Jessi's Secret Language

Jessi's Secret Language: A Graphic Novel (The Baby-Sitters Club #12) (The Baby-Sitters Club Graphix) by Ann M. Martin and Chan Chau

The twelfth babysitters club graph novel explores the deaf, ballet and sign language. Jessi is in a new ballet class and is one of the better kids in the class. Other kids feel jealous of her. She feels it may be because she is the youngest and newest girl. (The fact that she is the only black girl in the class is never mentioned.) However, she continues to work and gets a lead role in the upcoming ballet. Meanwhile, she also gets the job of babysitting a new family. She goes twice awake and learns sign language to communicate with a deaf boy and his hearing sister. The sister struggles with being looked down on because she is always helping her brother. Jessi helps her to overcome this. She also helps both to get good friends. She is also able to communicate with the deaf sister of a girl in her ballet class. For the opening performance, Jessi invites all her friends and the deaf class. They all enjoy the ballet. This one is a nice positive message that seems to have fewer false dramas than other BSC books.

Song for a Whale

Song for a Whale by Lynne Kelly

A deaf girl lives in a hearing family and goes to a hearing school. Her maternal grandparents were deaf, so her mother can sign well. However, her father struggles with signing. She is interested in electronics and repairing old radios. Her grandmother has not been herself since grandfather died. 

Then one day, they learn about a whale that communicates on a different frequency. The girl becomes keen to help the whale. She sympathizes with challenges communicating with other loved ones. She plans to create a song on the frequency of the whale. However, her parents do not want her to go see the whale. However, she learns that her grandmother had planned to go on an Alaska cruise before grandfather died. this cruise happens to go right to the area where the whale is. They hatch a secret plan together to go and visit the whale.

They both have a great time on the cruise. Grandma comes out of her shell and starts to become more social - even launching some deaf karaoke. They make other friends on the ship (that they communicate with by writing.) Then they hear bad news. The whale crew plans on tagging the whale without playing the song. There is also a chance they will not even see the whale. The girl plots to build her own whale speaker by using some electronic junk they can find. Eventually, she throws it out into the ocean. She jumps into the ocean as the whale coms to see her. Afterwards, grandma is doing well, and the girl's parents finally allow her to go to a deaf school. 

The book keeps you engaged, while building up plenty of sympathy for the main characters. The novel presents deaf communication in a matter-of-fact way. She is just thinking and communicating. We learn at times that they write things down to help communication. However, for the most part, she just communicates. The cruise part, on the other hand is a little off.  While there are some Alaskan cruises from San Francisco, most are from Seattle or Vancouver. A San Francisco cruise would be longer, making it unlikely to be completed in a short time. These are also less likely to go to additional locations within Alaska.  It would also be a major Jones act violation to exit the cruise the Alaska.

Subculture Vulture: A Memoir in Six Scenes

Subculture Vulture: A Memoir in Six Scenes by Moshe Kasher

Moshe Kasher creates a memoir of his life in "six scenes" which cover subcultures that he has been involved in phases of his life. He was an alcoholic at as a teen and become sober through AA. He was later involved in the Bay Area rave scene, both DJing promoting and selling ecstacy. Burning Man became another key part of his identity as he was involved as an attendee, and an employee. He was raised Jewish, which was an important part of his life (his father became orthodox after his parents divorced.) His parents were deaf, while he and his brother could hear, making him part of the deaf community and involved in translation efforts. Finally, he worked his way up through the comedy scene and has become involved in the comedy scene. There were challenges in each of the areas, as well as plenty of humorous anecdotes. The story of his deaf dad beating up the son of the mafioso stuck in my mind. (The result was the mafioso coming out and punishing his kid for getting beat up by a deaf Jew.) The book reads like a long comedy routine by a stand-up, complete with plenty of self-effacing vulgarity.