The Sky is Everywhere

The Sky is Everywhere, a young adult novel by American author Jandy Nelson, follows Lennon who grieves after the death of her sister, Bailey. The loss of her sister and best friend causes Lennon to feel isolated and overwhelmed. As she starts to make new connections to people who also loved her sister, she realizes that grief is an unavoidable part of life and that friendship can be a refuge. Nelson’s novel explains and validates some of the difficult emotions that many people experience for the first time as young adults, and shows that companionship can be found in unexpected places.

The Sky is Everywhere begins just weeks after Bailey’s death. Distraught, Lennon doesn’t know how she will ever be happy again. After a few days of mourning, she goes back to school, where she receives an overwhelming amount of attention. None of the messages of sympathy Lennon receives from her peers or teachers seem to soothe her pain. In band class, she meets a new classmate, Joe Fontaine, who quickly takes a liking to her. Joe, handsome and an extremely gifted musician, becomes the crush of most of the girls in class, including Lennon’s enemy, Rachel. To Lennon’s surprise, Joe starts paying visits to her house, which both unnerves and intrigues her. Lennon also learns that Bailey’s old boyfriend, Toby, has been dealing with extreme grief. Lennon and Toby develop a romantic attraction, and Lennon has no idea how to manage her two love interests in the wake of her sister’s death.

One day after class, Lennon returns home and finds Toby outside her house. She talks to him in the garden, and they connect over their shared grief. Lennon believes that only Toby can fully understand the extent of her pain, because he was also extremely attached to Bailey. At the same time, she is confused by his affection for her, having previously thought he barely noticed her existence. Later that week, Joe approaches Lennon during lunch while she eats in a tree in the schoolyard. He proposes that she play the clarinet to accompany his guitar. She refuses the request, to his chagrin. In the middle of the following night, Toby comes to Lennon’s house and goes in for a kiss; she consents to his advances, then immediately regrets it, because he was Bailey’s boyfriend. Lennon tells one of her best friends, who reacts with anger, seemingly confirming her fear that Bailey would have opposed their relationship.



When summer break comes, Joe’s attempts to court Lennon only increase. He appears at her house every morning, frequently with gifts. He talks with her grandmother and uncle, “Uncle Big.” Lennon remains unsure about Joe’s actual intentions for coming to her house. One day, while Lennon is at dinner with her family, Joe arrives and finally verbalizes that he has a crush on her. While leaving together, they run into Toby, who gets upset at Joe. The following day, Lennon hangs out with Toby at her house. Joe appears and almost sees them making out. Lennon spends that night at Joe’s, where they drink wine and talk about where their futures might be headed. Lennon kisses Joe and mentally commits to dating him instead of Toby. She makes plans to break up with Toby, but when she meets up with him, he tells her that Bailey was pregnant with their child when she died. Overwhelmed, Lennon kisses him just as Joe arrives.

Joe tells Lennon that he is no longer willing to date her because his last girlfriend also cheated on him. Lennon persistently asks for his forgiveness, but he refuses. Toby even connects with Joe and tries to explain that their kiss happened in the middle of an extremely difficult moment. Still, Joe turns Lennon down. After Lennon spots Joe hitting it off with Rachel, she tries another time, bringing him a bouquet of roses from her grandmother that is supposed to have aphrodisiac effects. Joe refuses her apology yet again.

At the end of the novel, Lennon finally makes a breakthrough: she composes a love poem and leaves it for Joe in the woods. The following day, Joe meets her at the same spot and accepts her apology. Lennon travels to Uncle Big’s wedding, and then to Bailey’s grave. She finds Bailey’s engagement ring and finally accepts that grief is a universal feature of life, tied in with the emotion of love. The Sky is Everywhere ultimately suggests that we learn to embrace love in spite of the inevitability of grief.