Six Earlier Days

Every Day #0.5

by David Levithan

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.

Fans of Levithan’s books such as Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist, co-written with Rachel Cohn, and Will Grayson, Will Grayson, co-written with John Green, will not want to miss A’s adventures in Every Day and Six Earlier Days. 

Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy, Fiction, Short Stories, Romance, Contemporary, Novella

47 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 26, 2012

About the author

David Levithan (born 1972) is an American children's book editor and award-winning author. He published his first YA book, Boy Meets Boy, in 2003. Levithan is also the founding editor of PUSH, a Young Adult imprint of Scholastic Press.

Reviews

[Mario · Rating 5 out of 5]

If David ever writes a book that contains all A's days, I will read it in a heartbeat.

Such fun and fast read. I wished it was longer, though. Much longer.

[Virginia Ronan ♥ Herondale ♥ · Rating 4 out of 5]

”I try not to alter the lives I borrow for a day, but sometimes I have no choice. Or, more accurately, I am given a choice, and I have to make it. One way or the other.”

I really enjoyed reading those six earlier days of A.’s life because they posed a bunch of new questions and I think they made A.’s problems even more palpable. To lead a life like that must be very lonely and A. is always only just the guest. Yes, A. can “borrow” the lives of other people but what about A.’s own life? Is A. not allowed to want? To love? To have a family? To have friends? What a sad existence if all you can do is to live for others and never for yourself. I mean even the most altruistic people have something A. doesn’t have: Their own body and their own lives... So if anything to read those six earlier days only made me even sadder about A.’s fate! T_T

And I couldn’t help but wonder:
Would A. enjoy being a part of my family? Would A. feel loved if she/he would be in the body of my daughter or hubby for a day? Would it hurt her/him even more to feel that love and to know it’s not meant for her/him? It boggles my mind!

What a cruel existence never to belong to someone. Let alone to yourself. >_<

I’m definitely going to read the second book because by now I really need A. to find happiness! <3

[Joey Balbas · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars, actually. When I found out about this, I thought this would kind of explain why A is A. I mean, why A's life is like that-- taking control of a body for one day.

So ****Spoiler Alert,**** its not.

Its just A, narrating 6 typical days in his past life before he met Rhiannon.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I could read a whole book of all the days in A's life and not get bored at all. It's always so interesting to get a glimpse of all these different lives.

[April · Rating 2 out of 5]

After reading Every Day by David Levithan, I was like what? Coz I had so many questions, like, why A's life is like that? So after hearing that there's gonna be a prequel to A's taking-control-of-a-body-for-one-day i thought this would kind of explain why A is A. But seriously? It's just A, narrating 6 typical days in his past life before meeting Rhiannon. For me, this book doesn't add to anything. So don't bother with this. Lol

[Catherine (alternativelytitledbooks) - still catching up! · Rating 4 out of 5]

A perfect intro to A’s world with 6 quick character driven stories-can also be read as a standalone (although I doubt that’s the intended purpose here…)

Made me miss reading Every Day for the first time SO much…….😭

4 ⭐️

[Dylan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This didn't add any new information, but it was was still enjoyable. I really like A, and it was interesting to get snapshots of them growing up. I liked all 6 stories, and the writing was quite beautiful.

[Katie (Kitkatscanread) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was cute.
A few people's lives that A delves into.
We learn that not every life is perfect.
And the struggles of maintaining a particular life, even if you want to change it.
This has no effect on the story of Every Day.
It is purely what A goes through on a daily basis before he met Rhiannon.

[Hiba · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a way to start the year! I couldn't read the first book in the duology and ignore this small novella. And by the looks of it, it's going to be interesting.
A wakes up every morning in a different body, at a different place, and in this novella we had bits of what it's like for A.

[Isabel-Sophie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just love this idea. It's inspiring and heartbreaking to the same time.

[Laila Tarek · Rating 5 out of 5]

it's all so beautiful..

[mimi (depression slump) · Rating 3 out of 5]

What I liked most about Every Day was to "travel" in the lives of others to see the differences between one's own life and that of others, discovering what people do every day in their intimacy, how they see the world, what they would be able to change.

I liked to read about how A's life has changed over time: how it had to adapt to the lives of others, what it saw and understood in so many bodies and houses, how it suffered to let people go and things like that.

Very short, but a nice insight into its life before we knew "him".

↠ 3 stars

[Tee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Magic. Magic. Magic.
Just like in Every Day, every sentence in this prequel was pure magic.
"A" touhes my soul the way no other character can.
I need more days. I need infinite days. I even need days when A was a baby and couldn't speak. I just need to be with him. (It's a "him" for me. Don't know why.)
...And I need the sequel.
Dammit Levithan, you could at least tell us which year it will be published!
Magic. Pure magic.

[Douha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just to know 3 stars doesn't mean i didn't like it, no that's what i expected cuz it's just a novella or whatever to know how things work i love the concept even though it seems familiar, I'm so glad to have it in a book and i guess it's about that this person is devoting her/his life to people i hope in the other books he/she realized it and live this day as her/his own day not those people's day, although I'm not sur if this is the point but still this is how i see it..

[Ezgi T · Rating 2 out of 5]

Eğer Her Gün'ün bir parçası olsaymış bölümleri daha çok severdim.

Bu halleriyle bana çok gereksiz geldi. Yazarın, bölümlerde bahsettiği şeyleri anladım ama bunların ayrı bir şekilde olmasının, Her Gün'de başlatılan maceraya pek bir katkısı olmadığını düşünüyorum. Bazı kısımları okurken de bayağı sıkıldım. Eğer sadece altı gün olmasaydı, yani daha uzun olsaydı, sıkılıp bırakabilirdim sanırım.

[antonio. · Rating 3 out of 5]

i could read anything written by david levithan, his style is so good. i’ll give at this just four stars because i haven’t realized that i‘ve ended the novel after i read the last story! i was like whaaat? i need more!

[chelsea · Rating 3 out of 5]

this is making me look forward to book 2 in the series that i should have read many years ago

[♡Julalicious Book Paradise♡ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rating: 2.5/5

So this was a quick read. It was interesting, but it didn't make me want to know A more. It still felt like a lot was missing. Maybe I'm too hard on it or maybe I'm not, but it didn't work for me. It didn't make me want to continue the series more than before. I might just because I have the ARC of the second book, but it's not a series that worked for me.

[Scarlett · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a good little novella. Nothing revolutionary or extraordinary or anything that explains why A is the way he is, but it was still a good read. I liked the days that were in his childhood. Glad I read it!

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

The worst thing in the world would be to pretend t know the people whose lives I step through. They cannot be homes to me. They must be hotel rooms.

Levithan is revisiting A, the character he introduced us to in Every Day. I suppose this is a prequel that needs to be read as a sequel so you understand A, you can see, be, the six different people that A has chosen you to glimpse.

Again, such beauty. One day does not ever seem enough and to stay detached, to try to not disrupt, to always have to be thinking of the person you are squatting in and not yourself... I don't envy A.

"It's the secret smile you get from knowing that, somewhere, there is someone who is yours. Not in the sense that you own her, or control her. She is yours because you can say anything to her."

Too often we realize this too late.

"The desire to be heard is as deepply seeded as the desire to be loved. So much of the technology we spend our time on is geared toward this. For some people, it doesn't matter who's on the other end."

I want to hug David Levithan. I have since I met A, Nick, Nora... and now I want to meet all of his creations. I may even go back and find which Baby Sitter's Club books he wrote.

I'm a geek.. I'm nerd... I have no life.. but if not living means I can throw myself in a Levithan world, then I'm okay with that. I feel lighter after one of his reads.

[Aryn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was sort of nice, an extra six random days that belong to the life of A, from Every Day. It was six days, from the age of 7 to 10 to being a teenager. The younger days were intriguing, I wish he'd stayed there, written a few more days about that time in A's life.

However, the self and sexual identity questions raised by the main book were reiterated and made slightly more interesting. This was the pre-Rhiannon, pre-stupid love story, A. I wish there were a whole book of this, rather than just six days of it.

[Özlem · Rating 2 out of 5]

Her Gün'de A'nın nasıl bir varlık olduğuyla ilgili hiçbir şey öğrenmesek kitabı daha çok severdim. Yani ya tamamen ne olduğunu öğrenelim ya da her şey tamamen gizemli kalsın. Ki bu olmadı. A'nın varlığı hakkında küçücük bir bilgi edindik. Ben de A'nın ne olduğunun açıklanmasını istedim kitapta haliyle. O da olmadı. Bir de baktım ek kitap varmış illaki burada öğrenirim dedim ama yine yanıldım. A'nın hayatından rastgele 6 gün vardı. Hiçbiri pek de önemli değildi, sıkıcıydı, gereksizdi.

İkinci kitap birkaç haftaya çıkacak ve onda umarım, UMARIM, A hakkında daha çok şey öğreniriz.

[Aliyah Grace · Rating 2 out of 5]

"In Six Earlier Days, readers will discover a little bit more about how A became that someone" bitch where

[Zuzana Malá · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sice krátké, ale dokonalé <3

[Moonkiszt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Super short prequel to the larger series. Sets a baseline for some of A's reasoning in later books.

Helpful, but not as helpful as I hoped. I'm looking for the origination and reasons. I still have 2 books to go, so maybe that's ahead.

Onward and upward!

[Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

Initial thoughts: For 37 pages of one-shot accounts, this was a powerful story, and an intriguing lead into Levithan's "Every Day". I felt connected to each of the six accounts, and while it was a quick read, it left a powerful impression on me not only in the narrative, but with Levithan's rooted prose. Great single shot stories.

Full review:

I have a feeling this respective review will be short considering this was a short read that took very little time on my part, but I enjoyed immensely. "Six Earlier Days" is the prequel to David Levithan's work "Every Day" - the story of a teen named "A" who lives each day in a different body, moving from one point to the next. These six narrative accounts are a glimpse into "A"'s life before the events of "Every Day", and I have to give it to Levithan, he hooked me with each distinct narrative here. Each of the days brought very insightful observations into the lives "A" embodies for that single day. Whether it was the seven year old whose mother was controlling or the boy who got up a 4:44 AM every morning to work out. There was an attention to the relationships and interactions of the people "A" encountered that I really appreciated and worked well for the singular stories. It's an appropriate leading into the thematic and presentation of "Every Day", but I think it also stands on its own with the way it delves into each of the character's situations. And that's worth following in its own right.

I would certainly recommend it for those who liked "Every Day", who like Levithan's work, and for those who like short stories with a great eye for character and insights on their respective lives.

Overall score: 4.5/5

[Hari ~Brekker-Maresh~ · Rating 4 out of 5]

So beautiful, so amazing. I can't wait to read the second book. David Levithan's voice and style is just to die for. It makes you sort of melt and combine and love and feel and I just love it. <333

[Nancy The book junkie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rating: 3.25/5

Review coming soon!

[Jerecho · Rating 3 out of 5]

Its just six days earlier of the life of A... Just a glimpse of everyday different lives of typical teenagers of what they do, what they are and how they are in their day to day lives.

[Ada Nitu · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was so, so good.