My Thoughts on Every Day by David Levithan

Title: Every Day
Author: David Levithan
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: August 28, 2012
Genre: SciFi, Fantasy, Young Adult

I purchased this book from Amazon.  Neither the author nor the publisher requested or paid for this review.

Description from GoodReads
Every day a different body. Every day a different life. Every day in love with the same girl.
There’s never any warning about where it will be or who it will be. A has made peace with that, even established guidelines by which to live: Never get too attached. Avoid being noticed. Do not interfere.

It’s all fine until the morning that A wakes up in the body of Justin and meets Justin’s girlfriend, Rhiannon. From that moment, the rules by which A has been living no longer apply. Because finally A has found someone he wants to be with—day in, day out, day after day.

My Thoughts

When this was published five years ago, my sister adored it.  I thought it sounded like an interesting premise, but I never picked it up.  Until three days ago.  At which point, I absolutely devoured it!

I LOVED A.  What a complex character.  He has never had a specific person to sit down and talk about morality or values with and yet he seems to have developed a terrific moral compass all on his own.  He could have chosen to stay away from books and school, but he chose to learn regardless of the disjointed way he attends school.  I am excited to see a main character who seeks school and learning rather than simply taking it when forced.  Yes, I understand that there are days when he skips classes, but please don't forget that this is also true for many good students today!

Overall, I liked the idea of A waking up in a different body each day.  I thought that Levithan did a terrific job showing a plethora of people.  This is so important for many modern day readers.  It is far too easy for us to get stuck in our own heads and to never see anything from a different point of view.  Every Day pulls that shade of comfort away from the reader.  Levithan forces his audience to see the pain and the pleasure in people of all shapes, sizes, situations, and creeds.  This was definitely my favorite part of the book.

However, I truly disliked that there is never any explanation for why A is the way that he is.  I found it challenging to accept that I would never know why he flips from body to body like he does.  I wonder about his family.  Were his birth parents like him?  I mean he has to come from somewhere!  And how does Reverend Poole know so much?  How has he learned the things that he discusses with A (sorry guys, no spoilers).  

I hated the lack of information and explanation in this book, but loved the romance, characters, and diverse topics.  I will be reading the sequel in the future.

My Rating

About the Author

David Levithan (born 1972) is an American children's book editor and award-winning author. He published his first YA book, Boy Meets Boy, in 2003. Levithan is also the founding editor of PUSH, a Young Adult imprint of Scholastic Press.