Strong Deaf (review)

The Gilbert family is a legendary one in the Deaf community, running Bradington Academy for deaf students and regularly participating in political action, such as protests at all-deaf Gallaudet University. To fourteen-year-old Marla, who attends Bradington, this identity is the core of her existence. To Jade, twelve, it can't be, because she's the only hearing member of her deaf family. The sisters' simmering rivalry hits the boil when their parents move Jade into the senior summer baseball league along with Marla, where the girls' sporting failures and triumphs and close friendships all become fodder for sisterly battles. The story deftly blends both familiar and unusual family dynamics, with the sisters' ability to make each other crazy universally recognizable even as their concerns about exclusion based on their deaf and hearing status add a special slant. The details of a Deaf-dominant family are matter-of-factly incorporated into the narrative, with Jade taking them as much for granted as Marla. The constant ferocity of the sisters' battling drowns out some of the more interesting aspects of the book, however, and the climactic drama that results in a new relationship for the two is a hackneyed device; the limited English used to relay the deaf characters' thoughts and dialogue does effectively convey a different language use but marginalizes their communication. The sibling rivalry story will still ring true to many readers, though, and the identity exploration is a useful younger complement to Ferris' Of Sound Mind (BCCB 10/01) and Johnson's Accidents of Nature (BCCB 6/06).