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I’ll Give You the Sun | February 18, 2015

by Jandy Nelson (Dial Books/Penguin Young Readers Group, September 2014)

Art. Teenagers. Tragedy. Beaches. Ghosts. Drama. Family. All this in just the first 40 pages. Jandy Nelson’s I’ll Give You the Sun is well-deserving of its 2015 Michael L. Printz Award, and draws you in on the very first page.

Twins Jude and Noah Sweetwine were made together and take on the world together. In fact, they play a game trading different parts of the world — the sky, ocean, sun, stars, flowers, and trees — for total control. But as Noah and Jude grow up together, they also grow apart.

Noah narrates the first part of the tragedies that have drawn the twins apart, and Jude shows us the later years. The story of the complex relationship between brother and sister, told by flawed, tangible teenage characters, is beautiful and touching. Full of stunning prose, I’ll Give You the Sun is true to its starred reviews: “Readers are meant to feel big things, and they will” —Publishers Weekly.

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