Thank you NetGalley and publisher for this ARC publication for an honest review.

This book had an interesting premise, dealing with deaf/hearing impaired characters and a summer camp. While I enjoyed the setting and learning about deaf culture living in a hearing world, I just couldn't fully connect with the characters and story. The writing was fine, and I enjoyed the summer romance. I'm not sure why I didn't enjoy it more,


3 stars

As an autistic person, I try my best to pay attention to books with disability representation, and I try to read a variety of them. Still, I haven't come across a whole lot of books with Deaf representation, so I was very excited to see this YA contemporary being released!

This is such a good summer read! It's set at a summer camp for blind and Deaf kids, where Lilah, our protagonist, used to come as a child, and is now going to be a junior counsellor. There's a lot of camp vibes, centering new friendships and new romance, which was a really good time.

I really enjoyed the setting of summer camp, because through Lilah's eyes, we meet a lot of different people, which makes it clear that there are a lot of ways to be Deaf, and that there are a lot of different ways people can view their own Deafness. It was so great to see Lilah connect more with other Deaf people, and learn sign language as a way to be more authentic to herself, and to communicate with others better. It was so amazing to see her grow into her own throughout the course of the book.

I loved reading this book!! The deaf and CODA representation is such an underrepresented and underrated side of storytelling and I thoroughly enjoyed the way the story was told. I loved the writing style and found it easy to get into and lose myself in the story. I also loved the characters and their young adult journey. This book was perfect!

Give Me a Sign is the perfect summer read. Taking place at a summer camp made me think of the days where I would spend a lot time outside., enjoying nature. There was a lot of different representation of Deaf people so anyone who is Deaf can feel seen. This is the first book that I have read with Deaf representation which we need more of. It was great learning more about Deaf culture and topics that I never heard of.

The romance was super cute but I wish we got more moments with them.

I loved this book so much! I was completely invested in the characters and couldn’t put it down. This book is perfect for people looking for a cute YA romcom that makes you feel warm and fuzzy. It’s a great book with great disability representation. As a disabled person myself, I always enjoy seeing other disabilities get represented in books and media, especially when the author is also a part of the disabled community. Overall, this is a well written book that is very enjoyable to read. I would recommend this book to anyone that loves cute romance books with characters who get to find themselves.

this was a very sweet and charming story about a deaf girl who just isn’t quite deaf enough for some people. the representation of deaf culture was well done from my perspective and i thought it was beautifully written.

I liked this a lot! This is a wonderful debut about Deaf culture is fun and sweet and made me want to go to summer camp! It is heartwarming, thought-provoking, and manages to balance the heavy with the cute very well. I look forward to seeing not only what this author does in the future, but to seeing more books with Deaf representation.

4.5 stars - I loved the nostalgic summer camp vibes in this, and it had a good mix of Deaf representation, as well as side characters with depth.

I believe I already reviewed this on Goodreads, so if it's a duplicate, one can be deleted. Thank you NetGalley for the advance copy in exchange for my review


This was a great story aboout the very real struggles faced by the Deaf and Hard of Hearing commuity every single day. I belong to this community as Hard of Hearing. This was a coming of age story of a young woman who is profoundly hard of hearing. She wears hearing aids which help but her hearing is getting worse. She has a younger brother who's hearing is worse than hers. Their familiy isn't actually willing to learn ASL so they decide to learn for themselves while at a "deaf camp" Also thoughtfully covered was the topic of CIs CIs can be controversial, and not do not restore hearing, but change the input for hearing.

All and all a fun summertime story that tackles a serious subject with humor, romance and fun.

A darling YA book that opened my eyes to the world of hear disabilities! I loved the love story and all the characters. Very well done

<i>I received a copy of this story from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.</i>

I loved this book! It should be required reading in school. It's sweet and youthful but grounded in an unfortunate reality -- Anna does a wonderful job of balancing the two. I love learning about other cultures so reading a story centered around Deaf and hard of hearing characters was delightful.

All the characters were beautifully done, even Mackenzie who made me cringe so hard. I appreciate that she learned from her mistakes but too often people like her don't. Each character was whole and real and human -- none of them felt two dimensional or like a caricature.

Lilah's search to define her identity is one almost everyone can understand and empathize with. But members of marginalized communities will further empathize with the idea of being "enough". Am I deaf enough, dark enough, queer enough? It's an important conversation to see fictional characters having because it helps us do the same in real life.

I cannot wait to see what else Anna writes!

Book Review for Give Me A Sign by Anna Sortino.

I know my sign isn't perfect and it's definitely not ASL, I know, but I really enjoyed signing my review!

Definitely check out this book. thank you to Penguin Teen for my copy!

I really loved this book. The representation of the deaf, hard of hearing, and visually impaired characters was great. It was really interesting learning about the different difficulties people with these challenges face on a daily basis that we don't think about. I loved seeing the relationships in this book and even the little romance. I also love that the author chose to represent different types of hearing struggles as well.
I definitely recommend checking this book out. Now available!

And again, for the record, I haven't ever taken formal sign classes so I'm just learning like everyone else, not trying to teach anyone. I am conversational at best. I absolutely love sign and love when I get to use it. I started learning when I was about 7 when I had a deaf friend in my karate class. It was such a huge part of my growing up, with friends and at church, and I honestly wish I used it more.

#qotd : Do you speak another language OR What are you reading this week?

#sign #signlanguage #givemeasign #annasortino #bookreview #signedreviews #bookreviewer #deafrepresentation #dual #hardofhearing #visuallyimpaired #representation #netgalley #penguinteen #reviewcopy #yafiction

It was a great read and I really enjoyed the story. There were many things I've learned about the deaf community in this book. It's a sweet, coming-of-age story about learning to love yourself just as you are. I highly recommend it!

I love that this is a summer camp book. It really delivered the atmosphere, relationships, and outdoor adventures that you’d expect to find in a summer camp book.

I’m not Deaf, and I don’t have anyone in my life currently who is, so I don’t have any experience with Deaf culture. This book was very welcoming and helped me feel both immersed and oriented in what the characters were experiencing.

One of the camp counselors is not Deaf, but she positions herself as an interpreter on her social media channels, even though she is still learning ASL herself. Her behavior and beliefs trigger a lot of conversations among the campers and other counselors. At first I worried a little bit that she would kind of be positioned as a sort of one-dimensional character to stand in for all the ways hearing people get stuff wrong.

That’s not what happens, though. I mean, she does get some things wrong, for sure. There are several really cool conversations about how her behavior makes other people feel, and some conversations with the wanna-be interpreter herself that were really deep, too. The relationship with her also becomes an opportunity for Lilah to consider the unsatisfying parts of relationships with other hearing people in her life and what might change if she advocated for herself more effectively.

I loved Lilah. At the beginning, she’s scared and uncertain and so not sure what to do about the parts of her life that aren’t working. She remembers camp as a safe haven, and a place that helped her feel more confident, so she decides to try to get a summer job there.

At the job, she really blossoms. She helps some of the campers. Makes new friends. Gamely navigates new ways of doing things. She also falls for a boy. The whole romantic thread of the story is super sweet, too. It’s the best kind of summer romance.

There was one scene in GIVE ME A SIGN that really shocked me. I wasn’t expecting it, and Lilah’s panic and frustration were palpable. It’s a really good scene, but it was also heartbreaking.

Altogether, though, this might be one of my favorite summer books this year. I loved it, and absolutely recommend it to anyone looking for a great summer camp read or a book featuring Deaf characters.

Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions my own.

A leitora atraída por capas fofas e ilustradas ataca novamente, mas dessa vez com o feliz acréscimo de ser, além de um YA, também uma história own voice com representatividade PcD, tanto da comunidade surda quanto com alguns vislumbres bem bacanas sobre deficiência visual junto.

Em Give Me a Sign, acompanhamos Lilah enquanto embarca num verão como conselheira-júnior no Camp Gray Wolf, um acampamento de férias voltado à imersão e atividades para e entre pessoas com algum tipo de deficiência, com foco em surdos, como Lilah, Isaac, Natasha e Ethan, e deficiência visual como com Bobby e Phoebe. É uma leitura que desde o início começa tanto leve quanto firme em seu posicionamento, já mostrando, no dia-a-dia, alguns dilemas da protagonista que, por não ser totalmente surda, se sente numa espécie de limbo entre surda e ouvinte, por vezes nem um nem outro.

Para além de "só" trazer a representatividade em sua gama mais leve e natural, com jovens sendo jovens de fato e não resumidos à um rótulo de deficiência, Give Me a Sign é, ainda, sobre identidade para quem tem deficiência e, seja por um detalhe parricular ou outro, se sente excluído de ambos os "lados" da realidade, levantando o debate sobre o quanto certos casos são ignorados ou não tão levados em consideração se comparados à outros, porque o indivíduo não é surdo o suficiente, pode ouvir um pouco ainda com implantes, não tem perda total de visão, e afins. Leva-nos a refletir sobre as tantas vezes que, mesmo inconscientemente, julgamos alguém por parecer ter ou não uma deficiência só porque ela não atingia critérios, por vezes até estereotipados, que tomamos como verdade.

Esses por si só já foram motivos o bastante para eu me envolver, aos poucos, com a trama e os personagens, e ainda que o plot não tenha muitas reviravoltas em si, o foco na realidade é o que importa aqui. Está mais do que passando da hora de termos histórias que tragam pessoas com deficiência, mas que também se comprometam a mostrá-las em meio à vida cotidiana, em especial na adolescência e seus dramas típicos da fase junto, como ao trazer um pouco de romance no caso da Lilah e do Isaac aqui.

Mesmo sem ser o foco, é um romance que começa sutil e se desenvolve de forma meiga e leve em meio à amizade como um todo deles, em momentos aprendendo mais sobre a Língua Americana de Sinais (ASL), pela qual ele mais se comunica, diferente dela que ainda recorre à fala. Esse é outro ponto bacana da história, ao mostrar que, justamente por poder variar tanto dependendo do grau de surdez, cada um tem sua própria preferência se usar sinais, implantes, aparelhos auditivos ou todos eles juntos, e que nenhum é mais ou menos surdo por isso.

Assim, essa é uma leitura para tanto representar mais da comunidade surda e de deficiência visual, como também para trazer debates principalmente em torno de como, por vezes, quem está de fora dificulta as coisas, sempre esperando que o PcD se adapte à ele e ao mundo, para sua conveniência, e não promovendo a acessibilidade devida e que é direito de todos. Isso fica particularmente claro nos capítulos 22 à 24, em meio à uma situação corriqueira para ouvintes, mas que pode ser um obstáculo e dor de cabeça tão grandes graças à ignorância e capacitismo que por vezes cometemos ou simplesmente aceitamos que existam por aí, em suas mais variadas formas.

Uma leitura para refletir, se divertir, aprender, e se deixar cativar por personagens que, cada qual com sua história, experiências e jeito de ver o mundo, tem muito a nos ensinar, identificar ou simplesmente remeter aos altos e baixos de crescer como um todo, seja tendo ou não uma deficiência, dentro ou fora de uma comunidade específica.

Summer camp is often a refugee for kids and teens who don't fit in during the regular school year. Lilah, who has a big enough hearing deficit to require hearing aids and other accommodations, has fond memories of her years as a camper at Camp Gray Wolf. On a whim she applies to work as a junior counselor at the camp for children with hearing and vision loss. While she feels too Deaf to be in the hearing world, she often feels not Deaf enough to be a part of the Deaf world. She spends the summer working on this and how to navigate in both worlds. Her sweet summer romance has its ups and downs. This is a great summer read with an important look into the Deaf community. Highly recommended for grades 8 & up.

Lilah has had hearing loss her whole life and never felt quite like she fit in with her hearing friends but she also doesn't identify as deaf. After years of feeling this way she decides to become a counselor at the summer camp she visited as kid.

This was a sweet, coming of age book about learning to love yourself just as you are. There were so many lovable characters and Isaac was the best. I would highly recommend!

3.5 rounded up. I love the representation of Deaf culture in this book and it helps that the author is Deaf. I really enjoyed the story, there were just a few times where the pacing felt off. Otherwise, it was a great read!

By the end, Lilah's empowerment to speak up with her hearing friends and her family to be more serious about learning ASL was the cherry on the sundae of this sweet (albeit slow burning) romance summer camp story.

Lilah never feels "Deaf enough" for the Deaf world and tries to be "hearing enough" for the mainstream education and friendships she has. Being stuck in the middle sucks for her and she takes it upon herself to return to the Deaf (and blind) camp that she went to, but this time as a junior counselor where she makes friendships and then a few UK boys who are the lifeguards too. And there's Isaac. Not quite sure if there's a spark, it's a friends to lovers trope set against the backdrop of summer camp exhaustion and shenanigans.

It drags a little in the middle- I would have liked a little more saccharine romance juiciness to push me over the edge of complete adoration but Lilah has an edge that I respected throughout the story.

17-year-old Lilah and her younger brother are hard of hearing. Because they can both get by in the hearing world with hearing aids, their parents have never learned sign language and never given the kids an opportunity to learn it outside of the Deaf summer camp that Lilah used to attend. Lilah has a hard time fitting in with her hearing friends because they don't understand what it's like to need to read lips and use closed captions. When she gets the opportunity to be a junior counselor at her old camp, she jumps at it. Once there, however, she feels like she's not "Deaf enough". She's caught between two worlds and doesn't feel like she really fits in either one.

This book is full of information on Deaf culture and I loved it! The representation of different types of deafness was great, too!

Thank you to PENGUIN GROUP Penguin Young Readers Group, G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers, and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book.