Six Earlier Days by David Levithan

Six Earlier Days by David Levithan

Release Date: November 26, 2012
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
Series: Every Day, Book 0.5
Rated: YA 14+
Format: Paperback (part of Every Day)
Source: Borrowed from sister
Buy: Amazon
Goodreads ● Website

In Every Day, New York Times bestselling author David Levithan presented readers with his most ambitious novel to date: Every morning, A wakes up in a different body and leads a different life. A must never get too attached, must never be noticed, must never interfere. 

The novel Every Day starts on Day 5994 of A’s life. In this digital-only collection Six Earlier Days, Levithan gives readers a glimpse at a handful of the other 5993 stories yet to be told that inform how A navigates the complexities of a life lived anew each day. 

In Every Day, readers discover if you can truly love someone who is destined to change every day. In Six Earlier Days, readers will discover a little bit more about how A became that someone.

I decided to review this one before I reviewed Every Day, because of chronological order. After finishing Every Day, which I loved immensely, I delved into this extra short-story featured at the back of the book. I don’t think it matters whether you read it before or after Every Day, but reading it after, after learning so much about A’s day-to-day life, it’s an interesting glimpse into A's life before meeting Rhiannon. 

The process is repetitive yet different day-to-day. This short collection travels through various stages of A’s life, from age ten to seven to sixteen. It’s absolutely beautiful and saddening to see the different lifestyles these children lead, with parents who love them and parents who are strict, to birthdays to just normal days. The last chapter of this collection was definitely the best, and I loved seeing the struggle that A is put through, particularly when it comes to the people who love the person A has inhabited.

This, being a novella, was a super short read, and I loved it, because after the gorgeousness that was Every Day, this was a much needed extra. Reading this made me feel even sadder than I did after reading Every Day, just because of how ephemeral A’s experiences seem to be. I can’t wait to dig into Another Day!

If you like this, try...

• Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn & David Levithan ● Goodreads