Shanta Everington
Flame Books (2008)
ISBN 9780955672521
Reviewed by Avni Gupta (age 15) for Reader Views (7/08)
When I got “Give Me a Sign,” I was really excited to read it. I had just finished “Read My Lips” by Teri brown, and had found out that I like reading about the experiences of deaf people and the people that are around them.
This book starts out with Liz, a girl who lives in England, getting bullied by the Russell twins who go to school with her. In this instant, you see what life must be like for her. She has no self-confidence. You can see this by the way she lets the Russell twins get to her and how in her mind, she agrees with what they say. Later, you find out that her father died a few years ago and this is another reason that she does not feel as good about herself as she should. Her view of herself changes when she meets Doug, a deaf boy who goes to school with her. They start going out and Liz starts seeing herself in a whole new life.
This book was really sweet. At the end, it left me feeling all warm and fuzzy inside. It showed me exactly how people can be seen when they do not believe in themselves. It makes you want to go and shake them and tell them that no matter what they think, they are special and there will never be anyone like them so they shouldn’t let anybody make fun of them.
I think that this book is a good read for anybody who likes reading, but does not want a really long book. This book has an amazing message packed into only 141 pages! I think that if you really want to read a book that isn’t set in the US, you should definitely read this one! It was an amazing glimpse to the English culture.
Once I finished this book, I became really interested in sign language. Now, a week after reading “Give Me a Sign,” by Shanta Everington, I have learned how to sign the alphabet. It’s really interesting, and now I have a new and larger respect for deaf people and the people who live with and around them.
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