The Sun Is Also a Star

by Nicola Yoon

Overview

The #1 New York Times bestseller and National Book Award Finalist from the bestselling author of Everything, Everything (streaming now!) will have you falling in love with Natasha and Daniel as they fall in love with each other!

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? 

***

The #1 New York Times Bestseller 
A National Book Award Finalist
A 2017 Michael L. Printz Honor Book
A New York Times Notable Book
A BuzzFeed Best YA Book of the Year
A POPSUGAR Best Book of the Year
A Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year
A Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year
A Booklist Editor's Choice
A New York Public Library Best Book for Teens
Recipient of the John Steptoe New Talent Award
A Walter Award Honor Book

"Beautifully crafted."—People Magazine

"A book that is very much about the many factors that affect falling in love, as much as it is about the very act itself . . . fans of Yoon’s first novel, Everything Everything, will find much to love—if not, more—in what is easily an even stronger follow up." —Entertainment Weekly

"Transcends the limits of YA as a human story about falling in love and seeking out our futures." —POPSUGAR.com

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780553496710
Publisher:	Random House Children's Books
Publication date:	03/05/2019
Pages:	384
Product dimensions:	5.56(w) x 8.25(h) x 0.77(d)
Age Range:	12 - 17 Years

About the Author

NICOLA YOON is the author of the #1 New York Times bestsellers The Sun Is Also a Star and Everything, Everything, her debut novel, which was turned into a major motion picture. She grew up in Jamaica and Brooklyn and lives in Los Angeles 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.

Follow @NicolaYoon on Tumblr, Twitter, and Instagram.

Read an Excerpt

 
prologue
 
 
CARL SAGAN SAID that if you want to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe. When he says “from scratch,” he means from nothing. He means from a time before the world even existed. If you want to make an apple pie from nothing at all, you have to start with the Big Bang and expanding universes, neutrons, ions, atoms, black holes, suns, moons, ocean tides, the Milky Way, Earth, evolution, dinosaurs, extinction-level events, platypuses, Homo erectus, Cro-Magnon man, etc. You have to start at the beginning. You must invent fire. You need water and fertile soil and seeds. You need cows and people to milk them and more people to churn that milk into butter. You need wheat and sugar cane and apple trees. You need chemistry and biology. For a really good apple pie, you need the arts. For an apple pie that can last for generations, you need the printing press and the Industrial Revolution and maybe even a poem.
 
 
To make a thing as simple as an apple pie, you have to create the whole wide world.
 
 
daniel
 
 
Local Teen Accepts Destiny, Agrees to Become Doctor, Stereotype
 
 
It’s Charlie’s fault that my summer (and now fall) has been one absurd headline after another. Charles Jae Won Bae, aka Charlie, my older brother, firstborn son of a firstborn son, surprised my parents (and all their friends, and the entire gossiping Korean community of Flushing, New York) by getting kicked out of Harvard University (Best School, my mother said, when his acceptance letter arrived). Now he’s been kicked out of Best School, and all summer my mom frowns and doesn’t quite believe and doesn’t quite understand.
 
 
Why you grades so bad? They kick you out? Why they kick you out? Why not make you stay and study more?
 
 
My dad says, Not kick out. Require to withdraw. Not the same as kick out.
 
 
Charlie grumbles: It’s just temporary, only for two semesters.
 
 
Under this unholy barrage of my parents’ confusion and shame and disappointment, even I almost feel bad for Charlie. Almost.
 
 
natasha
 
MY MOM SAYS IT’S TIME for me to give up now, and that what I’m doing is futile. She’s upset, so her accent is thicker than usual, and every statement is a question.
 
 
“You no think is time for you to give up now, Tasha? You no think that what you doing is futile?”
 
 
She draws out the first syllable of futile for a second too long. My dad doesn’t say anything. He’s mute with anger or impotence. I’m never sure which. His frown is so deep and so complete that it’s hard to imagine his face with another expression. If this were even just a few months ago, I’d be sad to see him like this, but now I don’t really care. He’s the reason we’re all in this mess.
 
 
Peter, my nine-year-old brother, is the only one of us happy with this turn of events. Right now, he’s packing his suitcase and playing “No Woman, No Cry” by Bob Marley. “Old- school packing music,” he called it.
 
 
Despite the fact that he was born here in America, Peter says he wants to live in Jamaica. He’s always been pretty shy and has a hard time making friends. I think he imagines that Jamaica will be a paradise and that, somehow, things will be better for him there.
 
 
The four of us are in the living room of our one-bedroom apartment. The living room doubles as a bedroom, and Peter and I share it. It has two small sofa beds that we pull out at night, and a bright blue curtain down the middle for privacy. Right now the curtain is pulled aside so you can see both our halves at once.
 
 
It’s pretty easy to guess which one of us wants to leave and which wants to stay. My side still looks lived-in. My books are on my small IKEA shelf. My favorite picture of me and my best friend, Bev, is still sitting on my desk. We’re wearing safety goggles and sexy-pouting at the camera in physics lab. The safety goggles were my idea. The sexy-pouting was hers. I haven’t removed a single item of clothing from my dresser. I haven’t even taken down my NASA star map poster. It’s huge—actually eight posters that I taped together—and shows all the major stars, constellations, and sections of the Milky Way visible from the Northern Hemisphere. It even has instructions on how to find Polaris and navigate your way by stars in case you get lost. The poster tubes I bought for packing it are leaning unopened against the wall.
 
 
On Peter’s side, virtually all the surfaces are bare, most of his possessions already packed away into boxes and suitcases.
 
 
My mom is right, of course—what I’m doing is futile. Still, I grab my headphones, my physics textbook, and some comics. If I have time to kill, maybe I can finish up my homework and read.
 
 
Peter shakes his head at me. “Why are you bringing that?” he asks, meaning the textbook. “We’re leaving, Tasha. You don’t have to turn in homework.”
 
 
Peter has just discovered the power of sarcasm. He uses it every chance he gets.
 
 
I don’t bother responding to him, just put my headphones on and head for the door. “Back soon,” I say to my mom.
 
 
She kisses her teeth and turns away. I remind myself that she’s not upset with me. Tasha, is not you me upset with, you know? is something she says a lot these days. I’m going to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) building in downtown Manhattan to see if someone there can help me. We are undocumented immigrants, and we’re being deported tonight.
 
 
Today is my last chance to try to convince someone—or fate—to help me find a way to stay in America.
 
 
To be clear: I don’t believe in fate. But I’m desperate.

Editorial 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.

The New York Times Book Review - Jen Doll

★ 09/12/2016
Is it fate or chance that brings people together? This is the question posed in this impressively multilayered tale of a one-day romance featuring practical Natasha, whose family is facing deportation to Jamaica, and Daniel, a first-generation Korean American with a poet’s sensibility. The teens’ eventful day begins at a New York City record store, where they see someone shoplifting. It’s the first of many significant moments that occur as Natasha desperately seeks aid to stay in America and Daniel prepares for a college interview with a Yale alum. Drawn together, separated, and converging again, both teens recognize with startling clarity that they are falling in love. With a keen eye for detail and a deep understanding of every character she introduces, Yoon (Everything, Everything) weaves an intricate web of threads connecting strangers as she delves into the personal histories of her protagonists, as well as the emotions and conflicts of others who cross their paths. A moving and suspenseful portrayal of a fleeting relationship. Ages 12–up. Agent: Sara Shandler and Joelle Hobeika, Alloy Entertainment. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly

★ "An exhilarating, hopeful novel exploring identity, family, the love of science and the science of love, dark matter and interconnectedness—is about seeing and being seen and the possibility of love... and it shines." —Shelf Awareness, starred review 
 
★ “Moving and suspenseful.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review 

★ “Lyrical and sweeping, full of hope, heartbreak, fate. . . and the universal beating of the human heart." —Booklist, starred review

★ "Fresh and compelling." —The Horn Book, starred review

★ "With appeal to cynics and romantics alike, 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."—Kirkus, starred review

★ “A love story that is smart without being cynical, heartwarming without being cloying, and schmaltzy in all the best ways.”—The Bulletin, starred review

"This wistful love story will be adored by fans of Rainbow Rowell’s Eleanor & Park."—SLJ

Praise for Everything, Everything:

“[A] fresh, moving debut.” —Entertainment Weekly

“Gorgeous and lyrical.” —The New York Times Book Review

“Will give you butterflies.” —Seventeen

 “A do-not-miss for fans of John Green and Rainbow Rowell (aka everyone).” —Justine

 “YA book lovers, your newest obsession is here.”—MTV.com

From the Publisher

08/01/2016
Gr 8 Up—It is Natasha's last day in New York City, where she has lived for 10 years. Her family, living as undocumented immigrants in a small Brooklyn apartment, are being deported to Jamaica after her father's arrest for drunk driving. Natasha is scouring the city for a chance to stay in the United States legally. She wants the normal teen existence of her peers. Meanwhile, poetic Daniel is on his way to an interview as part of his application process to Yale. He is under great pressure to get in because his parents (who emigrated from South Korea) are adamant that he become a doctor. Events slowly conspire to bring the two leads together. When Daniel and Natasha finally meet, he falls in love immediately and convinces her to join him for the day. They tell their stories in alternating chapters. Additional voices are integrated into the book as characters interact with them. Both relatable and profound, the bittersweet ending conveys a sense of hopefulness that will resonate with teens. VERDICT This wistful love story will be adored by fans of Rainbow Rowell's Eleanor & Park and by those who enjoyed the unique narrative structure of A.S. King's Please Ignore Vera Dietz.—Kristin Anderson, Columbus Metropolitan Library System, OH

School Library Journal

★ 2016-08-02
Natasha and Daniel meet, get existential, and fall in love during 12 intense hours in New York City.Natasha believes in science and facts, things she can quantify. Fact: undocumented immigrants in the U.S., her family is being deported to Jamaica in a matter of hours. Daniel’s a poet who believes in love, something that can’t be explained. Fact: his parents, Korean immigrants, expect him to attend an Ivy League school and become an M.D. When Natasha and Daniel meet, Natasha’s understandably distracted—and doesn’t want to be distracted by Daniel. Daniel feels what in Japanese is called koi no yokan, “the feeling when you meet someone that you’re going to fall in love with them.” The narrative alternates between the pair, their first-person accounts punctuated by musings that include compelling character histories. Daniel—sure they’re meant to be—is determined to get Natasha to fall in love with him (using a scientific list). Meanwhile, Natasha desperately attempts to forestall her family’s deportation and, despite herself, begins to fall for sweet, disarmingly earnest Daniel. This could be a sappy, saccharine story of love conquering all, but Yoon’s lush prose chronicles an authentic romance that’s also a meditation on family, immigration, and fate. With appeal to cynics and romantics alike, 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. (Fiction. 14 & up)

Kirkus Reviews