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3.5/5
Non-Fiction
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Rating: 3.5/5
Pages: 320
Started: 21 October 2023
Finished: 21 October 2023
Summary:
Lilah, a rising high school senior living with hearing loss, has never been sure where she fits into the Deaf community. She's hearing enough that, assisted by hearing aids and lip reading, she can usually understand most of a conversation, but she's deaf enough that she needs accommodations and is constantly frustrated with how the world is not built for her. When she applies for a junior counselor position at a summer camp for the deaf and blind, she hopes for a summer of fun surrounded by understanding people who might help her become more proficient in ASL--she has no idea how profoundly a summer spent in a primarily Deaf community will impact her.
Thoughts:
This was a really cute book. The writing was a bit plain, as were the characters and romance, but the representation of Deaf culture was really powerful. Lilah experienced so many things that I'd heard Deaf creators online, or my Deaf teacher, talk about, but getting to essentially live through the frustration of existing in an unaccommodating world was really impactful. The characteristically YA, open narration style augmented that impact, even if the writing was a bit too on-the-nose for my taste at times. The community in the book was also really sweet, and very fun to read. I love a good summer-camp found-family group, and Anna Sortino definitely nailed that in this novel. Overall, I think this perspective this book shared was really valuable. As someone currently learning ASL, having such a window into a Deaf person's perspective gave me a lot to think about (and a lot of ideas of what I should never, ever do). I would I highly recommend this to anyone curious to learn more about the Deaf experience, or anyone who likes a cute summer-camp rom-com.