The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson

The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson 4 of 5 stars.
To be released by Dial Books March 9, 2010

When her fiery older sister Bailey dies abruptly, seventeen-year-old Lennie, bookworm and band geek, is catapulted to center stage of her own life--and, despite her nonexistent history with boys, suddenly 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.

In the beginning I didn't know how to take this book. It is miles away from the type of books I usually read. I didn't understand Lennie's need to be with Toby at first. It all seemed a bit harebrained and foreign to me. But after a reading it a bit more I was sucked into Lennie's life. While the writing was hilarious the story was heartbreaking. I enjoyed the poems Lennie wrote on scraps of paper and scattered around her town. They held the majority of the stories grief to me. I love the way Jandy Nelson describes Lennie's relationship with music, what goes through the character's mind as she plays her clarinet.
The dialog had me in tears from laughing so hard at times. All of the character, Toby excluded in the first half, were so three-dimensional it was like they were popping up out of the book. This may not be my favorite genre of YA Literature but that does not mean I didn't fall in love with this book.

For fans of: Sarah Dressen, Girl in the Arena, Alex Flinn

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