Seventeen-year-old Lennie Walker, bookworm and band geek, plays second clarinet and spends her time tucked safely and happily in the shadow of her fiery sister Bailey.  But when Bailey dies suddenly, Lennie is catapulted to center stage of her own life—and, despite her nonexistent history with boys, finds herself struggling to balance two.  Toby was Bailey’s boyfriend; his grief mirrors Lennie’s own.  Joe is the new boy in town, a transplant from Paris whose nearly magical grin is matched only by his musical talent.  For Lennie, they’re the sun and the moon; one boy takes her out of her sorrow, the other comforts her in it.  But just like their celestial counterparts, they can’t collide without the whole wide world exploding.

  • YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults
  • Numerous Best of the Year Lists including Horn Book Fanfare, Bank Street, Bulletin, ABC New Voices, NPR, Chicago Public Library
  • Starred reviews from Publishers Weekly, Voya, BCCB
  • Indie Next List Top Ten
  • A Publisher’s Weekly Flying Start
  • Winner of the Northern California Independent Booksellers Association Award for best teen literature
  • Published in over 22 countries
  • Optioned by Warner Brothers with Allison Greenspan and Denise Di Novi to produce.
  • Junior Library Guild Selection

Buy The Sky is Everywhere

Reviews

“A BRILLIANT, PIERCING story.”

The Denver Post

“This is a passionate, vulnerable, wonderfully complete and irresistible book.”

VOYA, Starred Review

“Nearly everyone who’s staggered through life in the wake of a loved one’s death will recognize themselves in this brilliant, piercing story. It’s a warm, deeply honest story that resonates with truth.”

The Denver Post

“Jandy Nelson has cast the intensity of first love together with the intensity of grief to produce a novel that is unusually rich with both insight and breathless romance. She writes with abandon, setting her characters free to live their excesses, such as the hippie gardener whose flowers have magical properties, the best friend with a penchant for crazy animal metaphors and the inarticulate skateboarder whose pain finds only sexual expression. It’s a headlong sort of book, preferably devoured at a single sitting.”

Los Angeles Times

“Those who think young-adult books can’t be as literary, rich, and mature as their adult counterparts will be disabused of that notion after reading The Sky Is Everywhere . . . First-time author and literary agent Jandy Nelson has created a finely-drawn portrait of grief and first love, with vivid characters and melodic prose.”

The Daily Beast

“Sky is both a profound meditation on loss and grieving and an exhilarating and very sexy romance. The book deserves multiple readings simply to savor Nelson’s luscious language . . .”

—NPR (Chosen by Gayle Forman as one of five top teen reads of 2010)

★”Nelson documents Lennie’s stumbling negotiation of her emotional maelstrom with delicacy and shimmering clarity, writing with sorrowful, consoling tenderness of the journey through various stages of bereavement . . . The characterization is clear-eyed and evocative . . . It’s romantic without being gooey and tear-jerking without being campy—what more could a reader want?”

BCCB, Starred Review (The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books)

“From the opening paragraph, the author brilliantly navigates Lennie’s course between despair and hope, sorrow and humor . . . Debut novelist Jandy Nelson possesses a rare gift for language and a finely tuned ear . . . a suspenseful and gripping love triangle.”

Shelf Awareness

“In this amazing tale of love and loss, Nelson introduces a cast of characters who make the reader laugh and cry and want to know these people in real life. It’s a wonderful book.”

—NPR’s The Roundtable

“Buoyantly written and brimming with humor and life as it plumbs the depths and ambiguities of grief, full of music and the poems Lennie drops all over town, The Sky Is Everywhere explores betrayal and forgiveness through a vibrant cast of characters.”

School Library Journal

“An intimate story about coping with loss, Nelson’s first novel is tender, romantic, and loaded with passion.”

Horn Book

★“This honest, complex debut is distinguished by a dreamy California setting and poetic images that will draw readers into Lennie’s world . . .”

Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

★“Extremely difficult to put down. Teenagers of any age should fall in love with the book’s charm, intensity, humor and poignancy.”

VOYA, Starred Review

“How grief and love run side by side is sensitively and intensely explored in this energetic, poetic and warm-blooded novel.”

The Guardian, UK

“A story of love, loss, and healing that will resonate with readers long after they have finished reading.”

Booklist

“Jandy Nelson’s debut novel is a heart-wrenching tale of love and forgiveness that will make you laugh and cry all in the same sentence. The Sky Is Everywhere ties themes of wanderlust, betrayal, and forgiveness in a love story more complex than most young adult authors dare to concoct.”

—5 stars and Gold Award Winner, teensreadtoo.com

“Jandy Nelson’s debut novel does a wonderful job of exploring Lennie’s contrasting feelings and discovering how life can go on after devastating loss. The book, written for a young adult audience, will be enjoyed by anyone fascinated with the randomness of life.”

Minnesota Star Tribune

“By turns both heart-wrenching and very funny .  . . this page-turner was hard to put down.”

Athens Banner-Herald

“This book will make you laugh and cry, keeping you up way too late turning pages til’ you finish the last satisfying line.”

Girl’s Life

“The Sky Is Everywhere is a ‘first-love’ love story that, cloaked in Lennie’s grief for her sister’s recent death, will seep into your heart. The characters spring off the page, so full of life, so clear and confident in who they are, even as they wrestle through life’s angst. Complex, yet pure, it’s easy to fall in love with Lennie when her new budding womanhood learns to dance with Joe, whose music lifts its way into Lennie’s heart . . . Author Jandy Nelson wraps the deep emotions of grief with the delightful emotions of first-love. Her writing sparkles with fresh phrases. A must read when you want to curl up and get lost in ‘what-if’ wonder-love.”

Sacramento Book Review

From fellow Authors

“WOW. I sobbed my eyes out and then laughed through the tears. I have not fallen in love with a story and its characters like this in a long time. Stunning, heartbreaking, hilarious. A story that shakes the Earth.”

—An Na, Printz Award Winner and National Book Award Finalist for A Step from Heaven

“Okay, I admit it. I have a huge crush on this book–it’s beautiful, brilliant, passionate, funny, sexy and deep. Come to think o fit, I might even want to marry this book.”

—Sonya Sones, author of What My Mother Doesn’t Know

“Full of heart, quirky charm, and beautiful writing, The Sky Is Everywhere simply shines.”

—Deb Caletti, National Book Award Finalist and author of The Secret Life of Prince Charming

“Jandy Nelson’s story of grief somehow manages to be an enchantment, a celebration, a romance—without forsaking the rock-hard truths of loss.”

—Sara Zarr, National Book Award Finalist and author of Story of a Girl and Sweethearts

“The Sky Is Everywhere evokes the intensity of desire and agony of heartache with breathtaking clarity.  This beautifully written story will leave an indelible impression upon your soul.”

—Susane Colasanti, author of When It Happens

“An addictive, romantic, heartbreaking and wise tale of one girl’s epic loss—and equally epic self-discovery. Seriously, stop reading this blurb; start reading this book!”

—Gayle Forman, author of the NY Times bestseller If I Stay

“Jandy Nelson (remember that name), has written a YA novel with the best voice I have read since Laurie Halse Anderson’s Speak.”

—Jane Yolen

“The Sky Is Everywhere is the kind of book you don’t just read, you live. From the very first page, I fell deeply in love with its wonderfully kooky characters. In quiet moments I can still hear Lennie’s funny, poignant voice whispering in my ear. A remarkable debut. Wish I’d written it!”

—Sarah Webb, Irish Independent, author of the Amy Green series

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