Play Book Tag discussion

Hurt Go Happy by Ginny Rorby

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


It was my goal to start stepping out of my comfort zone this year and to start reading books that made me explore deeper and sometimes less comfortable emotions. I certainly found some of those in this book. I laughed, I cried, I felt helpless and confused, I felt angry and frustrated, but most of all (with the main character Joey) I celebrated life with all of its complexities. An outstandingly written book suitable for teens up to any age adult. There is something of all of us in this story. As an attribute to how well written and special this book is I’m recommending it to my 14 year old son as an English studies free choice novel this year. A definite 5 stars.



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What's it about? Thanks.

She is a girl who is deaf (but not born deaf) who is struggling to find her place in the world and very isolated by her circumstances. Her Mum will not let her learn sign language because she wants her to integrate into normal ‘hearing’ society and this causes many problems socially for her that her Mum just doesn’t get. If you click on the book link there is a blurb about the book. I don’t like to rewrite the plot in my reviews as I feel the summary or blurb is already available and well written. I learn Auslan (Australian Sign Language) with a teacher who was not allowed to learn to sign for similar reasons as a child. When she was a teen she finally convinced her parents to let her go to a school for deaf children in America and learned to sign there. She had a similar experience of never fitting in and intense loneliness and unhappiness until she found ‘her people’. She now passionately advocates for the rights of deaf children to learn to sign and to be allowed to integrate into the deaf community. She teaches at a small primary school here in Adelaide where all students are taught Auslan as a second language. As a result, out of 180 children, 36 are deaf and all are able to communicate with each other and their teachers and families in sign language. Very exciting. My son and I are studying Auslan as a second language. He will have it as a formal high school subject in two years time.