“This book is bursting with life. It’s filled with poetry, dizzy with first love, buzzing with eccentric characters. Why is this surprising? Because, on the face of it, the book is focused around a death. Lennon’s older sister, Bailey, has just died, and Lennon and her Gram and Uncle Big are heartbroken. Sixteen-year-old Lennon tells us her story in two ways: through straight prose, and in a series of poems that she scatters all over the town and forest where she lives. The poems are written on various materials, such as napkins and to-go cups, and the reproductions of the poetry in the book are delightful. Lennon misses her sister horribly and is deeply concerned that she’s not grieving appropriately. Part of her response to grief is developing crushes on two boys: the amazing new musician in her school band and her sister’s boyfriend. This makes her feel guilty. At the same time, it’s part of her new appreciation of life and feeling of extra-aliveness. I won’t tell you more because there are lots of wonderful surprises to savor. I will tell you this book has a marvelous sense of place—the natural world is a big player. I’ll also tell you that Nelson can use very modern prose and somehow make it much more poetic than your average teen novel. She isn’t shy of using big words, either, or unusual phraseology. I can’t say strongly enough: Read this book! You will gobble it up. I don’t care what age you are.”—Amanda, Paulina Springs Books, with locations in Sisters and Redmond, OR
Face Out
The Sky is Everywhere (YA) by Jandy Nelson
June 8, 2011
Wow – great review – I really want to read it! Also, we have a local poetry publisher that has a poetry pole in a yard where people can pin up poems anonymously. Made me think of that.