I absolutely loved Nelson’s I’ll Give You the Sun, so I jumped at the chance to read an advanced reader copy of her latest work. At its heart, it’s a story about the complicated relationships between siblings but one that weaves magic realism, family mythology, prodigious music and culinary skills and circular storytelling that all kept this reader frantically turning pages, desperate to solve the mystery at the book’s heart—who is the girl with the rainbow-colored hair and how is she connecting to all of the Fall siblings? Ultimately, the story’s resolution made perfect sense and was incredibly satisfying.
"Jandy Nelson is a true virtuoso . . . I am fervently in love with this brave, funny, tender, exuberant beating heart of a book." -Becky Albertalli, author of Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda and Imogen, Obviously
The explosive new novel that brims with love, secrets, and enchantment by Jandy Nelson, Printz Award-winning and New York Times bestselling author of I'll Give You the Sun
The Fall siblings live in hot Northern California wine country, where the sun pours out of the sky, and the devil winds blow so hard they…
This is actually the sequel to The Remarkable Rescue at Milkweed Meadow, starting the same inquisitive, story-telling rabbit, Butternut. I hadn’t read the first book before getting an advance reader copy of the second but thoroughly enjoyed it nonetheless. In this book, Butternut’s celebrity as the meadow’s best entertainer is threatened by a traveling troupe of thespian turkeys who convince all of the creatures of the meadow to put on a grand show. Butternut’s “brambles” (think intuition) are telling her something is off with these turkeys, but she’s not sure if it's just jealousy or the generalized anxiety she sometimes experiences. Naturally, it turns out the turkeys ARE up to no good and Butternut has to scramble to find a way to save her friends. The amazing thing about this duology (I subsequently read the first book and loved it too) is that, though it’s anthropomorphic, the characters feel incredibly real and their emotions are fully relatable to us human readers. The writing style manages to be both contemporary and timeless, and Butternut’s voice is an utter delight.
Butternut and the meadow creatures return in this middle-grade adventure sequel that will charm animal-loving fans of The Tale of Despereaux and Clarice the Brave. Illustrated by Caldecott winner Doug Salati.
After their remarkable rescue, the meadow creatures are back—now closer than ever and with beloved rabbit Butternut still captivating them all with her storytelling. But when a dazzling group of traveling turkeys shows up and persuades the meadow creatures to join them in putting on performance, Butternut is not sure she can find her place in all the excitement. She questions her storytelling abilities compared to this new crew.…
Enter the Body is a breathtakingly original novel-in-verse that features three famous female characters from Shakespeare plays rewriting their narratives on their own terms. No longer tragic figures doomed to die, mere bodies on stage, they create stories of empowerment and conscious choices. The three characters—Juliet, Ophelia and Cordelia—each had distinct voices and poetry styles and the way the author interweaves their stories with heated discussions among many of Shakespeare’s other female characters in the trap room under a stage is fascinating and like nothing else I’ve ever read.
"At once tender, poetic and ferocious, Enter The Body breathes new life into the Bard's most tragic heroines. More than a tribute to Shakespeare, this kaleidoscopic, ambitious novel-in-verse gives Juliet, Ophelia, Cordelia, and Lavinia the chance to tell their own stories full of passion, justice, sisterhood, and love. Simply spectacular."-Michael L. Printz Award winner Laura Ruby, author of Bone Gap
In the room beneath a stage's trapdoor, Shakespeare's dead teenage girls compare their experiences and retell the stories of their lives, their loves, and their fates in their own words. Bestselling author Joy McCullough offers a brilliant testament to how…
I have this pathetic disease. Never mind what it’s called. Life doesn’t play by the rules, so fourteen-year-old Ricky decides she won’t either. Ricky’s rules allow for cursing, cutting school and lying to the Disaster-Formerly-Known-As-Her-Parents. That is, until her truancy is discovered and she’s facing the threat of having to repeat ninth grade.
Loosely drawn from the author’s experience of being diagnosed with juvenile arthritis as a young teen, Cursed is funny, frank and full of f-bombs. An unsentimental take on the “sick kid” genre, it won the prestigious 2020 Schneider Family Book Award which celebrates “the artistic expression of the disability experience” in books for kids and teens.
