"I'll Give You The Sun" by Jandy Nelson

Image courtesy of jandynelson.com

Nelson, J. I’ll Give You The Sun. New York, NJ: Dial Books, 2014. Print. ISBN: 9780803734968. Hardcover. $17.99.

Annotation: At thirteen, twins Jude and Noah are the epitome of closeness and best friends, but by age sixteen, they have both drawn so far into themselves that they no longer speak. Noah narrates age thirteen, and Jude narrates age sixteen, and they alternate telling the stories of the horrible events that ripped them away from one another and the long, lonely road that could lead them back again.

Let's Talk!

Excerpt: Page 75.

This is an incredible story about growing up and fighting to hold on to the things you lose along the way. Noah and Jude will break your heart and then make you want to strangle them, but all the while you’ll be rooting for the warm fuzzy feelings you know they could find if we could just figure out where they went wrong. 

Literary Awards: 

• Winner of the 2015 Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature
• A 2015 Stonewall Honor Book
• Winner of Bank Street’s 2015 Josette Frank Book Award
• Winner of the NCIBA and the NCBA and the James Cook Award
• YALSA Top Ten Best Fiction for Young Adults
• Rainbow List Top Ten 2015
• A New York Times Notable Book of the Year
• A Time Magazine Top Ten YA of the Year (#3)
• An NPR Great Reads of the Year
• Apple iBooks’ Best Teen Fiction of the Year
• A Boston Globe Best YA Book of the Year
• A Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year
• A School Library Journal Best Book of the Year
• A Booklist Editor’s Choice Book of the Year
• An Amazon Best Book of the Year
• Five starred reviews from Publishers Weekly, Booklist, School Library Journal, BCCB, LMC, and a perfect 10 from Voya
• A Shelf Awareness Best Book of the Year
• A New York Public Library Best Book of the Year
• A Chicago Public Library Best Book of the Year
• Winner of the 2014 Bookbrowse Award for Best Young Adult Novel
• A kobo Best Book of the Year
• A Bustle.com Best YA of the Year (#2)
• #1 on Autumn 2014 Indie Next List
• Optioned by Warner Brothers with Denise Di Novi and Allison Greenspan to produce
• Debuted at #8 on New York Times Best Seller List
• Tayshas Reading List: Top Ten of the Year
• One of Entertainment Weekly’s “five novels to watch out for” in 2014
• Already licensed in 32 countries
• One of Apple iBooks Ten Best Novels of September
• One of Amazon’s Big Fall Books and Best Books of September (the Spotlight Pick of the month)
• One of the The Hollywood Reporter‘s Fall’s 10 Buzziest Books
• Goodreads top six Best Books of the Month
• Winner of an AudioFile Earphones Award
• Junior Library Guild Selection

"I wrote a paper on this book. Like, by choice. At first I thought it was going to be another melodromatic teen angst story, but it was so much more than that. The ending is amazing. It's, like, one of my favorite books now. I think everyone should read it." - Sam, age 19

 Watch Jandy Nelson talk about I'll Give You the Sun and life as she knows it:

(she's a little bit better at book talking it than I am!)