Anna Sortino

ADeaf 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)

-Kirkus Review… (mais)

Digital audiobook performed by Elizabeth Robbins

From the book jacket: Lilah is stuck in the middle. At least that’s what having a hearing loss seems like sometimes – when you don’t feel “deaf enough” to identify as Deaf or hearing enough to meet the world’s expectations. But this summer, Lilah is ready for a change. When she becomes a counselor at a summer camp for the deaf and blind, her plan is to brush up on her ASL. Once there, she also finds a community.

My reactions:
I loved this book. Sortino is Deaf and passionate about seeing diverse characters portrayed in the media. This is her debut novel.

Lilah and the other counselors at Camp Grey Wolf are in many ways typical teenagers. They are looking for opportunities for their future, trying different approaches to future success, testing their wings with a few months of independence from parents. They enjoy a variety of activities – music, dancing, art, reading, cooking – and are eager to make friends, and even have a romance. But they are also dealing with the obstacles posed by the disabilities they have.

While the experience at camp is eye-opening and refreshing for campers and counselors alike, Sortino doesn’t shy away from relating real difficulties faced by the Deaf. A scene at a fast food drive-thru window is a perfect example. This really opened my eyes to the some of the challenges faced by the deaf and hard-of-hearing.

I listened to the audiobook, which was performed by Elizabeth Robbins. The irony of my listening to an audio version of a book about the Deaf was not lost on me. Robbins does a great job and I liked the way the producers dealt with those cases where a deaf character missed vital information because she or he could not fully “hear” what was being said. (In the text version, Sortino inserts blanks to convey that information is being missed.)… (mais)

Recommended: yep!
For a finding-yourself YA story, for a chance to learn a lot about sign language and deaf culture, for a collection of characters you can easily cheer for

Thoughts:
Y'all, this book taught me a ton, and that's always something I appreciate getting in a book. I am not deaf so I don't know much about the culture as someone who is involved in it is, and this was like getting a chance to learn more about it. And for the record, it's also just a cute story about teenage romance and figuring yourself out, but dang if it wasn't cute as heck. 😊

Some things it taught me about ASL and being deaf:
- hungry and horny are surprisingly similar in ASL 😳
- the whole body is used, not just hands or facial expressions, and it's a very movement-based language which feels so lovely
- cochlear implants are a thing, and are also a controversial thing for some deaf folks

It also both made me aware of and then challenged my belief that being deaf is bad or anyone who is deaf wishes they weren't. It's not something I've actively thought about before, but my natural reaction is kind of "oh poor you" because the idea of losing my hearing now would be very scary and require a lot of adjusting. But it's not like life is suddenly not worth living. xD Some people are genuinely happy to be deaf, like deaf parents having a deaf child and being excited to share their similar experiences and know just how to teach them. Of course this not saying EVERYONE would see things the same, but more opened me to the range of options instead of just thinking "deaf = bad quality of life."

Don't be fooled though: this had some really heavy scary moments, too. What made them so scary is that they were so terrifyingly believable in the way they escalate. Like you just know that this scene has truly happened before in life, probably many times, and I am sad to know that.

Teenagers are the focus of this book, and I felt that the ending appropriately reflected that. I feel like I don't often read books that end like this, but it was the right way forward for the characters.… (mais)

Lilah is thrilled and a little nervous to return to Camp Gray Wolf as a junior counselor, after having been a camper when she was younger. Lilah (17) passes as hearing, but with difficulty; she and her younger brother Max (11) were both born with hearing loss, but both parents are hearing, and the family didn't learn ASL. Lilah and Max both use hearing aids, and their parents want Max to get a cochlear implant.

When Lilah first arrives at camp, she struggles to keep up with fluent signers, and doesn't feel like she can embrace her Deaf identity; yet hearing Mackenzie, who's studying ASL and who makes videos online, irritates her (and naturally they are paired together). However, Mackenzie's online following becomes important when a tornado hits the camp and cabins are damaged, and they need to raise money for repairs (and to keep the camp going the following summer).

Lilah also enjoys a summer romance with Isaac, but they have a frightening encounter with a store security guard and police who don't recognize or respect their Deafness.

A headnote explains that italics are used when characters are communicating with sign, but it is not a literal translation of ASL.

Lilah seems a little young for seventeen, but the summer camp setting and the way all the campers and counselors interact - with and without hearing aids, CI, and ASL - makes for a good story.

Quotes

No one knows my deafness as well as I do. (first sentence)

...what if I struggle as much in the Deaf world as I do in the hearing one? (22)

"Deaf-blunt....Speaking your mind or emotions. Very observational comments because we are very observational people." (Ethan to Lilah, 167)

[The hearing world wants] us to adapt to them so that they don't have to adapt to us. (245)

"Miscommunication is a fact of life. We just have to deal with it more often than most people." (Ethan to Lilah, 248)

"We wouldn't know our limitations if people didn't keep telling us." (Phoebe to Lilah, 252)

My family has always treated hearing aids like glasses - the difference is, glasses are a corrective device, while hearing aids are only assistive. (286)… (mais)