I'll Give You the Sun

I'LL GIVE YOU THE SUN is a compelling novel of twin siblings' fractured lives. There's heartbreak, wisdom, and joy -- and the writing often sings. Jude and Noah's passages of reflection are written in a stream-of-consciousness style that lets readers feel as if they know and understand them. Author Jandy Nelson is particularly drawn to characters with misfit, superstitious families, and fans of her debut novel, The Sky Is Everywhere, will be awestruck once again at her ability to capture the transformative power of grief, loss, and art (music for Lenny in Sky and the visual arts for Noah and Jude in Sun). The author so vividly describes the artistic process that readers will feel the sand and stone in their hands as Jude sculpts or the charcoal as Noah sketches. Their art is what binds them but what also tears them apart.

As with Lenny and Joe in her first book, Nelson spends a good bit of the book tracing Noah and Jude's experiences with first love. Both of them have messy but rapturous love stories with guys who aren't perfect but might be exactly what the twins need -- if their own insecurities don't get in the way. Nelson's books aren't easy, lazy reads. They demand your attention with their lyrical writing and shifts in time. Some young readers may even be confused at times, as the sequences jump between the past and the present. Yet Jude and Noah are so alive, you really care about what happens to them.