• I'll Give You The Sun Book
• I'll Give You The Sun Discussion Questions
• I'll Give You The Sun Sparknotes
• I'll Give You The Sun Theme

One of the best books I've read in a long long time, I'll Give You the Sun, gave me the chills, gave me a heart attack, gave me everything I ever wanted from a love story. (Self-portrait: boy in love with a book) The narrators have such fun voices, the writing and use of artistic metaphors is beautiful, and the pacing is amazing.

• 'Jandy 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 Heartbeat.
• I’m currently working my way through award winning young adult fiction and just finished up I’ll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson. This book was published this past year and since it’s relatively new, I’m not sure if it has won any awards yet.
• 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.”—.
• ― Jandy Nelson, quote from I'll Give You the Sun “Meeting your soul mate is like walking into a house you've been in before - you will recognize the furniture, the pictures on the wall, the books on the shelves, the contents of drawers: You could find your way around in the dark if you had to.”.

I'll Give You the Sun is a young adult novel by author Jandy Nelson. Published in September 2014, it is Nelson's second novel. Nelson won several awards for this novel, including the 2015 Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature.^[1] In June 2015, Warner Bros.optioned the movie rights and Natalie Krinsky signed on to write the script. Denise Di Novi and Alison Greenspan were said to be producing the movie.^[2]

The novel follows a set of twins, Jude and Noah. Although they were incredibly close at thirteen, three years later they are hardly speaking to each other. The early years are narrated by Noah as he struggles with an enormous secret that affects his past, present, and future. The later years are narrated by Jude as her life changes when she meets an arrogant and broken, yet beautiful boy. Jude also encounters a tormented, mysterious artist—an even more unpredictable force that changes her life, and Noah's, forever.^[3]

Plot[edit]

Noah and Jude Sweetwine are twins. As they enter their teen years, they grow apart. This is partly due to their sibling rivalry, as they compete for the attention of their mother, Dianna; and partly due to their struggle to be able to understand their separate identities. Furthermore, both twins want to apply to the same highly competitive art school. On one hand, Noah clearly revels in his artistic talent, while hiding the fact that he is crushing on a neighborhood boy named Brian. On the other hand, Jude is reserved about her art, but she openly welcomes male attention.

The early years are written from Noah's point of view. By spying on her, Noah is aware of Jude's artistic abilities. However, he does whatever he can to keep their mother from discovering Jude's gift. One day, Dianna walks in on Noah and Brian, who freaks out because he is still in the closet and ends their relationship. Then Noah discovers his mother having an affair with a local sculptor, Guillermo Garcia. Noah runs away and leaves a drawing of the scene with Guillermo on Dianna's bed. Dianna talks with Noah and says that she is in love with Guillermo and wants to divorce Noah's father. The two fight and Dianna drives away to propose to Guillermo. On the way, she is killed in an automobile accident. Noah seeks Guillermo out to yell at him and lies by saying that his parents were planning to stay together. Furthermore, Noah is under the impression that his application to art school was rejected. He is lost, confused and still obsessed with Brian.

The later years are written from Jude's point of view. Evidently, instead of ensuring both of their applications to art school were mailed out, Jude threw away Noah's application and only sent her own. Jude is not coping well with her mother's death. She is miserable in school and is nearly failing out. She is convinced that her mother's ghost is destroying all her art. Therefore, she finds Guillermo Garcia, whom she convinces to take her on as an apprentice. Jude wants to make stone sculptures that, she believes, her mother will be unable to demolish. Meanwhile, Jude finds herself hopelessly attracted to Oscar, a British boy whom Guillermo views as a son. Oscar flirts with Jude but she does not allow it to go far because she has sworn off boys. The day Dianna died, Jude was having sex for the first time. The experience was awful and Jude feels responsible for her mother's death.

Working on her stone sculpture helps Jude process her problems. She knows that she needs to tell Noah about what she did with his art school application. Meanwhile, Noah has discovered that Guillermo is Jude's mentor. He is concerned that Jude will learn that Noah was responsible for their mother's accident. Hopelessly, Noah gets drunk during a drinking game and nearly commits suicide by jumping off a cliff. However, Jude and Oscar stop him. The twins talk and reveal all their secrets to each other. Noah reveals Dianna's affair with Guillermo and Jude tells him about the sabotaged art application. Guillermo is relieved Dianna still loved him when she died and wants to continue to mentor Jude. Oscar and Jude admit to their feelings for each other. Noah is finally accepted into art school, and he gets back together with Brian who is now openly gay. With all their misunderstandings cleared up, the twins are ready to reconnect and rebuild their relationship.^[3]

I'll Give You The Sun Book

Background[edit]

When asked where she got the idea for I'll Give You the Sun, Nelson responds, 'These characters – Jude and Noah – pretty much crash-landed in my brain, almost fully formed. They brought with them this tragedy and their 'first love' stories [...] The challenge became how to tell their really complicated story, because there is a lot going on between and among all these characters.' Nelson talks about the different writing process she used with this novel, saying, 'The Sky Is Everywhere I wrote like a normal person, but for this book I wrote the entire thing in a pitch-black room with earplugs in. The only available light was the light coming from the computer screen [...] There was something about being in that dark room like a lunatic, not letting my world in at all, that allowed me to stay in their story.'^[4]

I'll Give You The Sun Discussion Questions

Reception[edit]

I'll Give You the Sun received strongly positive reviews. The New York Times praised the novel by calling it '[...] breathtaking. You get the sense her characters are bursting through the words, breaking free of normal metaphors and constructions, jubilantly trying to rise up from the prison of language.'^[5]The Guardian said that I'll Give You the Sun is '[...] about many things: grief, sexuality, creativity, bravery, identity, guilt. But mostly it's about love [...] This book will make you realize how beautiful words can be.'^[6]

Awards[edit]

I'll Give You The Sun Sparknotes

• Winner of the 2015 Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature^[1]
• A 2015 Stonewall Honor Book^[7]
• Winner of Bank Street's 2015 Josette Frank Award
• YALSA Top Ten Best Fiction for Young Adults^[8]
• Rainbow List Top Ten 2015^[9]

References[edit]

1. ^ ^ab'Young Adult Library Services Association'.
2. ^'Hollywood Reporter'.
3. ^ ^abNelson, Jandy (2014). I'll Give You the Sun. New York: Speak.
4. ^Corbett, Sue. 'Q&A with Jandy Nelson'. Publisher's Weekly.
5. ^Lauren, Oliver. 'I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson'. New York Times.
6. ^Viner, Katharine. 'I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson - review'. The Guardian.
7. ^'American Library Association'.
8. ^'Young Adult Library Services Association'. Archived from the original on 2015-02-07.
9. ^'Rainbow Book List'.

It’s going to be a holiday of tomes! Since we’re going to be spending 85% of this holiday reading, we decided that the physical books we took had to be over 400 pages, and preferably a book we both haven’t read (there are two exceptions, though!) I mean, isn’t that the best thing about going on holiday when your sister has the exact same bookish taste as you? Sharing books!

I'll Give You The Sun Theme

A lot of these books have been on our shelves unread for a seriously long time, and what better time to read them than practically stranding yourself on a desert island with them? Okay, so maybe substitute ‘stranding yourself’ with ‘going willingly’ and desert island with ‘really nice hotel.’ Continue reading “Books We’re Taking on Holiday!”