The Sky is Everywhere

Story

Seventeen-year-old clarinet player, bookworm and band geek Lennie lives happily in the shadow of her sister Bailey. However, when Bailey suddenly dies, Lennie is forced to take centre stage of her own life, as she struggles with her own grief and that of Bailey’s boyfriend Toby. When Joe arrives in town, Lennie is torn between the boy who takes her out of her sorrow and the one who shares it with her.

Why we chose it

A young adult novel which sensitively and honestly explores grief after the death of a sister and the confusion and agony of first love.

Where it came from

Jandy Nelson says she wrote the first draft of the book in a mess in five months, then redrafted many times before sending the book out. She started out as a poetry writer, so the original idea was a novel in verse, but ultimately she decided to write it in novel form while still featuring Lennie’s poems. She drew upon her own sibling relationships when writing about Lennie’s experience, knowing what it’s like as the youngest sibling to be in awe of older ones.

Where it went next

The Sky is Everywhere was very well received, being called ‘beautiful’, ‘breathtaking’ and ‘extraordinary by reviewers. It won a number of prizes including the 2015 Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature and Apple iBooks Best Teen Fiction of the Year. It was shortlisted and on top ten lists multiple times too, including for the UK’s Waterstones Children’s Book Prize and Time Magazine’s Top Ten YA of the Year

Associated stories

Jandy Nelson’s second YA novel, I’ll Give You The Sun was published in 2015. It was a New York Times bestseller and shortlisted for the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize.