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Synopsis: Deaf teen Maya moves across the country and must attend a hearing school for the first time. As if that wasn’t hard enough, she also has to adjust to the hearing culture, which she finds frustrating—and also surprising when some classmates, including Beau Watson, take time to learn ASL. As Maya looks past graduation and focuses on her future dreams, nothing, not even an unexpected romance, will derail her pursuits. But when people in her life—deaf and hearing alike—ask her to question parts of her deaf identity, Maya stands proudly, never giving in to the idea that her deafness is a disadvantage.
Review: The Silence Between Us is about a teen named Maya who was born able to hear but, due to an illness, she is now Deaf. After moving from New Jersey to Colorado, she goes to her first hearing school and has to adjust to a new living situation as well as a new academic setting. I liked Maya as a character. There were some moments when she seemed a little abrasive towards hearing people which bothered me but, at its core, The Silence Between Us is about vulnerability and deciding who you are willing to be vulnerable with. Seeing Maya let people into her life, even if they were hearing people, was nice to see. I’m the same way with my eyesight, so I understood how hard it was for Maya to get close to new people, and how rewarding it felt for them to not take advantage of her. I liked Maya’s love interest, Beau. He seemed genuine in all of his actions, even when he made bad decisions. One thing that I wish was done differently was when Maya saw a scar on Beau’s leg. She saw it by accident and knew it was a personal thing for Beau, but her reaction was, “I want to know where that scar came from.” I guess that just bothered me because Maya learned to let people into her life through the entire story. It just seemed like she should know how hard it is to be vulnerable around people, and this might not be something Beau wants to talk about. He does end up telling her where the scar came from. I just wish Maya didn’t have that reaction.
The plot in The Silence Between Us was a standard YA contemporary about a young girl learning to adjust to her new surroundings. One element I enjoyed quite a bit was the addition of DPN, Deaf President Now, which was a student-led movement at a university that was created when a hearing President was elected at a Deaf university. Some readers are going to dislike the idea that Maya had to hold her classmates hands and teach them about the complexities of Deaf/HoH people. But, if anyone is looking for more insight that is explicitly spelled out about the treatment of Deaf/HoH people, The Silence Between Us is a great book. I listened to the audiobook for this and it was a great experience. I didn’t have the physical version to read along with, but I appreciated how the sentences were structured when Maya, or other characters, used American Sign Language. I think there’s an assumption that sentences are translated the exact same way between speech and ASL, and that isn’t the case.
Cute contemporary with great historical and cultural insight into Deaf/HoH communities.
4 howls
If you enjoyed The Silence Between Us, consider checking out the following books:
Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick (Dual perspective MG story following Deaf characters and their lives intersect in unusual ways)
You’re Welcome Universe by Whitney Gardner (YA contemporary about a Deaf girl who gets kicked out of her school and has to go to a hearing school. She finds a way to cope and uses graffiti as an escape)
El Deafo by Cece Bell (Graphic MG memoir about Cece as a child and learning to accept herself as she lost her hearing)
Review: The Silence Between Us is about a teen named Maya who was born able to hear but, due to an illness, she is now Deaf. After moving from New Jersey to Colorado, she goes to her first hearing school and has to adjust to a new living situation as well as a new academic setting. I liked Maya as a character. There were some moments when she seemed a little abrasive towards hearing people which bothered me but, at its core, The Silence Between Us is about vulnerability and deciding who you are willing to be vulnerable with. Seeing Maya let people into her life, even if they were hearing people, was nice to see. I’m the same way with my eyesight, so I understood how hard it was for Maya to get close to new people, and how rewarding it felt for them to not take advantage of her. I liked Maya’s love interest, Beau. He seemed genuine in all of his actions, even when he made bad decisions. One thing that I wish was done differently was when Maya saw a scar on Beau’s leg. She saw it by accident and knew it was a personal thing for Beau, but her reaction was, “I want to know where that scar came from.” I guess that just bothered me because Maya learned to let people into her life through the entire story. It just seemed like she should know how hard it is to be vulnerable around people, and this might not be something Beau wants to talk about. He does end up telling her where the scar came from. I just wish Maya didn’t have that reaction.
The plot in The Silence Between Us was a standard YA contemporary about a young girl learning to adjust to her new surroundings. One element I enjoyed quite a bit was the addition of DPN, Deaf President Now, which was a student-led movement at a university that was created when a hearing President was elected at a Deaf university. Some readers are going to dislike the idea that Maya had to hold her classmates hands and teach them about the complexities of Deaf/HoH people. But, if anyone is looking for more insight that is explicitly spelled out about the treatment of Deaf/HoH people, The Silence Between Us is a great book. I listened to the audiobook for this and it was a great experience. I didn’t have the physical version to read along with, but I appreciated how the sentences were structured when Maya, or other characters, used American Sign Language. I think there’s an assumption that sentences are translated the exact same way between speech and ASL, and that isn’t the case.
Cute contemporary with great historical and cultural insight into Deaf/HoH communities.
4 howls
If you enjoyed The Silence Between Us, consider checking out the following books:
Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick (Dual perspective MG story following Deaf characters and their lives intersect in unusual ways)
You’re Welcome Universe by Whitney Gardner (YA contemporary about a Deaf girl who gets kicked out of her school and has to go to a hearing school. She finds a way to cope and uses graffiti as an escape)
El Deafo by Cece Bell (Graphic MG memoir about Cece as a child and learning to accept herself as she lost her hearing)
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