TPL Teens

Review by Deborah, member of the Cedarbrae Youth Advisory Group

The book Every Day by David Levithan is about a character ‘A’ who wakes up in a different body everyday. ‘A’ has lived his whole life with specific rules. Never interfere in the everyday life of the person of the the body ‘A’ is in. Never get attached to anyone around the body ‘A’ is in. These rules have helped ‘A’ live life by being able to move on from the life of the previous day. All this changes when ‘A’ meets Rhiannon, the girlfriend of the body ‘A’ is inhabiting.

‘A’ starts to break the rules by using the bodies of whoever ‘A’ is in for personal benefit, something ‘A’ has vowed not to do. ‘A’ has never regretted not being able to stay in one body but after meeting Rhiannon, ‘A’ starts to wish ‘A’ could. ‘A’ learns what love is really about and what it isn't about. Loving someone means being able to make decisions that are best for the other person, not you. ‘A’ learns that just because of love ‘A’ couldn't forget about the people around him. ‘A’ didn't let the love for Rhiannon become blinding and push ‘A’ into putting someone else's life in danger. Just like when ‘A’ made the decision to leave Rhiannon because with ‘A’ she couldn't have a stable life, even when there was a way to stay in a body, but still chose to leave because staying means putting the soul of the body in danger.

Every Day is a book about that talks about love, not only between a guy and a girl but love between all genders. ‘A’ is a person whose gender is unknown and can be in a guy's body today and a girl's the next. ‘A’s love for Rhiannon did not waver because of the change in physical appearance. Rhiannon is someone who would consider herself straight but when ‘A’ came in a body that she wouldn't necessarily be attracted to she still tried to show the same amount of love. They both learned that love is less about physical attraction and more about personality and what is behind the physical appearance.

I recommend this book to every teenager, because although it is fiction, we can still quite relate the book to the things around us. It will help understand the point of love and help accept people in the lgbtq community. This book will help you understand what love should really look like. Although we can't always believe in love at first sight, it makes you understand that it is what you do after you feel the attraction that matters. Always ask yourself, ‘is it just physical or is it the personality that attracts.’ You will learn that if you truly love someone, their well-being should be your priority and if they also truly love you back, your well-being should be their priority.

If you are not a book kind of person, there is a movie version of this book now out in theatres, I would highly recommend this book and/or the movie.