thank you to penguin teen and putnam sons books for young readers for an advanced copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

i’ve had a copy of this book for a while now actually. but unexpectedly this became my first read for disability pride, which was completely unplanned but very good timing. so yeah, i guess let’s talk about my personal draw to this book. i’m often very outspoken about being queer and disabled. and while i don’t talk about my disabilities often, they range from learning disabilities to chronic illness, along the spectrum. but i’m not hard of hearing (hoh) or deaf personally. my main draw to a book about a deaf and blind summer camp is, of course, because i am disabled, so i strive to read more stories centering disability, period. but also because my dad is actually hard of hearing.

it’s not actually something i’ve ever mentioned in any online book space, but it’s something in my personal life. he has some loss of hearing in his right ear that occurred in his early adulthood. and while he was fitted for a hearing aid, he actually chose not to wear it and hasn’t since well… at least my entire life. you have to speak to him on his “good side” otherwise he wont hear you and say “huh?” or “what”. he blasts music, tv, anything really. and you’ll often see him covering his ears in loud spaces. why am i talking about my dad, who probably wouldn’t consider himself deaf, when this book is about a teenage girl at a summer-camp for deaf and blind campers. well, because he honestly reminds me of lilah.

of course, they’re quite absolutely completely in everything else. but they share this common thread. and the way lilah interacts with the world, especially in the beginning of these events, it felt familiar to me. but also not, since well, i’ve got pretty damn good hearing myself. but seeing how lilah speaks to others, how she misses words. it gives me a bit better understanding of what my own parent might experience.

but anyways, genuinely enough about me. i think we understand that i was pretty excited to read this book. and i can say it was a delight. it obviously goes a bit heavy handed on the conversations surrounding the deaf community, and what makes someone qualify to label themselves as deaf. or the concept of learning from the deaf community if you want to learn sign. but genuinely, it was still nice to see lilah immerse herself. commit herself to try to learn the language of her community, even if she messes up in embarrassing ways. she learns and grows. she makes mistakes any person learning a new language does. but eventually she begins to hold her own, grow confident in her skills and it was lovely.

however, besides a few notable events (the tornado, the shopping scene), it really felt as though a majority of the book was pretty repetitive. i recognize it mimics the concept of the campers doing similar activities. hell, i get it. i worked at a specialized camp. i recognize that you do similar things. but i feel like we honestly didn’t get to see enough interactions with the other counselors besides isaac as much as i wish we did. i think we had the chance to see from such a lovely, diverse group of characters. each choosing to communicate in the world, in the deaf community in their own unique ways. we had glimpses, but i truly wish we learned more from them. i think that would’ve made me enjoy this a ton more.

overall though, this was truly a quick, interesting read that introduced me to a community i’ve always wanted more insight to. i’m excited to see where anna sortino goes in her sophomore novel, and i’ll definitely be following along closely.