Like a lot of the books I’ve read recently (thank you pandemic, I guess) I don’t recall exactly why I chose this one. I think I picked it up back in 2019 at my first ever SCBWI conference. But I do remember enjoying the cover art and the idea of a whale, and so I dove in without even reading the back blurb. Somehow I knew I’d enjoy it.
And that turned out to be true, and I enjoyed the fact that I knew little to nothing about it before just diving in. Iris was immediately endearing, and I found reading about the struggles of a teenage deaf girl insightful. I’ve always been intrigued with sign language, and would like to learn it someday — my son and I once learned to spell and for a while were using it to talk across noisy spaces — so reading about Iris and her world really opened up mine.
I’ve since tried seeing in my oldest son (10) will read it with me, because I think he’ll enjoy it too.