Take a story's temperature by studying its tone. Is it hopeful? Cynical? Snarky? Playful?
Quirky, Moony, Outsized
The quirk is strong with this one, folks. Grandma Sweetwine thinks certain fruits make you fall in love. Jude sneaks beans into people's pockets for "protection." Weirdest of all there's Guillermo, who "takes a long sip of water from a glass on the table, then spits it from his mouth onto the clay—gross!—then he works the moistened section furiously with his fingers…." (4.108) They don't teach that in art school.
Speaking of art, nearly every character—including Noah, Jude, Dianna, Guillermo, and Oscar—is an artist, and you know those types: they always seem to have their heads in the clouds. On top of that, all of them are, at some point, madly in L-U-V.
The mooniest lovesick artist of them all has to be Noah, who's gaga for his neighbor, Brian Connelly. After they meet, Noah spends hours drawing Brian's portrait. "I flip the page of my sketchpad, not wanting her to see what I've been working on: the third version of the copper-eyed, rock-collecting, star-gazing, out-of-control-laughing new kids floating in the sky with his green hat and his suitcase full of stars." (3.88) Third version! And trust us, there's plenty more where that came from.
Finally, pretty much everything about I'll Give You the Sun is outsized. When Noah and Brian finally kiss, Noah thinks, "Even as I'm kissing him and kissing him and kissing him, I wish I were kissing him, wanting more, more, more, more, like I can't get enough, never will be able to get enough." (5.304)
The author applies that same "more is more" philosophy throughout the book. You want a character who's an artist? Guess what, everyone isan artist. You want a love story? Love stories all around. You want emotion? Uh huh, here's literally all of them. The title is I'll Give You the Sun, for crying out loud. Not your typical b-day prez.
Guess it's true what they say: Go big or go home.