The Words In My Hands

Title: The Words In My Hands 

By: Asphyxia 

Published: November 30, 2021

My rating: four of five stars

I read this book to complete a prompt in the Story Graph Genre Challenge: A contemporary or literary fiction novel with disability rep. 

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.

This was a beautiful book, both the writing and the illustrations. 

If you borrow this book from a library (or a friend) make sure that you read either a hard-copy or read it digitally on a device that allows you to see the beautiful colors of these illustrations. I love how this story shows the importance of Deaf culture to a growing individual. You follow Piper who has been raised by a hearing mother who placed high importance on her learning to speak "properly" and learn how to lip read. 

When she meets Marley, the son of a deaf parent. He was raised learning to both speak and sign. As she spends more time with Marley and his mother, she begins to learn not only sign language but also how the Deaf community comes together and supports each other. 

During this whole storyline, there is so much more about food scarcity, political corruption and censorship. It makes for a very compelling story. One that had me up at 3 in the morning trying to figure out what was going to happen with Piper, Marley and their families.