Arc received from Netgalley for an honest review

4.5 Stars

Give Me a Sign was a book I was incredibly excited to get into.
As a hearing person who has been self studying ASL online for the past few years, I was elated to see a book about deaf characters and deaf culture.

This YA book follows Lilah who goes to summer camp as a counselor and along the way discovers a lot about herself. She questions if she's deaf enough while trying to catch up and learn more ASL with the help of some of the other counselors and campers. She finds relationships and friendships along the way, and we see some of the discrimination and ableism that deaf people may experience day to day.

There are a lot of topics that are covered in this book that show some of what deaf people experience, ranging from daily occurrences to more serious and scary situations. I've learned a lot throughout the book and despite being aware of most of them, there were still moments that made me pause and think.

I adored the romance within this book and rooted for Isaac and Lilah the entire time. We see them slowly build a relationship that I can only describe as incredibly adorable and I cheered them on as their friendship blossomed into something more.

The way the book is written puts you in Lilah's shoes. Dialogue for her is broken up at times due to her hearing. There are moments when words are cut out and you as a reader have to experience something that she does daily.
I think that was one of the most impactful parts to me, because I've never truly thought of how that must feel to be hard of hearing, and how over time it's something you simply adjust to, because sadly others choose not to adjust to you (ex. when asking to repeat oneself, people get angry or annoyed. They aren't patient or decide not to even attempt to speak to the person at all).

I'm really happy to have read such an incredible debut novel with lovable characters and important messages. I teared up at the end because I found so much beauty in this work, and I hope people who don't see themselves represented in books can read this and feel proud and confident the same way Lilah does by the end of this story.

Give Me A Sign will be releasing on July 11th, please check it out!

Anna Sortino's "Give Me a Sign" is a touching, lightly romantic story of a young woman trying to reconnect with the Deaf culture she experienced at her childhood camp. Returning to Camp Gray Wolf, Lilah, a hard-of-hearing teen, hopes to get back into using ASL by becoming a counselor at the camp she attended as a child. Though she has been mainstreamed at school and is used to being a speaking person, with the help of her hearing aids, Lilah wants to regain the little ASL she learned while at Camp Gray Wolf. She is soon immersed in the community she missed so much, making new friends, discovering new things about herself, and trying to feel comfortable with her identity. Along the way, she meets Isaac, a cute and helpful fellow counselor. Their budding friendship turns into something more.

Sortino's story is so warm and comforting. I so love the camp setting, the summer feels, and getting to feel immersed as Lilah in the Deaf community. I appreciate Sortino taking the time and effort to try to portray communication through ASL in a written format. She manages it in such a way that it doesn't feel clunky or difficult to follow. I appreciate the many moments where Sortino provides a window into Deaf culture and how ablest the world can be as experienced by those who are hard-of-hearing, deaf, or Deaf. Sortino also includes the blind in her story, as well, since Camp Gray Wolf also includes children (and staff) who are blind.

The characters in this story are really fun and varied. I liked seeing many different representations of the Deaf community through the side characters, like Natasha, Jaden, and campers. Lilah and Isaac, the two main characters, are both really interesting. I liked reading about Lilah's growth, not just through her learning of ASL, but also about how she views her place in the Deaf community. She begins the story not feeling like she can be included since she can still hear some. She doesn't feel she is "deaf enough." But over the course of the novel, she grows comfortable in connecting with her Deaf side and embracing that part of herself. Isaac is goofy and cute, but he also presents Lilah with some deep conversations. We also get to see him struggle and come through some tough situations.

I really enjoyed this book. It had so many humorous moments, but it also addresses some very serious issues, like ablism, responsibility, Deaf culture representation, and feelings of belonging. The book progresses quickly, too, which I always like because I'm a slow reader, so it was nice to feel like I needed to keep reading each time a chapter ended.

Overall, I would definitely recommend this book. I think it's a great way to learn a bit about Deaf culture, to see some disability representation in the YA genre, and it has a really sweet story plus romance. There's lots of humor, great summer vibes, and the story really grabs you.

Thank you net galley for the advance reader copy of this novel. This was a contemporary YA novel about a dead girl and how she comes to understand herself and find love. I enjoyed this novel and applaud the topic!!!! The book was a little slow at parts but loved the interaction with main character Lilah and love interest Issac.

I loved this book! I found the characters lovable and very real. Also, the summer camp setting was very immersive and it made me want to go back to summer camp!

We follow Lilah, a 17 year old who is hard of hearing and feels kind of lost. She feels not 'deaf enough' to call herself deaf, but also isn't hearing enough to meet the expectations of her in the hearing world. She decides to become counselor at a summer camp for the deaf and blind with the plan to brush up on her rusty ASL skills. Once there she also finds a community she hadn't found before. But her wonderful oasis is in danger of closing down permanently, and the fellow counselor she is majorly crushing on is sending mixed signals. Can she find a way save the camp AND get the guy?

This was such a heartwarming, nuanced, thoughtful look into deaf culture, all packaged through a charming, sweet, funny coming-of-age romance. I was able to get a glimpse inside a community I don't know a lot about, but the protagonist's voice, challenges, and arc were also relatable on a fundamental level. A lovely, impressive debut.

Thank you Anna Sortino, NetGalley and Penguin Group for the opportunity to read this ARC!

Give Me a Sign is Anna's YA debut novel about Deaf pride, young love and all things summer camps. Really eye opening story, definitely made me realise there is a lot to learn with regards to the Deaf and hard-of-hearing community. Very well written too, the text flowed really nicely and I especially loved the dialogue, both spoken or signed.

Lilah is struggling with school, finding it hard and frankly just tiring to constantly advocate for herself as a hard-of-hearing person. She reminisces her time at the summer camp for the deaf and blind, Gray Wolf, and ends up asking for a position as a junior counselor there. At the camp, Lilah realises her ASL really needs some practice, and finds some extra motivation to learn when she meets one her co-councelors, Isaac.

The love story between Lilah and Isaac was so sweet! I just kept on reading, fascinated by how Lilah's life as a hard-of-hearing / Deaf person was described. There are just so many things you simply do not realise as an able-bodied person.

This book brought me back so many good memories from my own youth, I spent many summers at day camps close to home, week long themed camps with sports, hiking and scouts.

Anna Sortino is a fresh new voice bringing incredible weight and a much-needed lens to YA disability fiction. She writes a really powerful story in a fun setting grounded in camaraderie and friendship. I absolutely loved Give Me a Sign, and cannot wait to see what else Sortino has in store.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for give me a digital advance copy of Give me a Sign in exchange of an honest review.

REALMENTE DISFRUTÉ ESTA LECTURA!! Recomiendo altamente este libro, tiene un poco de todo, inclusión, amistad, romance, superación, injusticias, desafíos, etc.
Al rededor de 2 meses estaremos acompañando a la protagonista Lilah durante su verano, en un viaje de autodescubrimiento y también en su nuevo empleo como Consejera Junior en un campamento de verano. Este campamento es para niños y adolescentes sordos y ciegos, y a los ojos de la protagonista, es algo así como un oasis para quienes tienen alguna de estas condiciones.
Lilah es sorda, y muy seguido siente que no encaja con las personas oyentes (como sus padres o sus amigos de la escuela), sin embargo, a veces incluso cree que por so ser "lo suficientemente sorda", tampoco merece estar entre ellos. Vive en el limbo, ya que su diagnostico es pérdida de audición, y con audífonos logra integrarse bastante al mundo. Aun así, no es suficiente.

En el libro (own voices, porque la autora es sorda) se nos narra la visión de mundo de una chica que siente que no encaja en ninguna parte, y que aunque pone todo de sí misma para acomodarse a los demás, nadie lo hace por ella.

De alguna forma, me enamoré de esta historia. Hace un tiempo ya que la cultura sorda y su lenguaje me llaman la atención, y me generan la curiosidad de querer saber más de ella. Me hizo muy feliz este libro porque me ayudó a leer más diversidad de personas, y un poco más de las miles de formas de vida que existen. A veces nos encerramos mucho en nuestro propio mundo y no vemos lo que hay más allá. Me gustó este libro porque muestra otra realidad que es tan valiosa como otras.

Además, al final de la historia, la nota de la autora me pareció estupenda. Ella decía que cuando pequeña le hubiera gustado verse representada en alguna historia, libro o película, pero no existían. Ahora con este libro, ella espera que las niñas que leen la historias puedan verse reflejadas en la protagonista, y saber que no están solas.

En fin, se que la reseña quedó un tanto desordenada. Pero lo importante para mí aquí es que quedara claro LO BUENO QUE ES ESTE LIBRO, Give me a Sign tiene entre sus páginas una muy bella historia y personajes dignos de conocer. Te dejo invitado a leerlos!!!

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!