Everyone has always said I look like Bailey, but I don't.I have grey eyes to her green,an oval face to her heart-shaped one,I'm shorter, scrawnier, paler, flatter, plainer, tamer.All we shared is a madhouse of curlsthat I imprison in a ponytailwhile she let hers ravelike madnessaround her head.I don't sing in my sleepor eat the petals off flowersor run into the rain instead of out of it.I'm the unplugged-in one,the side-kick sister,tucked into a corner of her shadow.Boys followed her everywhere;they filled the booths at the restaurant where she waitressed,herded around her at the river.One day, I saw a boy come up behind herand pull a strand of her long hairI understood this-I felt the same way.In photographs of us together,she is always looking at the camera,and I am always looking at her.

~ Jandy Nelson

Jandy Nelson Death Family Grief Jandy Nelson Sister The Sky Is Everywhere

How could a mother who boils water for pasta leave two little girls behind?

~ Jandy Nelson

Jandy Nelson Family Jandy Nelson Mother Pasta The Sky Is Everywhere

Someone might as well roll up the whole sky, pack it away for good.

~ Jandy Nelson

Jandy Nelson Grief Jandy Nelson Sky The Sky Is Everywhere

You can tell your story any way you damn well please.Its your solo.

~ Jandy Nelson

Jandy Nelson Solo Story The Sky Is Everywhere

I have an impulse to write all over the orange walls- I need an alphabet of endings ripped out of books, of hands pulled off of clocks, of cold stones, of shoes filled with nothing but wind.

~ Jandy Nelson

Jandy Nelson Ending Jandy Nelson The Sky Is Everywhere Write

She's a sun-kissed beach girl who goes gothgrungepunkhippierockeremocoremetalfreakfashionistabraingeekboycrazyhiphoprastagirl to keep it under wraps.

~ Jandy Nelson

Jandy Nelson Girl Jandy Nelson Stereotype The Sky Is Everywhere