I haven't read Anna Sortino's first book "Give Me a Sign" yet, but thought I should give this one a try since I had heard such amazing things about her YA debut novel. "On the Bright Side" was cute and pretty deep for it being a YA title, but I appreciate that a lot - that so many YA titles go more into depth again now. Ellie and Jackson's story was full of challenges and how to overcome them or how to keep believing, making the best for oneself while finding out what they want from life and from their relationship. Since I'm learning the German sign language right now, this book was perfect for me to get more information on people depending on sign languages and how the people around them can be supportive, but also some aren't.

I thought it was a cute book and is well-suited for more mature audience. Also, I listened to the audiobook for this one and really adored both narrators.

3.5/5 Stars

Ellie's Deaf school has just been shut down, causing her to have to move back home to her hearing family. She starts her senior year at a mainstream school and is paired with Jackson, who is asked to help her settle in. Jackson has also been struggling with problems of his own concerning his health. At his last soccer game, he costs the team the match when his legs give out unexpectedly. As Jackson gets to know Ellie, he realizes that she is his safe space when it comes to his heightening symptoms.

I enjoyed Give Me a Sign by this author, so I was excited to pick up another of their books. I thought this was a cute romance between Ellie and Jackson. I thought they were very sweet together, and I like how they learned to trust one another as they got to know each other. I definitely liked Jackson's character more then Ellie. At times Ellie rubbed me the wrong way, and I thought she was quite rude to multiple people in her life. I do understand her frustration with her sister and parents, which were very valid feelings... but I do think that if she had sat them down sooner and told them how they were making her feel the issues could have been resolved much sooner for her. I really liked Jackson's character. I can only imagine the confusion and devastation he must have felt when his symptoms started appearing and not know what was going on with his own body. I like how Jackson leaned on Ellie and found her to be a source of comfort when he was trying to navigate his new disability. I think the conversations they had around disability were amazingly done, and I really liked that aspect of the story.

A sweet story with a deaf main character, Ellie, who is growing up in a hearing family. When her special boarding school (for the deaf and hard of hearing) closes, she has to move home and go into a regular school. The counselor at her school has Jackson pair up with Ellie to help her get settled into her new school. And of course you know that they will end up together. This is the second book I've read from this author and it won't be the last.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me early access to this book! It was downright lovely. Anna Sortino is an author to watch for her ability to make the most heartwarming stories with characters who are so easy to care for.

On the Bright Side is a fantastic book that depicts what it's like for a teen girl who is deaf and grows up in a hearing household. When the school for the deaf she attends is closed, our main character is forced to move back home and attend a normal public school. Through this story we see the challenges she faces both at home and at school as she adjusts to a new life. In the midst of this, she meets a boy who seems to be the only one who truly understands her. This is a sweet book that also opens the readers eyes to what it's like to live with a hearing disability.

It was such a cute story. It was easy to care for the two protagonists and embark on their journey. Their perspective was different, but realistic and the way they supported each other throughout the whole book was great. We need more books like this one where teens can identify themselves and embrace their uniqueness. Would definitely recommend to my students.

I read Sortino's Give Me a Sign and loved it so I had some high expectations for this one, and it did not disappoint! I love the characters and how we were really able to see them grow in this books. Also great representation! I bought this book for our collection, and it's been checked out ever since!

This title is a sweet coming-of-age story that centers a deaf main character who struggles to finish high school after her school specifically for deaf and hard-of-hearing children is closed due to lack of funding. I appreciated getting to know Ellie and her personality shines on the page. I had the pleasure of reading Anna Sortino's debut novel Give Me a Sign last summer, and I got the same feel good energy from On the Bright Side. I will always be happy to read and review this author's work!

Wow. This book will make you feel so many things! I requested this book because I'm an ASL interpreter with a lot of work in schools so I try to get my hands on any books with Deaf/Hard of Hearing characters. Ellie's part of the story was gut-wrenching, from losing her community at the Deaf school to navigating life in a hearing family and school. I loved the student perspective with her two interpreters as well. Jackson's story line was equally eye-opening and tear-jerking as he struggles to find a new normal for himself as well. Their high school romance was so sweet to watch develop and felt very genuine.

"On the Bright Side" by Anna Sortino is a heartwarming and uplifting novel that skillfully balances humor with touching moments of personal growth. Its relatable characters and engaging narrative offer a refreshing and feel-good reading experience.

after reading give me a sign last year, i was really looking forward to sortino’s next release. if i knew one thing, it would pull at my heartstrings and it would have amazing disability rep. and i was not disappointment in those aspects when i read on the bright side.

here, we follow ellie, a teen girl who’s the only deaf in her family, struggling to adjust to a new school her senior year. and jackson, a soccer playing teen, who’s life begins to change before his eyes as he undergoes a diagnosis of a lifelong disability. together, they both grow and learn, and learn to love one another despite their hardships and any communications they may have since jackson doesn’t know sign and ellie’s hearing aids + cochlear implants can only go so far.

i truly loved seeing their story lines, ellie, learning to navigate living at home again for the first time in five years. adjusting to a hearing school. and trying to immerse herself in as much of a deaf culture as she’s able to. now, as i have and will continue to say, i am not deaf. nor do i know anyone direclty who is. so i won’t comment specifically on the accuracy of the rep. but what i can say, is that i truly feel for ellie. she spends a lot of the book trying to get her family to even somewhat communicate in a way that she can process, without much luck. often leading to arguments and coldness. i loved seeing ellie grow in her confidence, in having her community. to the point where she was able to start to have that open communication with her family. and i’d like to think that someday in their future, her parents are learning ASL and doing all the right things.

i don’t know if i loved ellie’s or jackson’s story more. i think possibly jackson, just because his diagnosis odyssey just hit so close to home. i can deeply understand jackson’s sheer relief when there’s just an answer for his problems. that he can know why the reason’s his body may have failed out on him. while it was tough at times to read him get his MS diagnosis, i know that his story is invaluable to share. i don’t have MS either, although i do deal with a lot of symptoms he does. so i can truly understand the difficulty when your body shuts down on you to the point of being bedridden. to me, his story felt so authentic to the chronic illness/pain that i, and many others, deal with. and i appreciate that despite his parent’s apprehensive feelings towards medical care that they did not stop him from getting the treatments he needs. it’s a good was to show how jackson deserved his own agency for his health, regardless of how old he is at diagnosis.

and of course, as much as i adore ellie and jackson separately, i adore them even more together. following their relationship grow. from the very messy bits, to the sweet and beautiful ones. i think they show each other that when you care for the person, you will stick with them through the difficult times. whether that means, from literally being bedridden with pain and fatigue. i truly loved seeing them have the chance to work through their difficult emotions separately when needed, and together when requested. truly, what we all need!

clearly, i really enjoyed this one. and i highly recommend this one, especially to understand the difficulties of undergoing a diagnosis for a chronic illness. jackson was “lucky” to be diagnosed so early in his odyssey. but it does truly show how long it can take, like when he was turned away at his first urgent care appointment. i think it’s so insightful, while also having an escapism feeling through their budding romance.

it had it’s moments that were questionable (ellie and her ex storyline mostly. and i also wish liam’s character was addressed). but overall i think this is a lovely little book.

I greatly enjoyed Anna Sortino's debut novel, Give Me a Sign, so I was quite excited when I saw she was publishing another book. And I'm thrilled to say that On the Bright Side exceeded my (already high) expectations.

What I loved:
- Both POV characters: Ellie and Jackson are well-rounded protagonists who demonstrate tremendous growth, both as individuals as well as in their relationship, over the course of the book.
- The disability representation: Sortino writes from her own experiences as a Deaf author with MS, and the way she writes about advocacy, ableism, and care with authenticity and honesty.
- The relationship arc: Ellie and Jackson's relationship faces tests that one might expect a HS couple to endure (miscommunication, an ex-partner, judgmental parents), but they also face challenges that one might not expect someone so young to have experienced (a life-altering diagnosis). This made for such a compelling and emotional story, and one that I was fully invested in.

Thank you to NetGalley for my advanced reader copy.

Ellie's Deaf boarding school is shut down, so she has to move home to attend public school. Her family wants her to be "normal" and won't accept that she needs accommodations to participate in their family discussions. The school pairs her up with a buddy to help her get around the school, and while she and Jackson become friends, he is dealing with a crisis of his own. I really loved the relationship between Ellie and Jackson. I was so frustrated for her when she was dealing with her family and was happy she found a community of friends to help her navigate her relationship with her parents. This was a great YA read!

“On the Bright Side” by Anna Sortino is a coming-of-age novel about Ellie, who is hard of hearing, and the obstacles that can present in her life as a teenager going through high school.

Ellie’s been away at a special school that helps those who are deaf. When it closes, she returns home and has to navigate living with her parents once again, in her senior year, who are less than accommodating to her lifestyle and the assistance she needs. Now, at a normal high school, she’s given an ASL tutor who follows her to her classes to translate the lectures and is encouraged to join the ASL club.

Then, she meets Jackson, who is assigned to help her get acquainted with the school and brings her along into the campus life before Jackson gets his own diagnosis and has to adjust and decide what’s next in his life.

The two are able to work together to help one another, defy the expectations their parents have put on them and find a found family in their disability community. It’s going above and beyond to show those around you that you care and if you want to, you will.

I enjoyed this story. It was well-written, moved along nicely and I loved the representation and disability advocacy that was shown throughout. About midway through, I wasn’t sure how it was going to tie up, and I didn’t always agree with Ellie’s decisions but she is, after all, a teenager, dealing with the challenges of life. But, it found another direction and kept moving forward. I feel like I learned a lot and it’s especially relatable to those in their teen years, and would recommend to those in their teens/young adult phase.

I give it ⭐⭐⭐⭐! Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group/Penguin Young Readers Group (G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers).

#NetGalley #OnTheBrightSide

Anna Sortino is quickly becoming my new favorite author.
I really enjoyed Give Me a Sign and was very much looking forward to On the Bright Side, so I'm extremely grateful to have gotten an early copy!!

The book handles topics of disability, acceptance, community, and self-advocacy so well We first get a glimpse of Ellie's self-advocacy in her first class at Amber High. Her interpreter is not doing her job correctly. She is (un?)intentionally leaving out specific words that Ellie signs, and misleading the class. It may not seem like a big deal, but it very much is––it's stripping away accessibility, and essentially taking away Ellie's voice. She then stands up for herself and demands that the interpreter correct her actions. I love this scene so much because it perfectly displays Ellie's character, as someone who is proud of their deafness and won't let anyone take that away from her. She also found a strong community within the ASL club at school, which gave her even more opportunities to embrace her deafness and communicate in sign.

Jackson's road to accepting his disability is a lot different and certainly more challenging. As his worrying symptoms of numbness, dizziness, and vision problems continue to worsen, he's faced with an MS diagnosis. Understandably, it is extremely difficult to go from being able-bodied to learning he has an incurable disease that, without prompt treatment, could get even worse. Similar to how Ellie found comfort and community in the ASL club, Jackson attended an MS support group, and it helped shift his mindset and begin to accept his disability.

This is a gorgeous story of two people navigating their disabilities and futures together. Ellie and Jackson make for a super cute couple, and it was fun––I experienced lots of giggling and kicking feet moments––watching their relationship develop! (Good riddance, Cody.) But more than that, they become someone the other person can lean on and look to for advice in overcoming their individual challenges.

On a personal note, I resonated so much with Jackson. For the last two years, I've been experiencing similar symptoms, and while my diagnosis isn't MS, it's still an incurable disease with permanent nerve damage. So I felt especially connected to him as a character and his overall arc. From the initial "Oh, this is nothing to worry about" after the first episode of numbness/tingling, to the "I now have this life-long diagnosis and I don't know what this means for me or my future goals."

Additionally, I love the written English translations of ASL and how the audiobook incorporates them auditorily for listeners. I highly recommend the audiobook!!

Thank you to NetGalley and G.P. Putnam's Sons for Young Readers for this eARC in exchange for my review! (:

DNFing this for a variety of reasons:

- the MC is so incredibly cranky and selfish 24/7. I get that she has some HARD things going on relating to her Deafness and going to a new school, but I was not happy reading her POV. I needed her to do something nice and look outside herself for me to cheer her on.

- all the adults in this book are either idiots or ableists, INCLUDING HER PARENTS. Made me so stressed every time an adult came into the scene because I knew an argument or injustice was coming. Drove me crazy. I know this happens in real life, but it just made me either roll my eyes or want to tear the book apart. Also the love interest’s parents are also clueless and “supplement granola parents”…… like how many horrible adults can we get in one book? Not a pleasant reading experience.

- overall, this book has me questioning if I like YA at all. It has to be done well, and I can’t handle teens complaining every single page while being so self centered. Give me Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver, where Demon goes through every horrible thing imaginable as a kid and teen, yet I still want to root for him because I know he’s kind and noble. Idk. I think this book will strike a chord with Deaf people, and they’ll hopefully be able to relate to the MC more.

There were parts of this book that absolutely gripped my heart, there is something about friendship in the process of loss and reclamation that I love so much!

A cute story featuring deaf and MS representation!

While I liked Sortino's debut more than this one, I still thought On the Bright Side was a cute story. Their romance was endearing and their growth was definitely there. But the characters still seemed to fall a little flat. There were also a few moments in the plot that I wanted a little more from, like some resolutions needed more too them to feel satisfying.

This was such an emotional story! I wasn't expected to be hit in the feels like that.

This is a very high school YA romance with Deaf and other disability representation. It started off slow but it still captured my interest. Ellie has to leave her Deaf school for her senior year and attend regular public high school. The whole cast of typical high schoolers is there, in all their ignorant glory.

Jackson is a people-pleaser. When his guidance counselor asks him to show a new student around, he readily agrees. Even though Ellie has a major chip on her shoulder in the beginning, they strike up a friendship. Their relationship progresses quickly (almost too quickly, at times) but is riddled with hurdles.

I love seeing Ellie and Jackson's journeys. Sure, Ellie is annoying at first but I get it. The adults we meet in this story are almost universally terrible. Ellie's parents, in particular, made me want to scream. But I like how those relationships were handled.

I'd definitely recommend this book!

<i>Many thanks to NetGalley, G.P. Putnam's Sons, and the author for providing a copy in exchange for an honest review.</i>

After this book, I am officially a huge fan of Anna Sortino’s books (although I really was after her debut, GIVE ME A SIGN). An incredible and moving story of two disabled teens (one Deaf, the other discovering an autoimmune condition), that’s also just funny and fun to watch them fall for each other. It’s heartfelt and easy to read even in the harder moments that the characters go through. I really enjoyed reading the entire book and while I was sad it was over, I thought the story flowed really well and wrapped up really well. I highly recommend reading it!

Something that I always love about Anna Sortino’s books, but that’s especially prominent here, is how the teenage characters are both realistic while also being allowed to explore their own autonomy. This book is a little bit about finding community, but also about finding yourself outside of the factors you’ve previously used to define yourself. Ellie and Jackson are both faced with pretty core aspects of their lives changing, something that ends up bringing them together into a friendship, crushes, and a potential relationship. I feel like this book does a really good job of fitting into the YA age category while also having core messages and writing that could be appealing to any age. It’s a great mix of a fun book with some heavy issues that aren’t represented in YA as much as they are in everyday life.

Basically, if it’s not clear by now, I highly recommend this book and I will always be happy to read another book by this author and enjoy the characters and their worlds for a little while.