You're Welcome, Universe by Whitney Gardner is a fresh, inspiring story about art, friendship, and finding your voice. When Julia, a Deaf teen, turns to graffiti as an escape, she finds herself in an unexpected street art rivalry. Gardner’s story is filled with humor, emotion, and insight into the Deaf experience. Perfect for fans of unique, character-driven YA with a creative twist.

I wasn’t able to finish this book. Because of this, it is my policy not to review the book on my site or on Goodreads/Amazon. I also didn’t mark it DNF.

YOU'RE WELCOME, UNIVERSE by Whitney Gardner is a young adult contemporary novel that follows 16-year-old Julia after she gets expelled from her Deaf school for vandalism. As Julia struggles to adapt to her new public school setting, she finds herself in a graffiti war with an unknown artist. Julia must hide her art from her moms, all while trying to keep up at her new school and her part-time job as the fry girl at McDonald's.

While I loved the diversity in this book, I had a difficult time rooting for our main character. I think it's great that Julia talks about Deaf culture, being the child of a same-sex couple, and being of Indian descent. However, she is such an unlikeable person that I had a difficult time enjoying the book. Julia lies to everyone, she's unnecessarily mean, she is manipulative and conniving, and she is quick to get revenge on people. I also struggle with the legality of graffiti, and don't necessarily support Julia's constant tagging of public property. Because I was so often mad at our protagonist while reading, my enjoyment was of the book was lessened.

Moreover, YOU'RE WELCOME, UNIVERSE would be a stronger novel if the details were more flushed out. There are many times throughout the book when I felt the author jumped into things quickly without giving us more information. For example, as soon as Julia gets to her new school, she seems friendly with Mr. Katz, the art teacher. How did she meet him? When did she learn about his class? How did he know about her art skills? In the same way, Julia makes friends with a girl she calls "YP" because she's always wearing yoga pants. Yet we never learn her real name in the entirety of the book! If the background was more detailed, the book would feel more cemented, rather than disjointed.

Overall, this book is a quick read that discusses topics that are not often brought up in a young adult literature. I learned a lot about Deaf culture and graffiti, and this book actually got me interested in learning more about ASL. If you're looking for a YA book that is not heavy on romance, this is a good option.

After fraudulent use of my Amazon account, it had to be closed and with it my kindle email which I used to download Netgalley arcs; therefore, I am unable to access this title. Thank you for the opportunity.

A beautiful, insightful book with fantastic art included. I loved reading about Julia and how she sees the world! A book I recommend to young and old readers alike.

When I think about graffiti I can either appreciate the art presented on the wall, because some artists are incredibly talented and their work makes indeed the world a more beautiful place, or I can simply not understand why someone would vandalise the walls, the houses, etc with terrible, toddler-like doodles AND/OR bad, doctor-like handwriting.

So I could connect with Julia, with the way she was seeing things, her need for her art to be appreciate, for the line to be set in a better way between the two sides, with her frustration when her need for expression and her view of what's just clashes with the reality and unfairness of the world. I also liked to see how things behind the art work, to know more about people who practice this type of art, with the ups and the downs.

"You're Welcome, Universe" is also a story about identity. From her origins, her shortcomings and her passions, Julia's story wants to break the prejudices. And we see her evolve throughout the book. "You're Welcome, Universe" is also a story about family and friends and healthy relationships are so underrated these days in books.

The only downfall of this is that Julia could get over the top angsty and immature and some things went in a direction I did not appreciate because of this.

The writing is absolutely beautiful in this book. I thought that Gardner did a great job with bringing this story to life. As much as the story was well written, I didn't find myself really enjoying it. This is definitely a case of this book is just not for me.

Lovely voice and needed for representation in the deaf and hard of hearing community. I think teens will fully connect with the conflict and the characters. Looking forward to more from this author.

As a Deaf educator, it's difficult to read books like this without being hypercritical about everything involving the depiction of a deaf character. I did enjoy this, and will be adding it to my ever growing collection of deaf books. I love that I have so many I can offer to students to read now.

I went into YOU'RE WELCOME, UNIVERSE with high expectations but they were ultimately dashed by the protagonist being super rude and mean. However I enjoyed reading about Deaf culture and that aspect of the book is like all !! the stars !!

It's really important to raise awareness about Deaf culture, and this book felt really spot-on with the representation. I so enjoyed learning about it! I think the details were fabulous and going through the casual discrimination Julia had to put up with was also really eye-opening and horrible.

I also ADORED the amount of diversity! Julia is Deaf and has two mums and is also Indian/American! Her school friend is fat too! And this is just so nice, okay?! It's great seeing multiple diversities in one person because it happens and it is pretty under-represented.

I'm a bit torn about the graffiti aspect since I felt Julia was only doing it for the thrill of breaking the law, instead of the art and message that I thought was supposed to be the point of true artistic graffiti.

Julia's meanness, however, soured the book for me in total. She's unreasonably cruel to people, especially her interpreter who has done nothing to but translate for her. Julia misnames people on purpose and she judges them super unfairly. She swears really nastily at people and is honestly downright contemptuous. I didn't even understand WHY. I've been betrayed by friends before but I didn't feel the need to mentally murder everyone I met thereafter?!?

Example: Someone insults YP (who Julia isn't close friends with yet) and Julia firstly snoops at her phone while YP is gone to get coffee. And then sees YP get a horrible text. This is Julia's reaction:
That one text says enough, though. I know what it's like to get a text like that. I get them in real time, real life, every day at Finley. I want to get that bitch's number and text back, tell her to fuck off, shove it, and die in a fire for insulting someone like that.

How does being like that make you better than a bully? Julia was over the top. And I didn't feel she changed very much. Saying sorry in the last few pages doesn't make up for an entire book of nastiness.

So as much as I enjoyed learning about Deaf culture and seeing multiple diverse aspects represented so honestly and respectfully here, the meanness of the protagonist lost the book for me.

This one is a little hard for me to rate. I love the message, and the culture, of the book. I just didn’t like the main character as much as I wanted to. Thank you Netgalley for providing me a copy in exchange for a honest review. I’m giving it 3.5 out of 5 stars.

I don’t think there’s enough out there focusing on Deaf culture. I haven’t had much exposure to the community, as I only have one Deaf cousin who I haven’t seen in like 20+ years, and I only learned the ASL alphabet (and some other random signs) years ago. But I enjoy reading other people’s experiences, and this book is a sneak peek into a snippet of the Deaf culture.

Overall I enjoyed the story, and definitely the art. I wish I could make something half as beautiful as the illustrations scattered throughout this novel. I just didn’t like Julia, the main character, as much as I should have; she was kind of over-dramatic and some of the things she said/did rubbed me the wrong way. I liked YP quite a bit, and Julia’s parents as well. That’s about it though. Most of the other people were meh or annoying, but that seemed purposeful on the author’s part to sell the ending we got.

I didn’t find a book boyfriend, but I wouldn’t mind a friend like YP. To close this out, I wish I could make art like what was shown in this book. My kind of art is written only. I know this book was highly recommended, so others might enjoy this more than me. It wasn’t bad; it just wasn’t love at first read.

Julia was trying to help her best friend when she covered up an ugly slur written on the school wall with a graffiti mural. But when Jordyn turns her in, it ends the friendship, and ends Julia's time at her special school for the Deaf. Now she's been mainstreamed in a new school, and her interpreter is the only one who understands her. Her art is the only way she can express herself - until an anonymous rival starts tagging her work, pulling her into a war of paint.

This was an enjoyable read. Julia is a surly, not entirely likable teenager, but very real. Gardner does some very interesting things with the text, and the way she depicts language. Julia's conversations in ASL aren't just translated English, and they read differently, as do the words Julia lip-reads from hearing speakers. And while you might expect this to focus on the issues of Deafness and hearing, it's really more about art, and how Julia is learning to express herself and find her place in the world. Nicely done.

Before I review this book, I have to say – get a physical copy of it. Library book or your own, either works, but it’s just not the same seeing the many great illustrations of the protagonist’s graffiti in an ebook, especially since sometimes they split into two different pages.

Anyway, on to the book itself! I thought it was an interesting story, and we need more books about Deaf people (I think they’re the only community that prefers the term in front of the name instead of people first, as most people with disabilities do, but correct me if I’m wrong), but Julia wasn’t my favorite character. She was a great subversion of the Happy Person With a Disability Who Inspires People, but it’s not super-fun being stuck in the head of someone who’s so angry all the time and doesn’t really connect with people. That includes her moms – we have two moms with distinct personalities, but we didn’t really get to know them because Julia didn’t connect with them too much because she was trying to hide her nights spend painting graffiti.

Despite being in the head of a pretty stand-offish person, this book wasn’t too bad. We need to see diverse people with disabilities, and this book definitely did that, so it deserves snaps for that. I’m also interested to see what Whitney Gardner writes next.

Rating: ★★★☆☆

* I received an ARC of this book from the publisher through NetGalley. This in no way affected my opinion of the book.

When her supposed best friend snitches on her, Julia finds herself expelled and stuck in a mainstream school who aren’t kind to the only Deaf girl there. The only thing she takes with her is her paints and Julia tags wherever she can. But someone is adding to them and a graffiti war is the last thing she thought she’d find herself in.

The last book I read with Deaf characters was Soundless by Richelle Mead and just comparing these two you tell the difference of research that went into the portrayal of Deaf characters. YWU depicts Deaf culture; the way she texts, how ASL is, in fact, a language not an extension of English, the typical experiences a deaf student faces when in a majority hearing school. We’re shown her lifestyle and it’s not just a case of simply replacing said/says with signed. (I did have a review from a Deaf reader to put in here but the links I had are no longer available)

YWU pulled me in from the beginning. Julia’s revenge for her friend, watching her transition from her school which properly accommodated her to a mainstream one. Her anger as she realises that someone is painting alongside her pieces. Julia is far from perfect; she’s so damn mean at some points but within reason in most of them. I liked that the book put a stronger emphasis on friendship, in the end it triumphs over the romantic subplot, which in my opinion could’ve done better. The friendship dynamic between Julia and her new friend is so good and one of the best parts of the novel.

[spoilers mentioned below]

As I mentioned before Julia is a hard to like protagonist. While it was enjoyable at first, there were truly so many moments where I couldn’t stand her. I get she’s a teen, so her angsty stomping about when she doesn’t get what she wants is understandable. But she was so snooty about certain things, especially when it came to art; her judgemental behaviour, treating some art better than others, slut-shaming her friend, and then also making out with said friend’s boyfriend to prove he wasn’t worth it to her. Like I said, being a teen means making mistakes, but none of it is called out as being bad.

[spoiler end]

Overall, it was a decent read, could’ve emphasised more on the turf war part since the pressure we’re supposed to be feeling of Julia getting caught is never really there. And also the big reveal was a shock but I felt like the story fell from that point onwards. The illustrations are really cool which added a special touch to the book!

This book took me a while to get through, to the point that I put it down a few times. The premise was great and the characters and writing virtually flawless in execution, I honestly have trouble pinpointing just exactly why it wasn't for me - except that very reason, it just wasn't for me. In a weird way, I think that I can recommend it because though it wasn't for me, as previously mentioned, it was well written, the characters likeable and memorable, and the story well told. I think many, many readers would absolutely devour and fall in love with this book but for me personally, it's not an absolute favorite. I enjoyed it, but not in a "shout-it-from-the-rooftops-I-love-it" kind of way. Nonetheless, I truly look forward to seeing what the author puts out next because she shows real promise and I think it's the story(though well told) itself and not the execution that left me feeling like something was missing.

what a great story about a deaf girl who likes art. She gets busted for doing something at one school. She ends up at another school. She doesn't have any friends and works at Mcdonald's. There is some romance in this book. But this book is about friendship and street art. Overall I enjoyed this book very much.

"My first real piece and I'm expelled. And now I need a new tag. Go ahead, call me a vandal, say I'm some sort of delinquent, it isn't going to insult me. It's not going to stop me. Please. This is what I live for."

I believe this was the first ever book I've read that has a deaf main character. So this ended up being a huge learning experience for me in not only learning about being deaf, but also about graffiti which is Julia's favorite hobby.

Julia does end up getting expelled like it says in the synopsis, but I wasn't expecting such a betrayal to happen between her and her best friend because of what she did to get expelled. After it happened though I understood Julia's feelings because she really was just trying to do the right thing even if it wasn't what her best friend wanted her to do. And now because of said best friend she is getting sent to a hearing school. One where she will have to have an aid and will be mostly alone. This is very isolating for Julia especially because she doesn't really like school at all, and having everyone around her be different just seems to make it worse.

As for Julia's home life it was really interesting to read as well. She has two moms who are both deaf as well and seeing how they interact and parent as well was really nice to read. In fact I would have to say that Julia's moms were some of the most involved YA book parents I've seen for awhile. They truly care for her and just want the best for her and to see that actually be conveyed in a YA book was nice.
"I don't do friends, I don't do friendly. I don't play nice, because I get played."

She does end up making a friend that she nicknames Yoga Pants and this friendship was so nice to see. Not only did YP treat Julia normal, but she also didn't go way over the top with trying to learning everything about Julia and how to best interact with her. Instead waited for Julia to give her cues for things. Which was really nice to see for a change. Of course I feel like part of YP niceness was because she herself felt alone now, because of her own struggles with things.

As for who she was in a tagging war with, I was surprised. I truly wasn't expecting that, and I also felt betrayed because of who it was.

Overall I really enjoyed this book. Obviously there were certain things I didn't really like, namely Julia's attitude about things (I did understand it, and I could tell some consequences were going to happen because of it that were going to potentially put her in a bad spot). As a person in a wheelchair I get being exasperated with people and just wanting to be left alone, but I also know that you have to tell them to leave you alone in a kind way so they know you still want them around and that you just need some space. It's a hard concept to explain to someone until you've been in that type of situation before yourself.
As for the graffiti parts of this book I found them to be a huge learning experience. I've been able to appreciate most graffiti for awhile now once Bansky made it well known and started to convey actually messages through it. Before then I just saw it as a way for people to tag things showing it was their territory. Now though I see it not only as art, but also as a form of expression thanks to this book.

Julia Prasad, a deaf Indian-American teen is expelled from her deaf school when she is caught painting graffiti over a slur about her best friend. Now mainstreamed into a high school where her only solace is her art, she is befriended by a girl she calls “Yoga Pants” and her art teacher who is flirting with Julia’s interpreter. When her tagging begins to be augmented by a mysterious fellow graffiti artist, Julia’s competitive side comes out. The book includes dialogue with broken lines, representing words she can’t lip read, and illustrations of her art, which reveals her rebellious talent. Ultimately, the law comes down on her and her competitor’s identity is revealed. She must then evaluate the difference between art and vandalism and focus on finding her way in a hearing world.

DNF. I liked the idea of reading from the point of view of a deaf person, but the story bored me and after getting to the middle of the book i just couldn't keep reading it so i just dropped it.

A Deaf main character!!! I'm so excited by this! The street art in this book is gorgeous. I would love to put a poster of the first one up on my wall. The pictures really added to the story and made it more real. Highly recommend!