The Sky is Everywhere

This one is The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson.

About and Thoughts on Book:
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 older sister Bailey. But when Bailey dies abruptly, Lennie 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.
Just as much a celebration of love as it is a portrait of loss, Lennie’s struggle to sort her own melody out of the noise around her is always honest, often hilarious, and ultimately unforgettable.
From B&N


Lennie's not sure what to do now that her sister is dead. She was so use to being with her all the time, so use to being her shadow, the companion pony to the race horse. Now Lennie has to live the rest of her life in a world that Bailey will no longer be in, and that fills her with so much grief. She wants to remember Bailey, but can't help feeling sad whenever she feels happy even though Bailey is gone. Toby is feeling the same grief, and they comfort each other, and it's like they're bringing her back. Joe never met Bailey, and Lennie isn't sure if Joe would like her if he knew her before Bailey was gone. He thinks that she is an amazing clarinet player, but Lennie doesn't want to play her clarinet anymore, didn't even before Bailey was gone. Yet maybe Joe can help her see how it can help her, how they have this wonderful thing in common. Lennie spends her time writing poems about her and Bailey, and leaving them under rocks, in books, just on the ground, anywhere just so people will read them. So people will know about her Bailey, the sister she adored and loved. Yet her sister had secrets that she couldn't share with Lennie before she died, secrets that Lennie will have to face later. 


Simply put, I loved this book. From the very beginning, I got pulled in. I wanted to understand Lennie's grief. I wanted her to be able to get through it and see that she could live without her sister, but she will always be remembered. Her family, Uncle Big and Gram, are all sorts of weird, but are so hilarious. This book had me laughing and wanting to cry. The parts about her mother had me wanting Lennie to see what everyone else saw, that her mother left her and she may not come back, but Lennie just wanted to believe in the story her Gram told her, wanted to believe that her mother was an explorer, traveling the world. I didn't know what to think about what was going on with Toby, but I thought it may help them both get through it. Later on I just thought that they were wallowing in their grief too much. I loved Joe, his quirkiness, his huge, bright smile, his musical ability, and the fact that he called her John Lennon. I loved Lennie's poems that were put in chapters throughout the book. Even though Lennie doesn't think anything good should come out of her sister's death, she still meets Joe, and she doesn't know if things would be the same with them if her sister was there. Would she still be as "awake" as Joe believes her to be? She does know that she'll never be the same person she was when Bailey was around, and she also knows what it's like to lose someone so easily without warning. She knows she should also love the life she has while she has it. 


After finishing reading this book, I had the urge to pick it right back up, just like Lennie with Wuthering Heights, a book she admittedly read 23 times. 


Alisha