Nelson, Jandy.
I'LL GIVE YOU THE SUN

New York : Dial Books, 2014
IL YA
ISBN 080334964

(4 booktalks)

Booktalk #1

Noah and Jude are twins who have always felt connected. Jude is the popular one, pretty and outgoing. Noah is the quiet, artistic one, who sees more in the world, but is always being picked on, until Brian moves in next door.

Fast forward two years, and things have changed. Their mom is dead, and the twins seem to have swapped lives. What happened and why comes in spurts of insight/story from each twin, both past and present, until it all comes together.

The language and imagery is delightful, with Noah being the more fanciful, but this excerpt is Jude talking to Noah:

“‘Maybe a person is just made up of a lot of people’ I say. ‘Maybe we’re accumulating these new selves all the time.’ Hauling them in as we make choices, good and bad, as we screw up, step up, lose our minds, find our minds, fall apart, fall in love, as we grieve, grow, retreat from the world, dive into the world, as we make things, as we break things.

“He grins. ‘Each new self standing on the last one’s shoulders until we’re these wobbly people poles?’

“I die of delight. ‘Yes, exactly! We’re all just wobbly people poles!’”

I cared so deeply for these characters, even while not understanding what's going on until it did all come together at the end.  (Booktalk by NH Flume Committee)

Booktalk #2

Jude and Noah are twins and best friends at age thirteen. But three years later something has come between them and the damage might be irreparable. In alternating perspectives and at different ages these siblings deal with love and loss while coming of age in brave, bold ways. The writing is stunning, the narrative perfectly plotted, and the emotions expertly captured as Jude and Noah come to terms with their relationship and the choices they’ve made. Readers will laugh, cry, and sigh as they savor this irresistible story.  Winner of the 2015 Michael L. Printz Award and 2015 Stonewall Honor Book.    (Booktalk by Pennsylvania Young Reader’s Choice Award Committee)

Booktalk #3

Fraternal twins and artists Jude and Noah narrate this story of loss, love, guilt, and family. Noah’s viewpoint reveals the twin’s lives at age thirteen while Jude’s portion is told from three years later. The two narratives slowly reveal the circumstances that shape the twins, driving them apart and ultimately bringing them to a greater understanding of themselves and one another.  (Booktalk by the Louisiana Young Readers' Choice Committee)

Booktalk #4

In I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson, Jude and her twin brother Noah, who have spent their childhood trading parts of their universe for favors, (thus the title) are both talented artists hoping to be accepted by an elite art school.  Jealousies, misunderstandings and loss complicate their relationship and the once inseparable twins become estranged. The first part of the book is Noah's story, chronicling their lives at age 13, the second part of the book is Jude's story when they are age 16.

Both are struggling with their sexuality, Noah with his love for the boy-next-door, who fears losing his sports scholarship if anyone finds out, and Jude with her self-imposed celibacy after a forced sexual interaction. As they find their way back to each other, they find that love can tear people apart, but it is ultimately what heals.  (Booktalk by Sharon Nehls.   Colorado Blue Spruce Award, 2016)