GIVE ME A SIGN

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.