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All the Bright Places
Author:
Niven, Jennifer
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Class:
Fiction
Age: 14-19
Language: English
Demand: Average
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LC: PZ7.N643
Grade: 9-12
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ISBN-13: 9780385755887
LCCN: 2014002238
Imprint: Knopf Books for Young Readers
Publisher: Random House
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Pub Date: 01/06/2015
Availability: Available
List: $19.99
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Hardcover
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Physical Description:
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388 pages ; 22 cm
H 8.56",
W 5.81",
D 1.37",
1.0875 lbs.
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LC Series:
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Brodart Sources:
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Brodart's For Youth Interest Titles
Brodart's For Youth Interest: Popular
Brodart's Insight Catalog: Teen
Brodart's TOP Young Adult Titles
Brodart's YA Reads for Adults
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Bibliographies:
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New York Times Bestsellers List
New York Times Bestsellers: Children's Middle Grade and Young Adult Books
Publishers Weekly Bestsellers
Senior High Core Collection, 20th ed.
Senior High Core Collection, 21st ed.
Senior High Core Collection, 22nd ed.
Teens' Top Ten (YALSA)
Texas Tayshas Reading List
Young Adult Fiction Core Collection, 4th ed.
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Awards:
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BCCB Starred Reviews
Best Fiction for Young Adults
Children's & Teen Choice Book Award Winners
Horn Book Guide Titles, Rated 1 - 4
Kirkus Starred Reviews
Publishers Weekly Annual Best Books Selections
Publishers Weekly Starred Reviews
School Library Journal Starred Reviews
VOYA's 5Q Picks
Young Adults' Choices Reading List
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Starred Reviews:
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Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
Kirkus Reviews
Publishers Weekly
School Library Journal
~VOYA (Voice of Youth Advocates Magazine - Retired Journal)
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TIPS Subjects:
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Romance
Death and Dying
Psychological Fiction
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BISAC Subjects: |
YOUNG ADULT FICTION / Social Themes / Depression
YOUNG ADULT FICTION / Romance / General
YOUNG ADULT FICTION / Social Themes / Death, Grief, Bereavement
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LC Subjects:
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Emotional problems of teenagers, Juvenile fiction
Emotional problems, Fiction
Friendship, Fiction
Friendship, Juvenile fiction
Indiana, Fiction
Indiana, Juvenile fiction
Love stories
Suicide, Fiction
Suicide, Juvenile fiction
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SEARS Subjects: |
Friendship, Fiction
Indiana, Fiction
Love stories
Suicide, Fiction
Teenagers, Mental health, Fiction
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Reading Programs: |
Accelerated Reader Level:
5.3
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Points: 14.0
Lexile Level:
830
Reading Counts Level:
5.4
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Points: 21.0
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| Annotations |
| Brodart's TOP Young Adult Titles | 03/01/2015 |
| There is nothing Theodore Finch likes more than planning increasingly creative ways to kill himself, though he has yet to go through with the fatal act. Violet Markey has been obsessed with the future since her sister's death. A fateful meeting on the ledge of the school's bell tower changes two hurting souls when Theodore and Violet team on a project involving their state's so-called 'natural wonders.' 400pp. |
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| Starred Reviews: |
| Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books | 03/01/2015 |
| R. Gr. 9-12. After the car crash that claimed her sister's life, a guilty and grieving Violet is drawn to the top of the school's bell tower, possibly to jump. Fortunately, Finch is already up there; contemplating suicide is something of a hobby for him, if for no other reason that it reminds him that he's still alive. Finch talks Violet down and reverses the situation for the gossip mill so that Violet can be the hero who saved the weird guy's life. Partnered on a class project, they embark on a relationship that proves therapeutic for both of them, as Finch helps Violet overcome her fear of being in a car and taking risks, and she helps Finch realize that he's lovable. Their love story echoes that of Hazel and Gus (The Fault in Our Stars, BCCB 5/12), with Finch playing the manic pixie dream boy to Violet's moody intellectualism, but it's clear to readers that his mania is neither a choice nor a pose, and that what he calls being "asleep" is really a depressive episode on his undiagnosed bipolar roller coaster. His persistent fascination with famous suicides and suicide statistics provides ample foreshadowing as to where this is going, but to Niven's credit, the story never breaks sympathy with nor champions Finch's decision and thus ends up with a strong but subtle message that Finch's death is the result of a disease. Ultimately, the book, with narration that alternates between Finch and Violet, becomes Violet's story of survival and recovery, affirming the value of loving deeply, grieving openly, and carrying your light forward. KC. 383p. THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE UNIV. OF ILLINOIS, c2015. |
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| Kirkus Reviews | 10/15/2014 |
| Two struggling teens develop an unlikely relationship in a moving exploration of grief, suicide and young love. Violet, a writer and member of the popular crowd, has withdrawn from her friends and from school activities since her sister died in a car accident nine months earlier. Finch, known to his classmates as "Theodore Freak," is famously impulsive and eccentric. Following their meeting in the school bell tower, Finch makes it his mission to re-engage Violet with the world, partially through a school project that sends them to offbeat Indiana landmarks and partially through simple persistence. (Violet and Finch live, fortunately for all involved, in the sort of romantic universe where his throwing rocks at her window in the middle of the night comes off more charming than stalker-esque.) The teens alternate narration chapter by chapter, each in a unique and well-realized voice. Finch's self-destructive streak and suicidal impulses are never far from the surface, and the chapters he narrates are interspersed with facts about suicide methods and quotations from Virginia Woolf and poet Cesare Pavese. When the story inevitably turns tragic, a cast of carefully drawn side characters brings to life both the pain of loss and the possibility of moving forward, though some notes of hope are more believable than others. Many teen novels touch on similar themes, but few do it so memorably. (Fiction. 14 & up). 400pg. KIRKUS MEDIA LLC, c2014. |
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| Publishers Weekly | 11/03/2014 |
| Ages 14-up. Seniors Theodore Finch and Violet Markey run into each other on their school bell tower, contemplating what it would be like to jump. It's more dark-cute than meet-cute, which also describes the book. Finch thinks about suicide every day; Violet was happy until her sister died in a car crash. While Finch, aka "Theodore Freak," is a marginal presence in their high school, he's smart and handsome--a musician who, readers gradually realize, suffers from undiagnosed manic depression. Violet is equally smart, and as they traverse Indiana for a geography project, looking for "wonders," they flirt, argue, admit dark secrets, and fall in love. In her YA debut, adult author Niven (Velva Jean Learns to Drive) creates a romance so fresh and funny that it seems like it could save Finch; she also makes something she foreshadows from the first line surprising. The journey to, through, and past tragedy is romantic and heartbreaking, as characters and readers confront darkness, joy, and the possibilities--and limits--of love in the face of mental illness. Agent: Kerry Sparks, Levine Greenberg Rostan Literary Agency. (Jan.). 400p. PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, c2014. |
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| School Library Journal | 12/01/2014 |
| Gr 10 Up. Violet Markey is on the ledge of her school's bell tower, six stories up, and frozen in terror. Theodore Finch, the Freak, stands on the ledge nearby. Before she can panic, he calms her down and gets her back on solid ground. He even lets everyone think she's the one who talked him out of jumping. Violet, until recently, was a popular cheerleader and Finch has a well-earned reputation for being manic, violent, and unpredictable. But Finch won't let their encounter rest. He's suddenly everywhere Violet goes and even signs her up as his partner on a "Wander the State" school project. As the two drive around Indiana, Violet begins to see the lame tourist attractions through Finch's eyes, and each spot becomes something unique and special. He pushes and challenges the protagonist, and seems to understand the effect her sister's death made on her. But though Violet begins to recover from the devastating grief that has cocooned her for almost a year, Finch's demons refuse to let go. The writing in this heartrending novel is fluid, despite the difficult topics, as Niven relays the complex thought processes of the two teens. Finch and Violet, with their emotional turmoil and insecurities, will ring true to teens. Finch in particular will linger in readers' minds long after the last page is turned. Give this to fans of Rainbow Rowell's Eleanor & Park (St. Martin's Pr., 2013), John Green's The Fault in Our Stars (Dutton, 2012), or Jennifer Hubbard's The Secret Year (Viking, 2010). Heather Miller Cover, Homewood Public Library, AL. 400p. SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL, c2014. |
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| ~VOYA (Voice of Youth Advocates Magazine - Retired Journal) | 02/01/2015 |
| 5Q 4P S. One January morning in Indiana, two high school seniors find themselves on the ledge of the school bell tower, contemplating jumping for very different reasons. Finch, branded a "freak" by his peers, is fascinated with how he could take his own life to escape his neglectful family and the emotional extremes that send him into weeks-long blackouts and disappearances. Violet, popular and formerly ambitious, is stuck in a grieving rut following her sister's death in a car accident for which she feels responsible. Reluctantly pulled to Finch through their shared secret, Violet joins him for a school project that sends them exploring their home state. Their growing closeness pulls them from their depths for a short, optimistic, and happy time. But while Violet continues finding new reasons for living, Finch's own demons begin to drag him back toward darkness. In her young adult debut, Niven has created a lovely and devastating romance while also providing a realistic portrait of mental illness. Dually narrating, Finch and Violet are perfectly voiced. Finch's narrative conveys his highs and lows fluidly but distinctly. He is compulsively likeable and wearily unpredictable. It is also easy to slip into Violet's world, as she first walls herself up against any healing but finds herself unable to resist Finch's attempts to lure her out. Their families provide great emotional struggles for the reader, as they will root for the support Violet's family wants so much to give, while Finch's parents are at best blind to his plight, and at worst aggravating it. While many teen books wrap up too quickly, Niven takes just enough time with her denouement, allowing the reader to heal along with its characters. The book includes resources for teens struggling with mental illness or thoughts of suicide. Highly recommend this title, especially to teens who want to feel all the feels.--Liz Gotauco. 400p. VOICE OF YOUTH ADVOCATES, c2015. |
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| Journal Reviews |
| BookPage | 01/21/2015 |
| Comparing a new young adult author to superstar John Green is risky business. Fans of Green's work are bound to bring a certain set of expectations to their next read--expectations that All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven meets and even exceeds. Theodore Finch is the school freak. He can rattle off statistics about suicide as easily as literary quotations, and he's never bothered joining Facebook because he doesn't have any friends. His fellow senior Violet Markey is a frustrated writer struggling to redefine her identity and reframe her future plans after the car accident that killed her older sister. When the two teens find themselves working together on a geography project, they soon discover that there's much more to be learned on their "wanderings" than mere sightseeing. As Violet draws Finch out his shell and Finch teaches Violet to make peace with the past, their relationship seems headed toward long-term happiness. But some problems turn out to be too deeply entrenched to be solved. Told in alternating perspectives, this heart-wrenching, deeply personal novel includes lots of motifs familiar to Green fans, like road trips, physics metaphors and even references to unusual Indiana landmarks. Niven expertly crafts both of her narrative voices to reflect her characters' changing moods and perspectives, and she's at her strongest exactly when her characters are at their most conflicted. In the end, as the two travelers learn, life isn't as much about what you take as what you leave behind. Jill Ratzan. BookPage Yay! YA Web Exclusive Review. BOOKPAGE, c2015. |
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| Booklist | 11/01/2014 |
| Grades 9-12. Violet and Finch meet on the ledge of their school's clock tower, both thinking about jumping. For frenetic Finch, who constantly alters his appearance, suicide is often on his mind, and the barrage of bullying he receives, from his classmates and his own father, doesn't help matters. Violet, on the other hand, is in a daze after the untimely death of her sister. They don't jump, but their chance meeting leads to a partnership on a geography project visiting Indiana roadside oddities. Their friendship grows into a sweet romance, and Violet feels invigorated--she starts feeling engaged with her life and even takes up writing again, something she gave up after her sister died. Despite Finch's desperate desire, their burgeoning love is not enough to solve his wild, emotional ups and downs, behavior that's not called what it is--bipolar disorder--until very late in the novel. Niven's first novel for teens tackles a big topic with sensitivity (suicide-prevention resources are included), and teens will likely swoon over Finch and Violet's doomed oddball romance. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: With an author tour, a major promotional campaign, and a film adaptation already in the works, publishers are banking on Niven's YA debut to be a hit. Hunter, Sarah. 400p. AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION, c2014. |
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| Horn Book Guide | 05/01/2016 |
| 3. Theodore Finch, a moody "freak," and Violet Markey, mourning her sister's death, meet on their school's bell tower, both flirting with jumping. When they partner on a project to discover the wonders of Indiana, a tentative relationship begins. Told in distinct alternating voices, this novel will affect readers as much with its charming romance as with its heartbreaking portrayal of mental illness. keh. 389pg. THE HORN BOOK, c2016. |
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9780385755887,dl.it[0].title
| Review Citations |
| New York Times Book Review | 01/18/2015 |
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