor who has appeared in multiple films and television shows.
Jesse Bernstein is an audiobook narrator and winner of seven AudioFile Earphones Awards. His many works include The Battle of the Labyrinth, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Girls, Chasing Windmills, and Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson Series.