Book Review: Every Day by David Levithan

Every day, A wakes up.  And every day, A is in a new body.  Guy, girl, it doesn't matter - but every person whose body he wakes up in is never more than a few hours away from the body he fell asleep in, and is always the same age he is.  Right now, that's 16.  He doesn't know why, and he doesn't know how, and he doesn't know if there are others like him - that's just how life is.  And so, every day, A tries hard to stay unattached, fly under the radar, and to never interfere with the life of the person whose body he is borrowing.

Until Day 5994, when A wakes up in Justin's body.  And everything changes.

It's not Justin that changes things for A.  Justin is, frankly, kind of a selfish jerk.  It's Justin's girlfriend, Rhiannon.  A doesn't know why he's so drawn to her, but he is, and he impulsively decides to give this magical girl one good day with her boyfriend.  They skip school, drive to the beach and spend the perfect day together.  The next day, A wakes up as Leslie Wong, a girl with a clarinet, controlling parents, and a brother who's in serious trouble.  For the first time, A wants to go back to yesterday, because he's finally met someone he wants to stay with - every day.  And two days later, when A wakes up as Amy Tran, a girl with a driver's license and a car only an hour away from Rhiannon, A starts breaking all the rules of non-interference.  A doesn't know what's going to happen, or how it can possibly work, but he knows he has to see her again.

From the enormously creative and multi-tasking David Levithan (of Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist and Will Grayson, Will Grayson fame - plus, did you know he edited The Hunger Games and Maggie Stiefvater's new book?  Love him!) comes this quandry of a novel that asks the question - is the body you wear more important than who you are when it comes to love?  Levithan never reveals if A is a boy or a girl (I've just been referring to A as a 'he,' since that's what he was in my head!) so it's up to you to decide what you think when you read it.  I do love, though, that the problems A and Rhiannon are up against aren't really about gender, but more a question of who - and where - A is when he wakes up.  If you love a good mind-bender, a bit of sci-fi with your realistic reads, or think that all you need is love, check out David Levithan's newest awesome @the library!

Megan
(who is still trying to process the magical mind-blowing fabulosity of The Raven Boys - THAT LAST SENTENCE, ARGH!! - review coming soon, I promise!)