I'll Give You The Sunbooks

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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]

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]

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]

• 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'.

You haven’t read I’ll Give You the Sun yet?! Allow me to give you some friendly advice: you should definitely read this book ASAP. Jandy Nelson’s award-winning novel tells the story of Noah and Jude, 13-year-old twins and best friends who used to be practically inseparable. Artistic Noah is quiet and shy, but it never seemed to matter because surfer girl Jude is charismatic enough for the both of them. But three years later, a tragedy has ripped the family apart and Noah and Jude are barely speaking, separated by both their secrets and their secret longings.

Still not convinced to drop whatever you’re doing and start reading? Here are 5 reasons you should stop everything and pick up I’ll Give You the Sun.

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Sibling Rivalry (Sort of)
I’ll Give You the Sun is told from the perspectives of both siblings, fraternal twins Jude and Noah. They used to be close—sure, Noah kept his crush on the boy next door a secret, and Jude may have pushed the envelope with her bright red lipstick and cliff-diving, but they were still best friends. They divided the world up between them, exchanging the sun and the stars and the flowers and the trees. But instead of finding solace with one another when their family faces tragedy, the gap between Noah and Jude only widens. Soon, they can barely remember how to talk to each other. And boy, does Nelson know how to write siblings! She understands that even the most estranged of them have inside jokes and shared memories, and even the closest have hidden resentments and deeply held regrets.

Art
Noah and Jude are both artists, and as a reader, you get to be by their sides while they both create and tear down their work, each struggling to discover what they want to express and how to express it. Noah sees the world in colors, envisioning every moment of his life as the work of art it could become if only he could draw it. Meanwhile, Jude thinks her art is doomed—everything she tries to create seems destined to break, perhaps due to the intervention of a restless family spirit. In fact, the entire world feels fragile to her, as though disease and destruction could befall her and the people she loves at any moment. It’s only when she begins working with a talented but tortured local sculptor that she has a chance of creating something unbreakable.

Time Travel (Okay, not exactly. But kind of.)
As if telling the story from two different perspectives wasn’t enough, Nelson also sets each of the narratives in a different time period: Noah’s when the twins are thirteen, and Jude’s when they’re sixteen. Noah’s chapters take place when the twins are still close and their family is still (more or less) intact, whereas Jude’s chapters are set long after their rift is in place. Noah is devastated by his failure to get into the art school of his dreams, and Jude is bewildered by her own acceptance. Noah still longs for Brian, the boy next door, while Jude is doing her very best not to fall for the irresistible boy who has come into her life. What neither twin understands is that each of them only knows half the story. It’s only by putting their stories together that the truth can be revealed, and their wounds healed.

The Sky is Everywhere
Maybe it’s strange to recommend one book by talking about another, but bear with me here. The Sky is Everywhere was Nelson’s debut novel, and it is just so beautiful! Like I’ll Give You the Sun, it deals with siblings and loss and love, but is a very different story and worth reading all on its own. Seventeen-year-old Lennie is struggling to recover following the sudden death of her charismatic big sister, Bailey. Everything is different now, from her relationship with her best friend to her friendship with the fiancé Bailey left behind, to the questions she has for the mother who abandoned her as an infant. And then there’s that seemingly perfect boy she can’t take her eyes off of, Joey Fontaine. Read I’ll Give You the Sun knowing you can follow it up with the magnificence of The Sky is Everywhere—trust me, you’ll want to.

I'll Give You The Sun Books List

Love
At the end of the day, I’ll Give You the Sun is a love story. But I’m not just talking about romantic love—though there’s plenty of that, and yes, you’ll be rooting for Noah and Jude to end up with the boys they love. But at its heart, this is the story about the love between two siblings, about the love that exists within a family, that endures no matter what, love even when you think you hate each other. And what could be more compelling than something that powerful?