Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this book as an introduction to the Deaf community. I already had some knowledge, but I appreciated learning more and seeing different approaches to it. Also the call outs of the hearing population about how we ignore the struggles of others and expect everyone to act the same, was truly needed. Unfortunatly I found thw characters quite flat and the pacing didn't pull me in. There were some scenes that captured me, but for the most part it was just an okay story.

I can't explain how interesting and lovable this book was. I hadn't read a book with deaf representation, and I'm so glad I was given a chance to read this as an arc provided by NetGalley. It was very entertaining and fun to read but also very educational. I learned about so many different things concerning the deaf community as well as the struggles a lot of people face.
The camp scenery just made this book even more enjoyable as well as the cute romance and friend group.
It was the type of book you just wanted to jump into and live in.
This book did contain a side couple that didn't have much of a part in the story but they do go against my religion so I wanted to point that out.
A very well written story!!

A fantastic debut that follows Lilah throughout her summer at a sleepaway camp for those who are deaf and blind. While Lilah has a hearing loss, she doesn’t use ASL much being surrounded by parents and friends who do not sign and having hearing aids that help compensate. When she gets to the camp, her experience and mindset surrounding hearing loss quickly beings to change and with new friendships formed, Lilah also gets to experience love.

What I loved:
-Learning more about the deaf and hard of hearing community- from those who are born deaf and only sign, to those with hearing aids and cochlear implants. I loved the emphasis on how there is not one way to be “deaf”
-All the sleepaway camp nostalgia
-The friends to lovers YA romance was very cute and brought all the feels
-How the audiobook had moments where the speech was muffled to show how people who are hearing impaired may interpret spoken language

I cannot wait to share this with my High School students!!

Thank you Penguin Young Readers and PRH Audio for the ARC! Pub day: 7/11

I stopped reading this about 40% in. I really wanted to love this but it was just super repetitive and it seemed like the plot was going nowhere. The characters were pretty bland.

Give Me a Sign follows a deaf teen- Lilah- who has been struggling at home and school trying to get people to better understand her needs. A few months at a deaf summer camp opens her eyes to the possibilities of sign language, variations in deafness, and communication preference in the deaf community.

I was excited to come across this book as I’m always on the lookout for novels featuring deaf characters. I’m hearing and have been learning ASL for the last few years. I enjoy following deaf creators and learning more about the culture.

Pros:

-If you are curious about the deaf community and don’t have much knowledge of it to begin with, you will find this book very informative.

-It’s always excellent to see a new novel featuring deaf characters. They aren’t that common in my experience. I’m a librarian and I always struggle to find enough deaf-centered novels to put on display for Deaf History Month.

-This book is very straight forward if you don’t like a lot of hassle in your books.

I once heard John Green describe a book as a “novel of ideas” once. Where the book exists to share a philosophy, and as a result, the actual story can be lacking.

Unfortunately, I think that’s what happened here. Informative begins to jump over into “preachy” territory. It actively pulls you out of the story because it’s so obvious that the book exists to be more of an educational lesson.

The seemingly bullet pointed lessons take up so much time that we don’t get to know our characters as much as we’d like. The plot also has to remain very practical and feels like it exists in the background.

While the book often felt unbalanced, it was still a useful read that I’m happy is hitting shelves this summer. It has the potential to benefit to deaf and hearing readers alike.

*I received a copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.*

lilah doesn’t feel “deaf enough,” but at the same time is constantly reminded of her deafness in the hearing world. she decides to become a junior counselor at camp gray wolf, a summer camp for deaf and blind children that she used to attend when she was younger. she’s hoping to become more immersed in her community and get better with ASL, but to her surprise, she just might also find love.

i need more books with deaf representation!!! although i have two hard of hearing family members in my household, it’s still sometimes hard to wrap my mind around what they go through on a daily basis. i really liked how there were many bits of dialogue were cut out to show that lilah either didn’t hear what was said or didn’t recognize the sign. this really made me feel some of that frustration right alongside her.

i also really liked the discussions of how important the deaf community is and the controversy surrounding cochlear implants and listening and spoken language. there were also many instances that showed how inaccessible certain things such as drive-throughs and movie theaters can be, despite having easy fixes.

i loved the romance between lilah and isaac! it was so sweet to see how their relationship grew and how much they cared for each other.

though this was mostly a lighthearted book, there were heavier discussions throughout the book and one pretty heavy plot point about 3/4 through. i don’t want to spoil too much, but it involved a very negative encounter with the police. please take care if this is a triggering topic for you.

overall, i would highly recommend this book to any YA romance fan.

I’m a sucker for a teenage summer romance. Give Me A Sign has hard-of-hearing Lilah attending a summer camp for the deaf and blind as a junior counselor where it affords her the opportunity to figure out where she fits on the hard-of-hearing/deaf spectrum. She interacts both with campers and with other counselors, all of whom have different abilities and come from different life experiences. It gives her the chance to compare how camp life, with its Deaf culture, differs from her experiences in the hearing world. Then there’s her romantic attraction to Isaac, one of the counselors . . .

I found the narrative to be somewhat uneven. It starts out rather slowly and I had some difficulty getting into the storyline. Once Lilah gets to camp, the pace picks up, but even then the story recurrently gets repetitious as Lilah interacts with certain characters. Many of the characters are somewhat one-dimensional and I think the story would have benefited from being told from the perspective of some of the other characters instead of seeing everything through Lilah’s eyes. I did learn a lot about Deaf culture.

Give Me a Sign is a YA book about Lilah, who is Hard of Hearing. She wears hearing aids and knows some sign language, but she feels like she doesn’t quite fit into the Deaf world or the hearing world. When given the opportunity to work as a junior counselor at her old sleepaway camp for the deaf and blind, she begins her journey toward acceptance within a community. Along the way, she works to embrace her identity as someone with hearing loss, and she may have a summer romance too.

Thoughts: this was a fantastic YA read. I actually listened to the audiobook, and the narrator and editors did an excellent job translating sign language and Lilah’s gaps in hearing. This book has all of the components of a cute summer YA read: summer camp, romance, and personal growth. In addition, it educates readers about the various experiences of people who are HoH or Deaf. It was easy to connect to Lilah as a protagonist, and as a sibling to someone who is HoH, I feel I am walking away from this book with a greater understanding of the assumptions hearing people make, as well as the frustrations people who are Deaf or HoH manage in their daily lives. I will absolutely be recommending this book to my students in the future.

This is truly an amazing book. There is such an in-depth and well-thought look into Deaf culture and what is meanings to be Deaf or Hard of Hearing. I also think that how sign language was depicted in the text was really helpful seeing that the main character is learning sign language throughout the course of the novel. You get to see her stringing more sentences together and overall it was a really fun and interesting read!

As a sister to a deaf woman I really appreciated this book and the fact that it helped to spread accurate information on the deaf community. It’s so important. I really would have loved an epilogue showing the characters a few years later.

As the granddaughter of a deaf woman I can honestly say that I really appreciated the representation of deaf culture in Give Me a Sign. Anna Sortino does a great job of creating in depth characters and a beautiful plot line. I can’t wait for this one to come out in print because I will for sure be adding it to my shelves!

TWs: ableism, violence,

I normally don't read romance books set at summer camps since I find them to be a little monotonous compared to school/college settings (there's only so much you can do at a summer camp, after all). However, this book drew me in from the beginning. Lilah was such a sweet and well-written main character, and her frustration and joy felt so real. Her and Isaac's romance was *adorable*, and I loved Lilah's friendship with Phoebe and relationship with her brother. Though I am hearing, the deaf/Deaf and blind rep was so amazing to read!! I loved how Lilah explored her Deaf identity without it feeling like that was all she was. This was a perfect summer read and I am so excited to see what Anna Sortino writes in the future!

Lilah lives in a world that doesn't always work for her. She is hard of hearing and so trying to always read lips or having to ask people to repeat themselves. This has started to wear more and more on Lilah and sometimes she feels as if she is simply not Deaf enough. When she tells people that she is hard of hearing. people make assumptions that aren't accurate to Lilah experience. After getting a not-so-great report card, Lilah longs for the summer camp experience she'd had a few years ago at a camp for deaf and blind children. On a whim, she goes to the website and sends an email inquiring about a summer job. She is hired as a junior counselor and she thinks this will help her feel more in touch with the Deaf community. While at camp, she befriends the British lifeguards (neither deaf nor blind), some of the senior counselors, and makes a connection with one counselor in particular, Isaac. As the counselors come together to try to help save the camp, Lilah finds herself falling for Isaac and while she didn't come to camp for romance, it is definitely a great surprise. Anna Sortino wove a sweet romance, while acknowledging the difficulties that Deaf teens encounter. I look forward to reading more of her books.

📚Book Review 📚
Give Me A Sign
by Anna Sortino
Pub Date 7/11/23

Lilah is Hard of hearing since birth. She wears hearing aids but never feels a part of the deaf world or hearing world. Her younger brother is also HOH(Hard of hearing).

Lilah attended a deaf and blind camp a few years ago and is now going back as a junior counselor. She needs to brush up on her ASL (American Sign Language) because she doesn’t use it with her hearing parents. Lilah meets handsome Issac and crushes on him. He helps her with learning ASL, as do the other counselors.

This is a wonderful coming of age, teen romance, a peak into the world of what it means to be deaf, blind, low vision person and hard of hearing person. The struggles and challenges are real, but so are the many opportunities and abilities that come with the journey.

I loved this book. I have personal experience with some of these challenges. I recommend this to any adult, young adult or teen who wants to learn more.

Thank you @netgalley @annaksortino @randomhouse @penguinusa @penguinrandomhouse for an electronic book ARC (Advanced Readers Copy) in exchange for an honest review.

#annaksortino #givemeasign #deaf #hardofhearing #deafpride #deafculture #asl
#fiction #NetGalley
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All the summer camp feels, the summer romance and so many fun side characters I feel like I need a whole book series on this? That's the feeling I felt when I finished it, it's just so good the cozy campfire feeling somehow got transferred to this entire book and I never wanted to stop reading. It gave me such nostalgia of a summer camp I used to go to and now I have an urge to become a camp counselor. Anna Sortino you got yourself a major fan, honestly words cannot describe how fun this read was and it was right up my alley. if you're looking for a fun lighthearted summer read that also tackles important issues this is the best bet (plus the romance is like so cute and yk I'm a sucker for a cute romance)

A wonderful own voices story. I definitely enjoyed the summer camp; it felt almost exactly like the ones I went to as a kid - kinda beaten up but well loved. Some parts felt a lot more telling than showing as the MC brought up a bunch of problems with the deaf community which are very valid but more preachy? It's hard to strike that balance but sometimes it felt like she toed if not crossed that line.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC in return for my honest opinion.

As a hearing person, I loved getting to learn more about Deaf culture and see Deaf representation.
It was a great YA book about going to camp and learning more about your true self.
It is so important to read and see how our society isn't accommodating to those who are even just a little disabled. As a society we need to take steps to help accommodate for others.
This was a quick read and great for summer and romance.

With my past experiences with American Sign Language (ASL) and brief experiences with the unique Deaf culture, I was captivated by the fresh perspective presented in the young adult novel Give Me a Sign by Anna Sortino (G.P. Putnam and Sons for Young Readers, July 2023). This story revolves around Lilah, a hard-of-hearing teenager, who returns to a summer camp for the Deaf and Blind as a counselor. This experience immerses her in ASL and Deaf culture, offering her a new sense of belonging in her complicated half-hearing and half-silent life.

Like many Deaf or hard-of-hearing children of hearing parents, seventeen-year-old Lilah has primarily relied on lip reading and speech training, with limited exposure to ASL for communication. However, as her hearing further diminishes, she finds that she now struggles to connect with her friends and is falling behind in school. Seeking inclusion and a place in the world, Lilah takes a job at the summer camp to learn ASL and find friendship. As expected, her time at camp becomes a transformative journey filled with developing friendships, learning ASL, and becoming a part of Deaf culture. She also has a summer romance.

Give Me a Sign effectively opened my eyes to not only the wide diversity of hearing challenges and the beauty of the unique Deaf culture, but also to the very real challenges that Deaf people face in their daily lives and in crisis situations. For example, the novel sheds light on the lack of preparedness in most communities to provide ASL interpreters when a Deaf person goes to the hospital or interacts with law enforcement. The novel shows how basic patience tends to be forgotten when communicating with individuals who cannot understand. Although Deaf individuals are not facing the same issues currently in the news, such as the unjust reporting of young Black men in their own neighborhoods, they do experience discrimination and face challenges unique to them.

Although I appreciated the insight into a culture I’m not a part of, Give Me a Sign was not a favorite story for me. Lilah’s personal growth journey was satisfying, but from the beginning of Lilah’s summer camp experience, it was clear that the author was aiming to write a “summer romance” book. Although there was nothing even remotely inappropriate in Lilah and Isaac’s relationship, and it included just a bit of kissing, I personally felt that the development of a strong friendship would have been just as significant. Introducing the romantic element added drama to the story, but for me, it distracted from the core story of Lilah’s transition from feeling like an outsider to finding a sense of belonging.

P.S. On the cover, I think Isaac is saying “Exciting!” Lilah is saying “Right!” (Tell me if I’m wrong! I’m pretty rusty in ASL.)

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advance review copy of this book provided by the publisher via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Why aren't there more summer camp counselor novels?!? Camp Gray Wolf caters to teens with visual and audio impairments--deaf and blind kids, that is. Protagonist Lilah hasn't been to camp in years, but getting tired of what a struggle it is to not-quite get by in her mainstreamed life, she impulsively decides to apply to be a junior counselor, and even convinces her parents to send her younger brother, Max to go as a camper.

At camp, Lilah starts out just as frustrated trying to keep up with other counselors' fluent ASL, but she really wants to learn. She gets lots of support from fellow counselor Isaac, from whom she'd like a little more.

At the beginning of the book, we meet Lilah who is deaf and she sees some of the challenges she faces in the hearing world until we find out about a summer opportunity. Lilah decides to become a junior counselor for Camp Gray Wolf which is a camp for the deaf and blind which is an entirely new set of challenges.

While we watch camp through Lilah’s eyes, we’re also enmeshed in so many different people who have all different disabilities and the varying levels they come with. Of course, it wouldn’t be a camp book without a little bit of summer romance for Lilah as she’s starting to get feelings for another counselor.

Even though this book is a lot of fun, it does have some larger topics and subject matter I’ve never thought about. As someone who isn’t deaf, I don’t even have to think about these things which is a privilege. Even so, I feel as though this book tackles things such as the spectrum of deafness, accessibility, and how being in the hearing world can warp someone’s perception of you.

The commentary in this book also feels perfect for a YA audience, too. Whether you’re deaf or not, the book makes sure to focus on issues teens are dealing with such as romance, drama between friends, and trying to find your place. Honestly, it ended up being such an eye-opening experience for me and I hope this book ends up in the hands of those who need it and will appreciate it.

While I do think the pacing was a bit off and I would have liked to see a bit more romance, Give Me A Sign was a fun read so I can’t really complain. I think if you’re looking for a summer camp book, you won’t be disappointed with this one.