TEACHER'S GUIDE TO I'LL GIVE YOU THE SUN
By Jandy Nelson
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jandy Nelson
A new up and coming contemporary author, Jandy Nelson has already made her mark on YA Literature. She has been awarded numerous awards for I'll Give You the Sun, including but not limited to the following:
Winner of the 2015 Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature
A 2015 Stonewall Honor Book
Winner of Bank Street’s 2015 Josette Frank Book Award
Winner of the NCIBA and the NCBA and the James Cook Award
Winner of Australia’s Silver Inky Award
Shortlisted for the UK’s Waterstone’s Children’s Book Prize
YALSA Top Ten Best Fiction for Young Adults
Rainbow List Top Ten 2015
A New York Times Notable Book of the Year
A Time Magazine Top Ten YA of the Year (#3)
Her novels are so relatable to teens and young adults. They will leave you laughing and crying throughout each chapter.
DIG INTO THE TEXT...
I'll Give You the Sun is a Young Adult Fiction Novel perfect for 9th-12th grade students. The novel is based around fraternal twins, Noah and Jude. For so long, they have done everything together, however, they are both interested in applying to a competitive art school with limited spots. Suddenly they find themselves in a whirlpool of emotions, fighting for their mother's attention and battling the ultimate sibling rivalry. While finding themselves in their own art, they are also realizing their sexuality and keeping huge secrets. Their division takes a turn for the worst after a terrible accident occurs changing their lives forever. Dark secrets are exposed, and their lives are spiraling.
The story is from both character's points of view, each chapter changing from Jude to Noah, and also traveling in time from earlier years to present. Both characters are struggling with their half of the story. Their only solution is to find comfort in what they know best, each other.
This striking novel has so many tales of love, identity, family, desires, dreams, and confidence that many teens deal with on a daily basis. It's a perfect coming of age book, and an easy read for students. You find yourself getting lost in the beauty of Jandy Nelson's words.
What Critics Say...
“A blazing, prismatic explosion of color. Ingenious . . . To read it is a coming-of-age experience in itself.”
— Entertainment Weekly
“A WILD, BEAUTIFUL, and profoundly MOVING novel. Jandy Nelson’s writing is so ELECTRIC, so ALIVE, her pages practically GLOW IN THE DARK.”
— Ransom Riggs, New York Times bestselling author of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children and Hollow City
“Jandy Nelson is a RARE, EXPLOSIVE talent. Her prose is VIVID, BREATHTAKING, and DRENCHED IN PASSION, and her stories remind me why WORDS CAN CHANGE THE WORLD.”
—Tahereh Mafi, New York Times bestselling author of the Shatter Me series
“An extraordinary book! I’ve never read anything like it. Lyrical–unique–passionate–magical–tragic–hopeful – Nelson’s characters will fly off the page and into your heart.”
—Nancy Garden, author of Annie on My Mind
TEACHING CHALLENGES
With any book, there are always going to be challenges or concepts that educators will come across. I'll Give You the Sun is a novel full of sensitive subject matters and themes from sexuality and suicide to many more.
CENSORSHIP
Censorship is the suppression or prohibition of any parts of books, films, news, etc. that are considered obscene, politically unacceptable, or a threat to security.
As teachers, we have to find ways to navigate through censorship in order for our students to learn to their best abilities. Boards, administration, and parents may have guidelines or concerns on what is appropriate to teach students. Risky topics are usually ones such as sex, sexuality, suicide, infidelity, divorce, and grief.
Here are a few ways to do approach censorship:
Give a schedule ahead of time to parents of what novels/ideas you will be covering in class.
Before reading the novel, send a letter home to the parents discussing each concern they may have.
Always be receptive and leave communication lines open between students and parents.
Teaching censorship could be hard, especially when the world is both highly censored and uncensored at the same time. Students need to have discussions in class and understanding of why this is an issue, and how to approach censored texts properly. Here are some teaching tools.
Here is a prezi that will explain how censorship hinders education. It also focuses on what books have been banned and why.
Here is a video that explains what censorship is in a manner that is easily understood by young adult readers.
OTHER TEACHING TOOLS
Since this novel alternates from Noah's POV to Jude's in short chapters, this is a great novel to do character blogs. Here is a lesson that gives a creative way for students to get to know the characters.
The novel is centered around art, using very descriptive/colorful words. Here is a great lesson for doodle journaling that students can do.
