Lilah is a counselor at a summer camp for the blind and deaf. I had a great time watching Lilah grow more at ease with herself. Lilah interacts with other campers, and I loved watching her become more approachable. I cherished the impressions of a summer camp, the memories of youthful romance, and the chance to gain knowledge of a society other than my own. The characters are well-written and well-thought-out, each with a distinct personality. The concept was better than the plot, but the characters' interactions made this story enjoyable for me.

Give Me a Sign by Anna Sortino is an endearing and heartfelt young adult novel that is sure to make an impact on all readers.

Give Me a Sign follows the story of Sarah Woods, a thirteen-year-old girl on the cusp of entering high school. Sarah has an extraordinary gift – she can see auras around people that allow her to understand the emotions of those around her. She is desperate to fit in with the popular kids and goes to extreme lengths to do so. However, as her popularity grows, Sarah begins to realize that appeasing the popular crowd isn’t worth jeopardizing her true identity, and she instead sets out to find her true self.

Give Me a Sign is told in a unique and powerful way that captures emotions in a way many young adult authors fail to. Though many of the characters are purely fictional, readers can’t help but connect with Sarah on a deep level as she goes through her struggles. The way each character is introduced is effortless, and readers quickly become invested in them, from the popular kids to Sarah’s longtime family friends.

Anna Sortino writes with such thoughtful eloquence that her sentences become the soundtrack of life as Sarah navigates her tumultuous teenage years. The language conveys powerful emotions with simple beauty, and Sortino showcases her raw talent in her writing.

Overall, Give Me a Sign is a remarkable book that any young adult or adult reader won’t want to miss. An unforgettable story of identity that’s sure to get readers hooked from the very first page. With hard-hitting topics like depression, anxiety, and alienation, this novel can help people of any age to understand the importance of self-love and acceptance.

A powerful contemporary young adult novel that explores deaf culture and identity. This provides a representation in deaf culture that is not often portrayed in young adult literature. Readers will relate with the Lilah and will root for her and crush Isaac. This is a coming of age story that I will recommend to readers of young adult and romance. Great debut from Anna Sortino.

Give Me a Sign is a wonderful gem of a book. The summer camp setting and atmosphere was nostalgic. The cast was diverse and there was a big emphasis on inclusivity, all of which I loved and appreciated. Reading from Lilah’s POV was an emotional roller coaster (in a good way). I felt as if I was able to get a glimpse into Deaf culture and experience what life might be like for someone like Lilah. I adored this book so much I preordered the hardback.

I absolutely adored this book, it’ll definitely be one of my new favorites this year.

I loved Lilah as the main character. We see her go through a lot of things. We see how she struggles to fit in with her hearing friends, but also with the other deaf counselors, since she doesn't know ASL very well and finds it difficult to communicate. It's easy to connect with her emotions and feel her insecurities as well as her joys, it's great to see her feel more comfortable with her identity and with herself throughout the story. We see her learn more about the language, but also more about the culture and shared experiences.

The entire cast is amazing, there is so much diversity and representation within the counselors, more than that, each character felt well developed and complex. Their dynamic was pretty good and at the end of the story everyone feels like family. The romance, of course, was great and a lot of fun. Isaac, the love interest, was so sweet and you can't help but fall in love with him too. I really liked the way their story wrapped up, it felt honest and realistic.

This book was not written to educate us hearing people, although I did learn a lot about how Deaf culture and how people find ways to adapt to a world that was not made with their needs in mind, it shows many of the situations in which they often find themselves and how ableism is so ingrained in our society and the consequences it has. Yes, this is a sweet and fun story, but it also delves into some more difficult but really important topics.

It’s so important to have stories like this. I cannot recommend this book enough and I am very excited to see what else this author has in store for us in the future.

CW: ableism, police brutality

Love how inclusive this book is and how informative it is to hearing people! I would 100% recommend this to all teenagers. It’s a slow and sweet coming of age summer camp novel.

I received an advance review copy for free via Netgalley and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I did not finish this one, it was not for me, I couldn't relate to the characters, and just did not care for the story.

Give me a sign is a swoon worthy book perfect for romance book lovers everywhere. Give me a sign is fast paced and has fun characters.

Firstly, as a member of the d/Deaf community, it was incredible to be invited into a world with so many layers and ways to experience deafness. I always wished I had a community like this when I was younger and I loved all of the camp; the energy, the chaos, the romance, the mistakes, everything.

This was such a lovely debut balancing themes of disability, identity, ableism, and violence with the perfect summer-y coming-of-age romance atmosphere. The characters were all complex and genuine and the writing style worked really well with the story being told. I'll definitely be looking out for more from Anna Sortino.

This is the first book I've read where a character is deaf. What a sad thought because this story was engaging, funny, and enlightening. The characters had various levels of hearing loss as well as vision loss which drove the story with funny incidents as well as serious ones. I liked that the story was just like any other summer camp experience with swimming, camp fires, and camp food.
I want to thank the author for writing such a thoughtful and educating book.
And a big shout out to RIT - they are in my neighborhood!
Enjoy!

Give Me a Sign by Anna Sortino is a sweet teen romance story. In addition, I think this book is excellent for assisting the hearing community to have an understanding of what it is like to be hard of hearing / deaf. I read the book first and then listened to it because I thought that would give me a better feel for what the deaf characters were going through since when I read it there were parts where the sound cut in and out, but with hearing it the feeling really hit home. I work in special education and order hearing devices, amongst other items, for students, yet have never really considered what it would be like to not be able to hear partially or completely. The story centers around Lilah working at a summer camp for kids with various disabilities and her difficulties in fitting in at first (she doesn't know much ASL), but also her great relief at being in a place where she feels fully accepted. I never went to sleepaway summer camp so reading stories set in them are fun for me since I get to feel a part of something I never was able to participate in when I was a teen. I would highly recommend this book to everyone!

Give Me a Sign by Anna Sortino is a YA summer romance that takes place at a summer camp for the deaf and blind. The main character is a girl who is hard of hearing and wants to improve her ASL and immerse herself in deaf culture. So she decides to work at the summer camp that she attended as a camper when she was younger.
Because the book is narrated by this character, we get to experience the world through her eyes and ears – missing words in spoken conversation but also later in ASL when she arrives at the camp.
At times, this book felt very informative, like it was trying to make sure to discuss every point of view from the d/Deaf community and to dispel myths head-on. On one hand, I get it because there’s not enough representation of this community to be sure people have certain language or know about different types of scenarios. But occasionally, it did feel a bit clunky in its delivery.
Overall, though, I really enjoyed this book. The representation was great, and I loved the summer camp vibe. It made me nostalgic for the summers I spent working at a summer camp as well.

Lilah is 17 and hard of hearing. She lives in a world of hearing people and doesn’t have a lot of support to engage with deaf culture or community. But an opportunity arises to go back to a camp designed for people who live with varying degrees of vision and hearing impairment she takes a chance.

Ooft this book is CUTEEEEEEEE!! It’s a classic American summer camp coming of age romance story with a disability lens included. This book is own voices and all round adorable! My latest favourite YA!

4.5 stars

- thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an arc to review!

- a warm debut about what its like to be Deaf/ Hard of Hearing, and finding those who give you a sense of belonging. Sortino conveys her characters with generosity and warmth, and her writing style makes you feel like you're being hugged. a cute contemporary that you all should read!

Give Me a Sign
Anna Sortino
Thank you to NetGalley for providing me an ARC in exchange for an honest review. I loved this story of a girl who always feels left out because of her hearing loss. Since she isn’t fully deaf, she is not always accommodated and misses out on classwork and social aspects of life that make it difficult for her to fit in and succeed. By chance, she is hired as a junior counselor at the summer camp for the deaf and blind that she attended as a child. For the first time, she feels like she belongs.
What worked:
1. The first chapter portrays Lilah’s average day so perfectly for the reader. It was frustrating to read about the many ways Lilah was inadvertently left out.
2. The camp was such a special place. It was illuminating to read about the rivalries among the counselors and the underlying antagonism they carried due to preconceived notions.
3. The counselors and campers were excellently crafted. They all endured difficulties and learned to understand each other.
4. Isaac, the Deaf counselor, is a multifaceted character whose identity outside camp is symbolic of the way places like the camp community bring out parts of people that are often squashed in society.
5. I liked that Lilah wasn’t perfect and made mistakes that many young people make.
6. The author presented the struggles and triumphs of a population that is often left out in books. Sortino wrote an author’s note explaining that she wrote the book because there was little representation of the Deaf in literature.

I would love to read more about the other characters or catch up with Lilah and Isaac in a future book.
I highly recommend this novel.

I thought this was a beautifully written and well represented story. The variety of characters was wonderful to see when giving insight into deaf culture.

I read about half the book when I received it from NetGalley but I wasn’t completely motivated to finish. I enjoyed the premise and story but couldn’t put my finger on why I didn’t want to pick it up. I wasn’t sure if I’d finish. I put the audiobook on hold through my library and when it came, I listened. I was hooked immediately. I preferred hearing what Lilah was hearing (and not hearing) as opposed to reading about it (with blanks in the type for words she missed). Putting the listener in her shoes felt more effective. I definitely recommend the audiobook over the text and really enjoyed the book. I liked how both sides of cochlear implant discussion was present. The hard scene of a misunderstanding going too far due to multiple characters’ deafness was well-written. Having been a fan of Switched At Birth tv show, this book was a joy to read. Thanks NetGalley for an early copy to read.

What a wholesome, refreshing, and necessary take on your classic summer romance novel. From the moment I started this book, I knew I would love it. Although I’m not a part of the deaf community, I think any reader could relate to Lilah because of how real her struggles with just being a teenage girl are, and it makes the cheesier scenes reflect well on her endearing nature. She grapples a lot with feeling caught between the hearing and hard-of-hearing world - something people from other marginalised communities experience in all different ways. I’m Asian American for example, and I found the pulse of many of Lilah’s conflicts to parallel my own, in a different context. The most interesting part to me, as a linguistics nerd, was definitely the illustration of how ASL utilizes the whole body. ASL is often commodified into a few simple signs or simplified into the ABCs of the language, which is basically the equivalent of spelling out words verbally every time you speak. Sortino succinctly shows the meaning and depth behind what it means to have “Deaf Pride” and to celebrate deaf culture. At the heart of it all, Lilah’s story is one of self-acceptance, communication, and pride - values all readers will relate to. I can’t recommend Sortino’s debut enough.

3.5 Stars

Give Me a Sign by Anna Sortino is a heartwarming read about community that is set at a summer camp. Following a camp counsellor who feels caught between Deaf and hearing worlds, this one contains a realistic main character and a nuanced exploration of Deaf culture. Those who are looking for a sweet and thoughtful summer romance will not want to miss this one.

As someone with hearing loss, Lilah struggles to fit in at her hearing school, but at the same time, she doesn’t feel “Deaf enough.” When she becomes a counsellor at a camp for Deaf and blind children, the same camp that introduced her to Deaf culture when she was younger, she finds a community and reunites with an old friend who helps her with her ASL. In the face of a few challenges thrown her way and her fear of not fitting in with the others at the camp, Lilah learns to embrace who she is and become more comfortable with her own identity.

I really enjoyed Lilah’s character and the ways she changes throughout the book. As she struggles to fit in with her hearing friends, she decides she’s ready for a change, but she still experiences some fear of not feeling at home at camp. These insecurities make her realistic, and I enjoyed watching her slowly become more comfortable in her own skin. Because her time as a camper was so empowering for her, Lilah is determined to be a role model for her own campers, and the scenes with her teaching a reluctant ASL learner to embrace the language and the culture are particularly heartwarming.

One of my favourite parts about this book are the conversations about Deaf culture. Throughout the book, Lilah feels as though she’s a burden to her hearing friends, and I enjoyed the message about the need for better accommodations in hearing culture so that hearing loss isn’t seen this way. There’s also a character who isn’t Deaf but makes money off of Deaf culture through her YouTube ASL videos, and the conversations about the need to uplift Deaf creators add more nuance to the story. I did feel like some of the messages are a little heavy-handed and can come off as preachy, but I still appreciated the inclusion of these important topics.

Give Me a Sign by Anna Sortino is an uplifting story about finding one’s community. I enjoyed watching the main character flourish at camp, and the messages throughout the book add another layer of meaning. This is a great read for those who enjoy a camp setting and books about identity.