Give me a sign

Review by Booklist Review

Seventeen-year-old Lilah, who is partially deaf, applies to be a junior counselor at Gray Wolf, a camp for kids who are deaf and/or blind. She considers herself not "deaf enough" to feel at completely home in either the hearing world or the culture of the completely deaf, but she wants to improve her American Sign Language skills. Increasingly, too, she longs for the sense of belonging that she found as a camper at Gray Wolf. Though she sometimes struggles at camp, Lilah finds supportive friends and more, including a summer romance and a job offer to return next year. Written from Lilah's point of view, the first-person narrative is involving, particularly for romance fans. An intriguing aspect of the book is Sortino's sensitive portrayal of characters who are deaf in varying degrees and who manage communication in different ways. Scenes within the story show inconvenient and occasionally alarming problems that deaf people might encounter in the hearing world and how friends and relatives could help. A promising first novel for Sortino, who identifies as Deaf.

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.

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Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

Sortino celebrates Deaf culture and identity in this endearingly funny slow-burn rom-com debut. White-cued 17-year-old Lilah--who's hard of hearing and uses hearing aids--is tired of struggling to communicate with her hearing friends and parents, and being forced to live with her school's lackluster accommodations. Determined to brush up on her American Sign Language skills and reconnect with the Deaf community, Lilah takes a job as a junior counselor at Gray Wolf Camp, a Midwestern summer program for Deaf and blind children, which she hasn't been to since eighth grade. Once there, she meets Deaf, Latinx-cued Isaac, 18, whose playfulness and patience make Lilah's heart flutter. As Lilah navigates her initial anxieties surrounding camp drama, her new crush, and her reintegration into a Deaf community, she learns to embrace her identity. But when she realizes the camp is in dire financial straits, she fears that her new haven will soon cease to exist. Through Lilah's frank and sincere first-person POV, Sortino highlights a variety of Deaf experiences, exploring the community's pride and culture, as well as the trauma some Deaf individuals face in interactions with strangers and loved ones alike. An author's note contextualizes the use of ASL in the book's dialogue. Ages 12--up. Agent: Kari Sutherland, KT Literary. (July)

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Review by School Library Journal Review

Gr 7 Up--"Why didn't a kid like me get to be the main character?" Sortino asks in her author's note. So, she wrote that story herself. Lilah, 17, is experiencing "a Deaf identity crisis." She's headed back to Gray Wolf, a summer camp for the Deaf and Blind, graduated from camper to junior counselor. The relationships she forms--particularly with a certain young man--enable new journeys into understanding: "It's not hearing loss--it's Deaf gain." Debut narrator Robbins projects a notable range of emotional conversations and heated confrontations--difficult kids, a destructive tornado, even a violent arrest. To emphasize hearing challenges, producers cleverly replicate unclear exchanges with garbled sounds. Although the production opens with this explanation--"the author has recorded the sound of signed ASL dialogue to assist with differentiating signed from spoken dialogue"--Sortino's voice doesn't seem to stand out. VERDICT The author's words are unmistakable: "your deaf experience is valid…you belong."

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

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Review by Kirkus Book Review

A Deaf teen from the Chicago suburbs explores her identity at summer camp. Seventeen-year-old Lilah was born severely deaf. Though she's able to get by with hearing aids, FM units at school, and lip reading, she feels disconnected from the hearing world around her. Camp Gray Wolf, designed for deaf and blind kids, was the only place where she could use ASL and accept her deafness. But the rising high school senior hasn't been there since eighth grade. Feeling pulled back to the community, she applies for a counselor position. But camp isn't perfect either--her signing isn't fluent, and she feels like she doesn't totally fit in with the Deaf world. Readers will relate to and root for Lilah as she starts a summer romance with Isaac, a Deaf fellow junior counselor, and confronts her feelings about her own deafness. The author captures a common feeling for people who fall into the hard of hearing category: feeling like they are not hearing enough and yet not deaf enough. She also explores other Deaf experiences such as meeting condescending saviors and navigating scary interactions with the police. Secondary characters, including a Deaf family in which one member gets a cochlear implant and a child whose father belittles and all but forbids ASL, expose readers to experiences of deafness other than Lilah's. Lilah reads White; there is some racial diversity among the supporting characters. Readers will love this sincere Deaf coming-of-age story. (note on the text, author's note) (Fiction. 12-18) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

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A guy about my age is standing there in a blue baseball cap and a Cubs T-shirt that fits him perfectly. He looks like he be­longs in the team's dugout, although his hat has a cursive L on the front that I don't recognize. A small tuft of hair curls at his forehead. He has a warm-brown complexion and kind, dark eyes that are set on me. He's standing with his hands loosely clasped together, ready to sign, with a woven bracelet around his wrist, perhaps from last summer. My heart is racing, and I'm not sure if it's from lifting the bag or from realizing who helped me. "Thank you," I say breathlessly. " You're welcome, " he signs. He points past me and signs something else. I freeze. I want to answer him in sign, but I'm unsure exactly what he's asking. He gives a small shrug, likely knowing that I didn't understand, and walks around me to grab his backpack from his bunk . . . which is directly below mine . Of all the beds I could have chosen! At least he won't be able to hear me if I snore in my sleep. " Are you new this year? " he asks, this time mouthing the words a little bit, which I know is purely for my benefit. "Um, no," I say, begging my brain to remember any of the ASL I practiced. "Long time ago, I was here," I say and sign. "As a camper." " Wait . . . " He tilts his head to the side. His wonderfully ex­pressive eyebrows do a lot of communicating for him as he raises them and leans forward. " I think I remember you. Bug, right? " "Whoa," I say and sign. "Yes! You were a camper here, too?" I am certain I would remember him. " Yeah, and then -------- , " he signs. I don't follow most of his response, but he raises his hand from his chest to his head, signing that he's grown taller. " I look different, maybe. " "Oh right, good," I say and sign, nodding while my brain races to try to process more of what he signed. " Good? " he asks, his eyebrows raised and a mischievous glint in his eyes. "Good, as in, I think I remember you now, too," I say and sign quickly, cursing my limited vocabulary and feeling the blush rise on my cheeks. I stare down at his worn running sneakers that are caked in dry mud and laced with bright-green cords. " I'm I -------- , " he signs. "Sorry," I say, hoping that my frustration at my lacking ASL doesn't come across as overly apologetic. " Again, please. " He smiles and patiently spells out his name again. " I-s-a-a-c. " " L-i-l- " But my hand is shaking, and I mess up, jumbling my letters. I close my hand into a fist, take a brief pause, and start again. " L-i-l-a-h. " Excerpted from Give Me a Sign by Anna Sortino All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.

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