The Sun Is Also a Star
by Nicola Yoon
Ember, 2019
Young Adult
This is a multiracial young adult romance. Daniel, a Korean American teen about to start college, meets Natasha, an immigrant from Jamaica, who is about to be deported. Daniel is immediately smitten, and they spend a whirlwind of a day in New York as Natasha attempts to find an immigration attorney who can stop the deportation.
Both kids are delightful. Daniel has a quirky sense of self-deprecating humor. He loves writing poetry. Natasha wants to study science, and thinks of everything in scientific terms. This a classic case of opposites attract.
I enjoyed the story. However, the story behind the deportation involves Natasha’s father’s appearance in the play A Raisin in the Sun, which I read earlier this year. It helped me to understand her father, as he is much like the son in the play.
The author also does a good job of showing both sides of the immigration story, with Daniel’s family being legal and Natasha’s being undocumented. She is a classic Dreamer, with intelligence and ambition, the kind of kid we should want in this country.
I enjoyed the book very much.
Linda McLaughlin
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It sounds like this would be a good book for young adults to better understand what a lot of dreamers have been experiencing because of politics. Thanks for reviewing.
Sounds like a very good story. Thanks for reviewing!
Immigration is an important part of life for so many young people, and adults for that matter. – Margy
So true, Margy.
I loved this book too, one of my favorite YAs! I appreciated how you placed the characters into our current political narrative.
So glad you enjoyed this book. I did, too. You would probably like Everything, Everything, also by Nicola Yoon. And perhaps her husband’s books (David Yoon) as well! I liked Frankly in Love. Loved this review!