Book Review - The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon

Book Title: The Sun is Also a Star 

Author: Nicola Yoon

Format: Audiobook

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

I downloaded The Sun is Also A Star for two reasons: 1. The cover was pretty. 2. The book was very popular.  I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from the book.  In the beginning the mixture of a characters and their point of views was a bit confusing. I was able to keep up with the transitioning from one character to the next because of the variety of narrators for the audiobook. Eventually, I start to get Yoon’s point of intertwining the mixture of characters because each character was somehow entangled in the lives of the other characters.  The writing skill that was necessary to create a story that intertwined like this one proves that Yoon knew exactly how to embed the reader in such a complex story.  

In The Sun is Also a Star, two teenagers, Daniel - a Korean boy and Natasha - a Jamaican girl, find themselves functioning in a day of complete chaos.  Their chance meeting feels like true love, yet as the story unfolds, this one day ultimately changes their lives in more ways than one can imagine.  The story of Daniel and Natasha is entertaining, inspiring, and very interesting. Every person, whom they encounter, is uniquely impacted by the interaction with Daniel and Natasha, and these interactions lead to the climax, as well as the conclusion of their story. Ultimately, I started to wonder about the people, whom I come in contact with on a daily basis.  I began to consider how my interaction with other people, either negative or positive, impact a person’s life.  I even considered the angry and hate I felt when I was racially profiled at a store.  Did my heated reaction ultimately seal the fate of the woman, who racially profiled me? As I read this book, I questioned my interaction with others and viewed these interactions in a different light.  My choice to react could possibly stop or motivate someone to continue with their plans of suicide.  My actions or the lack of actions could have an impact on the future of myself and so many others.  The lives of Daniel and Natasha continue after their fateful date of initial encounter.  In my heart, I wanted everything to change. I wanted it bad. Yet, Yoon did not let me have my heart’s desires.  Once Daniel and Natasha became adults, they lived the normal lives of adults. Yet, their lives somehow still managed to be entangled until the very end. 

Purchase Book

Even though this book is characterized as young adult fiction, adults of all ages can enjoy it just as much as I did. The Sun is Also a Star follows the theme that everything happens for a reason, while presenting a story that fits with the current event topics of immigration, racism, poverty,  and mental health. 

Interracial dating has always been a topic in the United States for years. Laws against interracial dating have been in place to prevent it from happening for centuries.  Even my state, Mississippi, had a law against interracial dating, which is still on the law books.   As a parent, who has a child now old enough to date, while reading The Sun is Also a Star, I started me to question my own perception of my belief system on interracial dating.  How would I react to my sons or daughter dating someone, who is not African American? Does it matter? Would I disown children? Would I stop talking to my children? Would I forbid any interracial dating? Yoon presents the answer that some parents have to these questions.  Whether or not you like it or not, Yoon paints a picture of the known and underlying consequences that your answers can have on your children. 

As the plot unfolded, Yoon forced me to examine my past, present, and future.  As a parent of a high schooler, I started to consider how my plans for my child aligned with his plans.  As a parent, I want to protect my child and ensure that all of my children have a “better” life than I do. Yoon makes you question, as a parent, whether your ideology of what is better reflects your child ideology of better. Yoon made me realize that perhaps what I think is best for my child is not necessarily best.

The epilogue of the book is one word: EPIC.   Yoon did not disappoint me at all. Before the epilogue, I just knew I would be in my feelings.  I just knew my day would be filled with gloom of a story not ending exactly the way I had hoped. Don't judge me. You know how it feels when a book doesn't end just like you want it to end, your day is doomed.  You want to throw the book, the audiobook, or your phone (if you downloaded the book from Audible) at the wall. I am so glad that my day did not end in doom.  Yoon pulled the entire story together and sealed the theme of the book in the epilogue. 

Until Next Time,

Cassandra

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Guest Post: 5 Ways to Get Teens to Love Reading

5 Ways To Get Teens To Love Reading
By Samantha Saunders
As an English teacher I have had parents reveal to me in hushed tones, as though imparting some secret information - "He used to read all the time in primary school. But then he just stopped." Why does this happen, this perceived halting to the reading practices of our youth? When do they stop loving reading?
Let's consider how kids learn to read in primary school. They begin with gaining an understanding of the sounds of the letters, which they blend into words, which then become the written word, which are then multiplied and woven into stories. Eagerly, children bring home their assigned reading books and proudly demonstrate their reading prowess to anyone willing to lend an ear. Progress is recorded and monitored probably through some sort of reading log, and may be charted against the rest of the class. It is a task that must be completed, a skill that must be learned.
The point is that the success and sense of achievement that children feel during this crucial time is as the result of extrinsic motivation. In many cases it is not the love of reading that drives young children to read in their primary years; it is the fact that it pleases their teachers and parents.
Once the process of learning to read has been completed and the skills successfully acquired, kids have nothing to prove. Some kids will read independently with minimal encouragement, a love of reading already intrinsic to their personality. But an assumption is often made that once a child knows how to read, they will continue to do so. Why do we make this assumption? Simply because children can read doesn't mean they will. Remove the monitoring and the reading log and the smiley face stickers, and what do you have? Reading purely for the sake of it.
Once teens reach high school they believe that there is no longer any need to read outside of the classroom. If it's not getting graded, why do it? Many consider it a waste of time. After all, most books have been made into time saving movies.
So how can we guide our teens away from the screen and towards the shelf?
Here's my top 5:
1. Show your kids what reading looks like
You are your teen's most influential role model right? So it makes sense that if we want our teens to pick up a book, then they should see us doing it too. The power of modelling appropriate reading behaviours for our kids is often under-estimated, but if our kids don't see us reading, how can we convince them to pick up a book themselves?
2. Get the book of the film
Jokes aside, film adaptations of books are a great way of introducing reluctant teen readers to a written text. Choose a film that your teen enjoyed and find the book. Read the book before going to see a new film adaptation. Comparing the book and the film can lead to some great discussion, especially if you have read the book too. Which leads me to...
3. Read the same books
Reading alone can be a very satisfying pastime, but sharing your thoughts on a book with someone else can open up the text in a whole new way. We sit and discuss Masterchef, why not Madame Bovary?
4. Lifestyles of the rich and famous...
Fiction isn't everyone's cup of tea, so why not draw on your teen's interests and choose something non-fiction? Biographical writing is incredibly popular, with every man and his dog scribbling their memoirs. No matter who your child's hero is, they're bound to have written about themselves.
5. Get the audio
Some teens may need a little more coaxing on the journey towards a love of reading. Audiobooks can be used to share great stories with your teen, without the potentially daunting task of having to read the book.
A couple of things that I recommend you don't do:
• Don't try to 'empathize' with your teen by admitting that you don't really like reading either, but they should do it. How can we convince our teens that reading is a valuable pursuit if we don't do it ourselves?
• Don't substitute sitting and reading a physical book (or e-reader) with 'online reading'. Studies have shown that when reading website pages, we don't actually read at all; we scan across the page for the bits that interest us and dismiss the rest.
Initially, getting your teen to read may seem an insurmountable challenge. But be assured that the benefits they will experience from a love of reading will be innumerable and, potentially, life-changing.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Samantha_Saunders/1973028
http://EzineArticles.com/?5-Ways-To-Get-Teens-To-Love-Reading&id=8685786

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