True Biz
True Biz ~ Sara Novic
Charlie is a new student at River Valley School for the Deaf, where she is playing catch-up to the other students, who all know American Sign Language. Charlie has a cochlear implant, which has never really worked, and she is far behind her peers in language skills because of this.
February is the dean of the school, a hearing woman with deaf parents, who understands the issues involved, and fights hard for civil rights for her students, and for her school.
Austin is the son of a deaf mother and a hearing father, whose parents are well known in the local deaf community, and is extremely popular at the River Valley. The arrival of a baby sister disrupts his relationship with his parents.
True Biz is the story of these three characters during a year of great change at the school, and was engrossing and enjoyable. I learned a lot about the deaf community, cochlear implants, big pharma, sign language, and ableism, all while in the grips of a great story with relatable, likable characters. Highly recommended.
What’s with all the book reviews? I’m participating in NaBloPoMo this month, writing a post a day. I decided that I would write about the books that I have read this year. For more NaBloPoMo participants, check out San’s list.
6 Comments
Lisa’s Yarns
I read and liked this one, too! I actually just talked about it with a guest at the costume party we went to last weekend. She is going to school to be an ESL interpreter. I had told my old neighbor Katie about this book, and then Katie recommended it to her and they read it together. I had no idea that there was controversy around cochlear implants until reading this book!
iHanna
This sounds like the kind of book everyone should read, where we actually learn about “others” and so much more that we might not have come across in our own lives (yet).
Kyria @ Travel Spot
I read and enjoyed this one. It was an interesting insight into the deaf world that I never even knew about. Actually one of my good friends from HS has a deaf mother and we never thought anything of it. And her Mom would still “yell” at her, just like any other Mom!
Ernie
Oh, this book sounds really good. I took sign language in college. I used to babysit for a boy who was autistic and deaf. He lived a few doors down from me. I took him for a walk once. It was early November. He tried to go to every door we passed. We figured out later that he was fixated on Hallween. I was like 15 and watching him was really challenging. When I worked at Burger King, one of the owner’s sons was deaf and I was always fascinated at how they all spoke sign language with such speed. I’ve always felt like sign language should count as learning a foreign language in high school, because maybe more people would learn it. Tank took it in high school maybe 2 semesters?) instead of foreign language (because I do think they count it now, but don’t quote me). He learned a lot and is pretty good at it. I look forward to reading this.
Maya
I read this one on Engie’s recommendation, I think.
Agree with your summing up of it as a terrific representation of deaf communities as minority communities with all their politics. Fascinating!
Stephany
I read this book! i thought the plot was a bit “blah” but everything I learned about the Deaf community and the controversy surrounding cochlear implants was FASCINATING. I really wanted to learn ASL after reading this book.