The Silence Between Us: Do you embrace who you are or blend in?

Each of us has an insecurity that raises its ugly head and taunts us or makes us feel like we don’t quite belong.

Have you ever felt misunderstood or labeled? Do you think people are trying to change you rather than accept you? Did you ever try to hide rather than fight preconceived ideas? Ever felt judged? This novel tackles the range of emotions rising in such situations.

In The Silence Between Us, a YA novel by Alison Gervais, Maya moves from New Jersey where she attends a school for the deaf and hearing impaired, to Colorado, where she attends a public high school. She misses her old school where she felt she fit in. Of course, communication with her peers had been easier there where everyone spoke American Sign Language. But two kids at her new school, Nina and Beau, reach out by learning to sign.

Yet Maya puts up walls because she is suspicious of their motives. She misunderstands her peers as much as she believes they misunderstand her. Are people trying to fix her or accommodate her, or do they really want to know her? Immersed in Maya’s world, we feel what it is like to be deaf and experience the difficulties that arise in areas we may take for granted because we can hear. Maya wants people to know she is the same as anyone else. Her difference is she can’t hear. Just like others, she desires to be accepted for who she is.

Maya believes everyone is judging her, but she’s judging them just the same. She does face discrimination that others do not, but when they try to help, she believes they are trying to fix her instead. But Maya is not broken.

I really liked Maya, Nina, and Beau. Maya wants to prove to Nina she doesn’t need her help. As for Beau, Maya thinks he’s just some rich, cool kid trying to earn points for being nice to the poor deaf girl. Beau, however, wrestles with his own troubles as he hides behind a facade. He gathers courage to tell about his own pain and about how his dreams contradict what his father’s wishes are for him. This is a good story about standing up for yourself even when it is hard.

Watching their friendships grow is rewarding because Nina and Beau persist in reaching out. Misunderstandings crop up throughout life. Avoiding the tough subjects never brings resolution. Maya discovers that people do accept her when she chooses to communicate her feelings rather than hide them. She learns asking for help or showing you are sad doesn’t make you weak.

People are all different yet not “so different after all.”

I cried. I smiled.

I hope you’ll get a chance to read The Silence Between Us. Having a YA story from the POV of a deaf girl makes it unique, but all teens wrestle with figuring out who they are and whether they will choose to stay true to self and embrace their own uniqueness or try to blend in.

Tell us of a time when you persisted and made a good friend.