The Words in My Hands is a teen fiction book that is listed as a coming of age story as well as a Dystopian novel. It’s about a deaf teenager but it’s set in a future world. The book is the winner of the ALA Schneider Family Book Award for Teens.
Stars: ****
Here is the summary:
Part coming of age, part call to action, this fast-paced #ownvoices novel about a Deaf teenager is a unique and inspiring exploration of what it means to belong.
Set in an ominously prescient near future, The Words in My Hands is the story of Piper: sixteen, smart, artistic, and rebellious, she’s struggling to conform to what her mom wants—for her to be ‘normal,’ to pass as hearing, and get a good job. But in a time of food scarcity, environmental collapse, and political corruption, Piper has other things on her mind—like survival.
Deaf since the age of three, Piper has always been told that she needs to compensate in a world that puts those who can hear above everyone else. But when she meets Marley, a whole new world opens up—one where Deafness is something to celebrate rather than hide, and where resilience and hope are created by taking action, building a community, and believing in something better.
Published to rave reviews as Future Girl in Australia (Allen & Unwin, Sept. 2020), this unforgettable story is told through a visual extravaganza of text, paint, collage, and drawings that bring Piper’s journey vividly to life. Insightful, hopeful, and empowering, The Words in My Hands is very much a novel for our turbulent times.
The book is beautiful on the inside. It’s made to look like the text was written on white paper that was glued on scrapbook paper. There are sketches and other beautiful parts too.
If you or your teen are interested in deaf life and/or dystopian novels, this is a good pick. It’s by one of my favourite publishers, Annick Press.
Buy The Words in My Hands (affiliate link)
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