Published: 2023
Series: N/A (Standalone)
Author: Anna Sortino
Illustrator: N/A
Genres: Realistic Fiction, Contemporary Fiction, Young Adult, Romance, Disability
Audience (Grade Levels): Teen (Grades 7-12)
Number of Stars: ⭐⭐⭐ (3/5 Stars)
Goodreads Link: Give Me a Sign
Triggers: Police brutality, underage drinking
Review By: Lindsay Cesari
Publisher’s Summary:
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 Lilah 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. There are cute British lifeguards who break hearts but not rules, a YouTuber who’s just a bit desperate for clout, the campers Lilah’s responsible for (and overwhelmed by)—and then there’s Isaac, the dreamy Deaf counselor who volunteers to help Lilah with her signing.
Romance was never on the agenda, and Lilah’s not positive Isaac likes her that way. But all signs seem to point to love. Unless she’s reading them wrong? One thing’s for sure: Lilah wanted change, and things here are certainly different than what she’s used to. In her sweet and swoony debut, Anna Sortino delivers a poignant coming-of-age story and a revelatory exploration of Deaf culture, its vastness, and its beautiful complexities.
Review:
This title’s representation of the deaf community is its biggest strength. For readers unfamiliar with deaf culture, the book does an excellent job highlighting issues like cochlear implants, healthcare language barriers, difficulties with the education system, and deaf pride – even if it feels a little too didactic at times. I especially appreciated the very timely discussion about digital creators who aren’t deaf teaching ASL on social media platforms. The audiobook version uniquely uses sound: when the main character can’t clearly hear a conversation, the audio is garbled, leaving gaps in the narration that successfully reflect Lilah’s experience. The audiobook production also includes the sounds of signed dialogue – although I appreciate this attempt to honor how the scene would sound in real life, and I hate to criticize this aspect, the signing came across as static and distracted from the listening experience. At times, I felt the plot dragged, but then towards the end, there’s a really dramatic scene – I’ll avoid spoilers, but I wish this event was more of an inciting incident that occurred in the first half of the book, as there was a lot to explore here. I also found all the underage drinking weird – fake IDs and camp outings to bars planned by the camp director that leave the underage counselors without anything to do – it didn’t feel like an accurate reflection of reality. I had trouble clicking with the main character and only felt a superficial attachment to her experiences. Overall successful, but for me it wasn’t a page-turner.
Classroom & Curricular Connections:
- Health & Social Studies (Deaf Culture and Accessibility): Use Lilah’s experiences to introduce a unit on the history of Deaf culture, Deaf pride, and the social model of disability. Students can research and debate the socioeconomic barriers highlighted in the book, such as healthcare language gaps and inequities within the public education system.
- Media Literacy / Digital Studies: Address the reviewer’s point about social media creators. Have students research the ethical implications of non-Deaf creators teaching American Sign Language (ASL) on platforms like TikTok or Instagram. Discuss cultural appropriation versus appreciation and the importance of centering native signers.
- English Language Arts / Creative Writing (Pacing Analysis): Address the reviewer’s note about the late-breaking dramatic event. Have students analyze the traditional plot arc (inciting incident, rising action, climax). Task them with outlining a rewritten version of the novel where this event happens in the first half, exploring how it changes the character development and pacing.
- Acoustic Engineering / Auditory Extension Activity: For classrooms utilizing the audiobook edition, explore the technical implementation of “garbled” audio to simulate hearing loss. Have students discuss how auditory storytelling choice bridges the gap between text and lived experience, evaluating its effectiveness.
