All the Blues in the Sky

New York Times bestselling author and Newbery Medal winner Renée Watson explores friendship, loss and life with grief in this poignant novel told in verse and vignettes.

Sage's thirteenth birthday was supposed to be about movies and treats, staying up late with her best friend and watching the sunrise together.

Instead, it was the day her best friend died.

Without the person she had to hold her secrets and dream with, Sage is lost. In a counseling group with other girls who have lost someone close to them, she learns that not all losses are the same, and healing isn't predictable. There is sadness, loneliness, anxiety, guilt, pain, love. Even as Sage grieves, new, good things enter her life - and she just may find a way to know that she can feel it all.

In accessible, engaging verse and prose, this is a story of a girl's journey to heal, grow, and forgive herself. To read it is to see how many shades there are in grief, and to know that someone understands.

Review

If you're looking for a story that offers hope in the midst of grief and shines a light on the road back to joy, look no further. All the Blues in the Sky is a gift ― Nikki Grimes, bestselling and award-winning author of GARVEY IN THE DARK and A WALK IN THE WOODS

Brief yet poignant vignettes drive home the immediacy of grief as well as the importance of remaining attune to one's emotions in this tender and heartbreaking interpretation of loss ― Publishers Weekly

Watson has crafted an achingly beautiful novel that masterfully captures the realities of loss. A heartfelt portrait of the complexities of grief and the indomitable human spirit ― Kirkus Reviews, starred review

About the Author

Renée Watson is a #1 New York Times bestselling author. Her novel All the Blues in the Sky won the Newbery Medal, and Piecing Me Together received a Newbery Honor and Coretta Scott King Award. Her books include the Ryan Hart series, Some Places More Than Others, This Side of Home, What Momma Left Me, Betty Before X, cowritten with Ilyasah Shabazz, Watch Us Rise, cowritten with Ellen Hagan, and Love Is a Revolution, as well as acclaimed picture books: Summer Is Here, Maya's Song, The 1619 Project: Born on the Water, written with Nikole Hannah-Jones, A Place Where Hurricanes Happen, and Harlem's Little Blackbird, which was nominated for an NAACP Image Award. Renée splits her time between Portland, Oregon and New York City.