Nelson, Jandy. I’ll Give You The Sun. New York: Penguin, 2014. 978-0-8037-3496-8. 384p. $17.99. Gr. 11 and up.

Jude and her twin brother Noah are close, but after their mother’s death the once close twins find themselves distant strangers in each other’s lives.  Thirteen-year-old Noah narrates the first half of the book and the years before their mother’s accidental death.  Jude picks up their lives three years following the accident and slowly reveals the secrets the siblings are hiding from each other.  Focused on art school, Jude is haunted by their mother’s death seeking comfort from imaginary conversations with her grandmother’s ghost.  Jude and Noah are also both struggling with their sexuality. Noah is coming out as a gay teen and has fallen in love with his neighbor, Brian.   Jude is still recovering from her first sexual encounter at fourteen and has sworn off boys and relationships.  Working through their issues Jude and Noah must turn to each other to truly heal.

Realistic            Robin Burns, Salisbury High School

The 2015 Michael L. Printz winner is a heartbreaking story of love and loss.  Jude and Noah are both looking for the truth of what has happened in each other’s lives for the last three year’s but also their own truths as young adults.  That truth, learning how to be comfortable with who they are and accepting themselves, is a unique story that is a good addition to libraries looking to increase their LGBTQ fiction.   I would highly recommend this title for both school and public libraries.