Every Day by David
Levithan is part one of a thought-provoking trilogy of the daily life of A who
wakes up in the body of a new sixteen year old every day as he has been doing
all of his life. While it’s not what he would prefer, A has learned to not make
waves as he navigates through each day, until he meets Rhiannon. After spending
the day with Rhiannon as her ungrateful, distant boyfriend Justin, A has fallen
in love and in the next few days comes back as four different people in order
to spend more time with her. A summons up his courage and tells Rhiannon his
incredible story and eventually, she believes him and falls in love with him
too. However, this proves difficult as A sometimes wakes up several hours away
from Rhiannon and in order to get to her skips school, lies, and one time
leaves a boy named Nathan on the side of the road sleeping in a car only to be
woken up by the police with no memory of how he got there. After meeting Nathan’s Reverend Poole and
learning that there are more people out there like him and he can learn to stay
in the same body for more than a day, A decides to say goodbye to Rhiannon. He
wakes up on Day 6033 in the body of a boy named Alexander who shares many of
the same values as A and Rhiannon and explains to her that he must leave and
she can begin dating Alexander so that she can have a chance at being happy in
the way that he can never make her. The next morning on Day 634, A wakes up as
a girl named Katie and decides to run, where is not divulged.
Critique:
The author
tells the story in daily chapters that tell of A’s experiences living as a new
person from Day 5994 to Day 6034. Levithan takes time to describe the various characters
that A inhabits and really demonstrates an understanding of who they are based
on accessing their memories. For example, “That he was meant to be a boy, or at
least to live as a boy, to live in the blur between a boyish girl and a girlish
boy” (Levithan, 2012, p. 254) . The author frankly
describes the things that go through A’s mind when he inhabits more difficult
bodies, such as an overweight boy. Specifically, “But then I’m conscious of my
sweat, of how my fleshy arm must feel against the back of her neck. I’m also
conscious of my breathing, which wheezes a little if I exhale too much.” (Levithan,
2012, p. 273)
While none of the acts are carried out, there are brief discussions of sex,
self-mutilation by cutting and suicide. Therefore, the recommended audiences for
this book are mature middle school and high school age.
David Levithan's website: http://davidlevithan.com/
Bibliography
Levithan, D. (2012). Every Day. Alfred A.
Knoph.
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