Sign Language

Awestruck!

My new fav book! I read in a day and a half and was in awe. I cryed, laughed, and fell in love in this book. One f thebest books I've read lately. I became best frienda with Abby. I can't wait for more of Amy Ackley!

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

This is very amoshanable

This is a sad book.That makes it good.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Honest & Heartbreaking - Beautiful & Uplifting

Sign Language is a bit of a cross between a middle grade novel and a young adult novel; it also has nothing to do with sign language itself. The sign language part comes into play because at the start, the main character Abby, a twelve year old with no worries and a loving mother and father, likes to talk to her magic eight ball and ask it for a sign regarding her nonexistent ¿ but very much hopeful ¿ love life.

Abby¿s life quickly goes from being normal, to being the façade of normal. Her father has cancer. No. Her father is dying. She knows it, he knows it, her mother and brother know it, but they all pretend and hope and act, like he¿ll pull through. Abby¿s insistence that no one outside her family ¿ not even her best friend Spence ¿ know, is heartbreaking because it is realistic. Abby doesn¿t want to be that girl whose dad has cancer. She wants normal.

Even if she can¿t have it.

As the story progresses, and Abby¿s father comes closer and closer to death, we get to see her grow and grow up. The story takes place over a span of about 3-4 years, so it truly does start out as a middle grade novel, but moves towards a more young adult field. I still believe it is a good fit for older middle grade readers though, as it handles death and grief and loss with so much honesty and raw emotion.

Death is never easy. And it¿s not easy for Abby to handle. She starts off as a young, naïve, innocent girl, but quickly transforms into a saddened, even bitter teenager. She doesn¿t know how to deal with her grief because she shies away from it, almost ignoring it altogether. Her family falls apart around her and there¿s nothing she can do about it, but deal.

Amy Ackley has expertly handled death and life with Sign Language. It¿s clear that she has experienced such tragedy firsthand; and has infused Abby, her mother, her brother Josh, the sweet boy next door Spence, and every other character with so much life that it is impossible not to feel and grieve and hope and live with them. The grief is real, the loss extreme, but the hope, the life, the love that comes out at the end ¿ it is truly uplifting. Sign Language is heartbreaking in its raw portrayal of a family losing a father and learning how to live in his absence. The subject matter may be a little too mature for some middle grade readers, but I think it¿s suitable for more mature MG readers and has plenty to offer for YA readers as well.

You will need a whole box of tissues to get through this one!

Sign Language has nothing to do with the sign language you may be thinking of, trust me I was thinking of ASL when I read the title as well. This book is about a twelve-year-old girl who struggles with finding out her father has cancer. I cried the most during this book than any other book I've ever read. I used to have a book in mind I would mention whenever someone mentioned crying while reading; this book has taken its place. The first-half of the book was gut-wrenching. I put the book down a few times to stop crying and to get my head back in the game. I cried less during the second-half, but I still enjoyed the last section of the book. We get to read about Abby from the ages of 12-15. I talk about this often, but usually I avoid books that have character(s) this young. Something about the description pulled me into wanting to read this; I'm SO happy I did! We get to experience how she feels and how different she is through three years of her life. How someone can change and grow, but in many ways stay the same is shown in this book. Looking back at the book now, I think Abby goes through every stage of grief, so we get to see her emotions go haywire at times. "He spoke to her. Not directly, mind you. Abby didn't hear God's voice; He communicated with her in writing on a three-dimensional pyramid afloat in deep blue liquid inside a black orb. He would answer her questions, but only those requiring a YES, NO, or MAYBE. God spoke to Abby through her Magic Eight Ball." We all remember Magic Eight Balls like the one on the cover, right? Abby isn't a religious person, she only turns to God when something horrible happens and when she wants a sign, but she does speak to God a few times during the book by using her Magic Eight Ball. Her doing this made me smile and laugh a bit, but it also was sad that she turned to an inanimate object to answer questions and to make her feel better. This book has taught me not to assume. I have children of my own and even though they are young, I need to remember that just because I know how something works doesn't mean my children or anyone else around me does for that matter. You need to TALK and discuss with your children even though you yourself may be going through something difficult as well. I wish Abby's mom would have been more vocal to her children in regards to their father. I do understand parents make mistakes and maybe her mom would have done things differently if she could. I couldn't find anything wrong with Sign Language. It's a novel I think everyone should experience. Whether you're young or old, even if you don't particularly enjoy young adult fiction, I think you'll enjoy this one! P.S. I just noticed I wrote this very long review, my reviews are never this long, and I didn't even mention the boy! I will say this, there is a boy that is there for Abby from the beginning and he is the SWEETEST thing ever!

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Highly recommend for teens through adults

This book is a tearjerker, no doubt about it, but it was never sappy or depressing. I never felt like the author was looking to make readers sob - in fact, she lightens things up at the precise moments that the story starts to feel unbearably sad. What makes it yank at your heartstrings is the realness of it. The story and the characters feel so authentic that you forget that they are fictional, and the book is about ordinary people living ordinary lives, until their lives are turned upside down. And while the situations involving the "C" word are handled with care, the author doesn't sugarcoat things or wrap things up in a tidy little package when the family is ready to "move on", and she doesn't add eccentric characters or quirky dialogue just to make the book different from other books about the death of a parent. The story and the writing stand on their own, and while the book does end hopefully, it embraces the fact that one never "gets over" the death of a loved one. I think Sign Language would be a great book to include in grief counseling.

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