Book of The Month discussion

A transporting novel that follows a year of seismic romantic, political, and familial shifts for a teacher and her students at a boarding school for the deaf, from the acclaimed author of Girl at War.

True biz (adj/exclamation; American Sign Language): really, seriously, definitely, real-talk

True biz? The students at the River Valley School for the Deaf just want to hook up, pass their history final, and have doctors, politicians, and their parents stop telling them what to do with their bodies. This revelatory novel plunges readers into the halls of a residential school for the deaf, where they'll meet Charlie, a rebellious transfer student who's never met another deaf person before; Austin, the school's golden boy, whose world is rocked when his baby sister is born hearing; and February, the headmistress, who is fighting to keep her school open and her marriage intact, but might not be able to do both. As a series of crises both personal and political threaten to unravel each of them, Charlie, Austin, and February find their lives inextricable from one another--and changed forever.

This is a story of sign language and lip-reading, cochlear implants and civil rights, isolation and injustice, first love and loss, and, above all, great persistence, daring, and joy. Absorbing and assured, idiosyncratic and relatable, this is an unforgettable journey into the Deaf community and a universal celebration of human connection.

Please remember this is a discussion thread!

** Spoilers might be listed so read carefully
** Please use Spoiler Tags to hide spoiler comments!!

read through Figuratively Speaking lesson / page 119

I like this one so far
(view spoiler)[
I feel really bad for Charlie, not having a way to communicate, never feeling like enough for her mom. I hope she doens't fall back in to her bad coping ways now. . .

but this started with 3 students going missing right? Yikes, I wonder why. Do they find out they are losing the school and go try to do something?

I like February too, altough I'm not sure I could deal with Mel's jealousy. She's really good with the kids and really seems to love the school and what it means for the community.

And poor Austin. That must be so difficult to see his dad singing and cooing and just doting on the hearing little sister. You tell yourself it wouldn't make a difference but I can see how it would for Austin. (hide spoiler)]

through The Cure for You lesson / pg208

(view spoiler)[ wow, I didn't know the history of BASL either. It's interesting. And now I'm even more sad thi school and community are going to be broken up but I don't see a way to save it. (hide spoiler)]

Through the BASL lesson / page 272

(view spoiler)[ still liking this one but this was kind of a filler section
February's mother passed and Charlie stole another night away
but otherwise, not much else happened.

the pressure cookers are concerning though. Are they planning to blow something up? and will this save/hurt the school? (hide spoiler)]

and I'm done

(view spoiler)[ ugh, her getting shocked and her mom STILL trying to get her another surgery?! Wild!! What a horrible thing her mom is doing! She made me so mad the whole book!

I'm really glad February found them and stopped them. I know they were mad, but that wasn't 100% the right course to take. Violence and possibly killing a security guard who is just doing his job. . .that wans't it.

Gabriella! lol loved her final update - disliked her so much! (hide spoiler)]

this was cute but also interesting and filled with so much information about a topic I don't find in books almost ever: the deaf community.