Sun Is Also a Star (Yoon)

The Sun Is Also a Star 
Nicola Yoon, 2016
Random House
384 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780553496680


Summary
Finalist, 2016 National Book Award

Natasha
I’m a girl who believes in science and facts. Not fate. Not destiny. Or dreams that will never come true.

I’m definitely not the kind of girl who meets a cute boy on a crowded New York City street and falls in love with him. Not when my family is twelve hours away from being deported to Jamaica. Falling in love with him won’t be my story.

Daniel
I’ve always been the good son, the good student, living up to my parents’ high expectations. Never the poet. Or the dreamer.

But when I see her, I forget about all that. Something about Natasha makes me think that fate has something much more extraordinary in store—for both of us.

The Universe
Every moment in our lives has brought us to this single moment. A million futures lie before us. Which one will come true? (From the publisher.)

Author Bio
• Birth—1972
• Where—Jamaica
• Raised—Jamaica; Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA
• Education—M.F.A., Emerson College
• Currently—lives in Los Angeles, California


Nicola Yoon is the New York Times bestselling author of the young adult books Everything, Everything (2015) and The Sun Is Also a Star (2016). She grew up in Jamaica (the island) and Brooklyn (on Long Island).

Yoon's path to writing was a roundabout one. As a child, she loved to write, starting when she was 8 or 9, yet by high school, she'd become a math nerd, and in college she majored in electrical engineering. It wasn't until her senior college year, when she took a creative writing class, that she rediscovered her love of writing.

Nonetheless, Yoon went on to become a financial data programmer for investment firms. She worked in that field for several years and then decided to enroll in a creative writing program at Emerson College, where she earned an M.F.A. Still, she worked for another 20-some years—while writing on the side—before getting her first book deal.

That first book was Everything, Everything—a bestseller, a "best book of the year" on many lists, and a 2017 motion picture. Yoon says her inspiration came with the birth of her daughter after which she worried obsessively about her child's safety. Anything, she said, would make her frantic. Then she began to imagine a child whose life truly was threatened by the world, for ever, simply by being in it. How would an overly protective mother respond to those threats, and what shape would the mother-daughter relationship take?

That germ of an idea grew into Everything Everything, which was released in 2015. Yoon's husband, by the way, provided the artwork for the book. Her debut was followed by The Sun Is Also a Star in 2016, which has also been widely praised.

Yoon lives in Los Angeles, California, with her family. She’s also a hopeless romantic who firmly believes that you can fall in love in an instant and that it can last forever. (Adapted from the publisher and various online sources.)

Book Reviews
The Sun Is Also a Star is an enormous undertaking: an eclectic dictionary mashed up with Romeo and Juliet and the '90s rom-com One Fine Day. But Yoon grounds everything in Daniel and Natasha's instant, vital connection…and the conundrum that follows when they realize the universe has brought them together only to part them. It's a deep dive into love and chance and self-determination—and the many ways humans affect one another, often without even knowing it.
Jen Doll - New York Times Book Review


(Starred review.) [I]mpressively multilayered.... With a keen eye for detail and a deep understanding of every character she introduces, Yoon weaves an intricate web of threads connecting strangers.... A moving and suspenseful portrayal of a fleeting relationship. (12 & up).
Publishers Weekly


[Natasha and Daniel] tell their stories in alternating chapters.... Both relatable and profound, the bittersweet ending conveys a sense of hopefulness that will resonate with teens. (Gr 8 & Up) —Kristin Anderson, Columbus Metropolitan Library System, OH
School Library Journal


(Starred review.) Lyrical and sweeping, full of hope, heartbreak, fate...and the universal beating of the human heart.
Booklist


(Starred review.) Yoon’s lush prose chronicles an authentic romance that’s also a meditation on family, immigration, and fate.... [T]this profound exploration of life and love tempers harsh realities with the beauty of hope in a way that is both deeply moving and satisfying (14 & up).
Kirkus Reviews

Discussion Questions
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