the sky is everywhere by jandy nelson


"Each time someone dies, a library burns." Jandy Nelson's poetic prose captures the desolation of loss, the flush of first love, and the intricate web of family in The Sky Is Everywhere. Seventeen-year-old bookworm and band Geek Lennie has just lost her sister. The heavy loneliness of grief weighs down on her; nobody gets it. She can't express it: "I'd need a new alphabet, one made of falling, of tectonic plates shifting, of deep devouring dark." The only person who understands is Toby, her dead sister's cowboy/skate punk/cute boyfriend. Their sadness brings them together: "...the cloak of being fine that I wear with everyone else slips right off my shoulders." Meanwhile, dark, handsome, and full of life Joe Fontaine moves to town, and Lennie feels herself falling in love with him, in spite of herself. This is a sadly sweet romance. Give it to fans of If I Stay and Twenty-Boy Summer. Click here for trailers.
Grade 8+

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