It’s Summer! This is a time to unwind and get some much needed rest and relaxation. Whether you’re spending your holidays at the beach, in the country, overseas, or just enjoying a relaxing ‘stay-cation’, you’ll want to keep these #SummerReads close at hand.

Handpicked by National Library of Jamaica staff, these books are sure to grab your attention and maybe even teach you something you didn’t know before. All our #SummerReads are available in the book collection at the NLJ. Let us know what you think! 

The Sun Is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon

Our first pick comes from the very awesome Yulande Lindsay, Head of the Audiovisual Department at the NLJ. Her #SummerRead is Nicola Yoon’s ‘The Sun Is Also A Star‘. Yulande wholeheartedly recommends this book – and believe us, she knows what she’s talking about.

Four and a half stars out of a maximum of five for “The Sun Is Also A Star” by Nicola Yoon.

Yoon’s first book, Everything, Everything was nice, sweet and tugged at the heart strings a little, it was clearly a first novel but her talent was clearly visible. That kind of talent does not fade, it evolves, it becomes better, it produces excellence. Am I enthusiastic? Am I willing to blather on at length about how much I loved this book? Is it reaaaaallllly that good? Yes, yes and yes. Let me add an extra yes, just in case there’s still some doubt.  But if you still doubt, if my word is not enough, read this citation from the Judges at the National Book Foundation, which awards the National Book Awards, where Nicola Yoon was 2016 National Book Award Finalist, Young People’s Literature.

“Like sunlight through a prism, The Sun Is Also a Star is a singular love story told through numerous luminous voices. Skillfully examining ideas of coincidence and fate, the random connections and seemingly small moments that somehow determine our futures, this kaleidoscopic novel shifts and shimmers, unsettles and unmoors, until its brilliant and satisfying conclusion.”

Judges’ Citation from the National Book Foundation (US)

I could not have said it any better.

This is a young adult novel but it deals with very adult issues: issues of race, family, loyalty, disappointment, hurt, loneliness and love.

And from Nicola Yoon herself, here’s a brief description of the main characters:

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.

Don’t you want to meet them?

Read it please, it’s worth it, I promise you.

But be warned, once you open it, you will not stop, you will want to go on, sleep will not be an option, be prepared to cry, to laugh, to rage, it’s all there and it is pure joy.

-Yulande Lindsay: Audiovisual Librarian, Certified Book Nerd, Cheerleader for all Jamaican writers

Yulande Lindsay, Head of Audiovisual Department, NLJ