True Biz is told from two perspectives, the first is February, a headmaster of a school for the deaf and a CODA (child of deaf adults). The 4 stars!
True Biz is told from two perspectives, the first is February, a headmaster of a school for the deaf and a CODA (child of deaf adults). The second is Charlie, a teenage girl born deaf and who has had a malfunctioning cochlear implant for much of her life. Charlie has hearing parents and only in coming to this school for the deaf does she get to learn ASL. February faces the possibility of the entire school closing down, coming to terms with that and also trying to do what’s best for her students. The result, a captivating slice of life story set in the halls of this school.
I really enjoyed this book, so much. It took me a little bit of time in the beginning to get into the pacing of the book, but once I got it I didn’t want to put it down. I thought the author did a great job at developing all her characters and the situations they were in seemed believable. I want to clarify that just because one of the characters is a teen, this does not mean this book is a YA novel, it is very much an adult novel. I thought the book presented the issues of the deaf community in a respectful and empathetic way, and I hope that people who read this book will change their previous (maybe incorrect) perceptions about the deaf community and its nuances for the better....more
Deaf Utopia is the personal memoir of Nyle DiMarco, a cultural icon of the Deaf community. He rose to fame after winning two reality show com 4 stars
Deaf Utopia is the personal memoir of Nyle DiMarco, a cultural icon of the Deaf community. He rose to fame after winning two reality show competitions America’s Next Top Model and Dancing with the Stars. Deaf Utopia is a glimpse into his life up to this point (DiMarco is still very young, in his early thirties) and it is a love letter to Deaf culture and American Sign Language.
I honestly can’t remember where I first heard of DiMarco, I didn’t watch his season of ANTM or DwtS, but I do recognize him as a famous celebrity. My mom is a coda, so anything to do with Deaf culture or ASL in books I am eager and happy to read so I picked up the audiobook version of this from my local library. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to DiMarco’s life and experiences, mostly his childhood and the antics and pranks he and his siblings and friends participated in over the years.
While I didn’t watch ANTM during DiMarco’s cycle, I was an avid watcher of the earlier years so I understood the format of the show and enjoyed learning more about Nyle’s experience. I definitely want to watch his season now that I’ve read about it. Same with DwtS I’ve seen other seasons of the show so I understand the format and also enjoyed those chapters. I do think there’s a lot that hearing people can learn from this book, that people can be more respectful of how they treat others they perceive to be different from them. Sometimes the book got a little bit repetitive but overall I really enjoyed and I hope more people pick up this book and read it. And I hope to see more from the author in the future, whether it be writing or film or more....more
This is my second book by this author and I’ve come to find that while she’s an excellent writer, I don’t always love her plots. I wanted t 3.5 stars
This is my second book by this author and I’ve come to find that while she’s an excellent writer, I don’t always love her plots. I wanted to read this book very badly because there’s a deaf hero in it and I’ll read anything related to deaf characters/ASL. I really enjoyed this book for the most part, the romance was really sweet and I love how the two main characters really respected one another for the time period. I did think the plot was a tad bit overdramatic with villains that were almost like caricatures. But this was a solid historical romance and I still would be willing to try more by this author in the future....more
A historical novel set in Martha’s Vineyard in the early 19th century, Show Me a Sign is about Mary Lambert, a young deaf girl in a deaf c 3.75 stars
A historical novel set in Martha’s Vineyard in the early 19th century, Show Me a Sign is about Mary Lambert, a young deaf girl in a deaf community on an island. On this island there are a mix of hearing and deaf people who live together and who all sign, unusual for its time. A strange scientist comes to the town to research Mary and her people, and he drags Mary into a cruel experiment.
I’ve mentioned this before, but my grandmother and great grandparents were deaf and I love seeing deaf representation in literature. I had never heard of this community on Martha’s Vineyard and I absolutely loved learning about it in this book and will probably read more about it outside of this book. I think this was a fantastic middle grade book, written very well and I’ll be recommending it a lot to families who visit my library....more
I found both main characters to be infuriating, the plot/story was all over the place. And I never thought I would hate a word, but I now haDNF at 52%
I found both main characters to be infuriating, the plot/story was all over the place. And I never thought I would hate a word, but I now hate the word "lumberjack". It was torture forcing myself to read, so I am quitting. ...more
Many of you don’t know this, but my grandmother and stepgrandfather were deaf. My parents and I are hearing, but I grew up around the deaf co 4 stars
Many of you don’t know this, but my grandmother and stepgrandfather were deaf. My parents and I are hearing, but I grew up around the deaf community and it has a very special place in my heart. What I loved most about this book was it captured very well what it is like to be deaf (as it should since the author is hard of hearing). When the characters spoke ASL, it was true ASL and not a hearing person thinking how deaf people speak.
This book made me miss my grandparents a lot. I wish my grandmother was still alive so I could give this book to her, she would have loved it....more
This book started out strong and then midway through kind of fell off for me. It's about a deaf teenager named Julia who likes spray paint ar 3 stars
This book started out strong and then midway through kind of fell off for me. It's about a deaf teenager named Julia who likes spray paint art. When there is a graffiti tag insulting her best friend she covers it up with her own art, and then gets expelled from her school for it. Now she's in a new school with no friends, one that isn't for deaf students so she needs an interpreter. Julia is having a hard time and doesn't fit in, and doesn't want to fit in.
I think Whitney Gardner nailed the portrayal of a perspective from a deaf teen because this book wasn't about that only, the story was more about fitting in at a new school and her struggles with her art and the illegal side of it. I also think Gardner presents interesting ideas and perspectives about graffiti versus tagging, the art side of it and the not so great parts.
Ultimately this book didn't work for me because halfway through I was a bit bored, and near the end I felt a lot was unresolved. I also stopped caring what happened with the characters which is sad because they started out the book pretty strong.
An arc was provided in exchange for an honest review
Loading...
