Sign Language

Sign Language

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3.99 of 5 stars 3.99  ·  rating details  ·  235 ratings  ·  77 reviews
Twelve-year-old Abby North's first hint that something is really wrong with her dad is how long it's taking him to recover from what she thought was routine surgery. Soon, the thing she calls "It" has a real name: cancer. Before, her biggest concerns were her annoying brother, the crush unaware of her existence, and her changing feelings for her best friend, Spence, the bo...more
Hardcover, 392 pages
Published August 18th 2011 by Viking Juvenile
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2011 August YA Releases
40th out of 69 books — 73 voters
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168th out of 275 books — 183 voters


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Community Reviews

(showing 1-30 of 1,239)
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Emily Brown (TheBrownReviews)
Concept/Ideas: 5/5
Storyline/Plot: 5/5
Characters: 5/5
Writing Style: 5/5
Overall Rating: 5/5 stars

ALL I CAN SAY IS WOW! READ THIS BOOK! GO READ IT NOW!!!

This book was NOTHING SHORT OF AMAZING!

From the very first page I was absoloutely HOOKED!
The storyline is commonly used, yes, BUT, it was written in such a interesting, heart breaking, tear jerking, wonderful way, that you can't help but look at it in a different light.

Wow...

From page one..... I loved it.
The writing is so well done, and altho...more
Melissa Darnold
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
oliviasbooks
Nov 24, 2011 oliviasbooks marked it as unfinished  ·  review of another edition
Recommended to oliviasbooks by: Amy Ackley
With a few rare exceptions (i.e. Saving Francesca, Putting Makeup on Dead People, Saving June or also If I Stay) books about grief and me are usually not compatible. I am a big worrier, I have a lot of vivid imagination - the combination of both tends to keep me awake sometimes - and I primarily read for fun. It is nice when a book gives me insight or understanding as a bonus, but when I pick up a book I want to enjoy myself.

Therefore I think it was a very brave step of the author to offer me a...more
Shari
A beautifully heartbreaking story about loving, losing, and growing up during both. This story was so touching and made me realize once again how blessed I have been. I cried and cried while reading this book because even if this isn't a true story, it really is. This happens so often that it was really easy to relate to.
Ackley did such a wonderful job of making the characters real that they felt like people you have known your whole life. Even though I occasionally wanted to yell at Amy to get...more
Gabi
Such an AMAZING READ!!! Anyone can relate to this and it pulls your heartstrings more than you will ever know! You will be sucked into Abby's world and will laugh when she laughs, cry when she cries and fall in love when she falls in love.
Gabie (OwlEyesReviews)
OH. MY. GOODNESS. GRACIOUS. This book was amazing. I loved it so much. I have never in my life followed a character from when they were in 6th grade to their sophomore year in high school. I really got to know Abby as I character, and I felt like I was her friend. I loved it so much. And, it was in third person - I HATE THIRD PERSON - and I still loved it. That's saying something. Great book.

Click Here For Full Review
Heidi
Part One: Before and During - Abby is 12 and understands that her father is seriously ill; she even realizes that he has cancer, even though the "C" word hasn't been mentioned in her home. While trying to cope with the change of having Dad retire from teaching and be confined to a bed, Abby's teenage life continues--her unrequited feelings for the popular boy at school, the lovely relationship she has with Spence, her BFF, and the conversations she has with the magic 8 ball.

Part Two: After - Her...more
Scribbler King
SIGN LANGUAGE is so sweet, and so sad. ACKLEY makes you really go through the journey with Abby as her dad gets sicker and sicker and then finally dies. The book is long, but very worth it. You really feel her pain. Your heart is sick for Abby. But it's not so bad that you finish the book feeling terrible. I think it was a good choice of ACKLEY's to finish the book a year or two after her dad died, showing some of the healing.

Perhaps this book touched me even more because someone in my family is...more
Krista (CubicleBlindness Reviews)
Having a parent die at a young age can be really hard. Although it's quite different if it's sudden or if it's slow. In Sign Language Abby's father has been suffering for a long time. In the book we see bits and pieces of the real details, but enough to understand. What was heartbreaking is how Abby comes to terms with her fathers death. She's young, so she's given just enough info to let her know what's going on but not more than the family thinks she can handle. I appreciated the chapter in wh...more
Wandering Librarians
Abby's father is dying of cancer. Abby deals with this mostly by pretending that it isn't happening, until her father really dies. Now Abby has to figure out how to get through her days, with little help from her mother who has fallen apart. Abby knows her friend Spence will always be there to support her, but Abby finds she's pushing everyone away who tries to help.

The book is split into two parts, "Before and During" and "After." The book spans about three years; the year Abby's father is dyin...more
Aimee (Coffee Table Reviews)
Oh. My. I knew a little about what would happen going in, but I had no idea how much of an impact this book would truly make. I was on the verge of tears for most of the first half and the second, I found myself in tears for some pretty intense parts. It was a very emotional read. And I'm glad I read it.

I was able to connect with Abby right away. I wanted to comfort her, protect her and it was hard to watch her experience this at such a young age. Reading through, it was obvious that Abby knew h...more
Mary
Twelve-year-old Abby's dad is sick and getting sicker. First he has his kidney removed, then he has to start treatments. Abby thinks he'll get better, but then there are more treatments and he's sicker and tired all the time, and he has to quit his job, but she still thinks he'll get better. No one really tells her that it's cancer, and that it's spreading. And terminal. Or maybe her mom did tell her but she didn't believe it. She wants to think about normal problems, like how her brother ignore...more
Rachel
I read Amy Ackley’s Young Adult novel, Sign Language, in one day. It is a well-written but sad story about Abby, a 13-year-old girl, who loses her father to cancer. Her father dies less than half way through the book, and the story really centers on Abby and her families as they come to terms with the death, grieve, and ultimately go on with their lives. It will definitely make you cry.
Abby never really understood that her father would die. Her family didn’t speak about “It” and as Abby puts i...more
Haley (Beach Kissed YA Books)
Sign Language is a book that made me want to cry, shout about and be happy. I never usually get that many emotions in one book. This book shows the brave perspective of 12 year old Abby North, who really grows as she deals with her father's illness.

Amy Ackley breached a serious topic with young adult and she did very, very well. Cancer, I think, is very easy to mess up when writing about. There are so many little things that you can't forget. Amy displayed all of them in a nice manner surroundin...more
Christa
Something is terribly wrong with 12 year old Abby North’s father and no ones talking. At first it’s just a little surgery. No big deal. Dad will be up and running before they know it. But things slowly turn for the worse and Abby’s father is slowly changing into a man she doesn’t recognize. Meanwhile she enters High School and her feelings begin to change for her long time friend Spence. With the death of her father nothing is normal anymore. She and her mother constantly fight, her long time cr...more
Sally Kruger
Abby's parents explain that her father is having an operation to remove one of his kidneys. He comes home from the hospital and seems a little tired, but other than a scar on his stomach, he doesn't seem any different. Abby learns that he will be going back from time to time for treatments, but he assures her everything will be fine.

Life goes on. Abby hangs around with her best friend Spence. She goes to school and does her homework plus all the extra credit. She fights with her brother and disa...more
Rebecca
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
Traci (The Reading Geek)
Amy Ackley's Sign Language is the story of Abby whose father has cancer. Abby wasn't aware that anything was seriously wrong with her father except that it was taking him some time to recover from surgery. Abby's life begins to drastically change as her father is home resting all the time and her mother is afraid to leave his side.

Sign Language is a beautiful and heartbreaking story about loss and life. Abby's biggest concern used to be how to get the attention of her crush but, her life change...more
Krista Stevens
A pretty good YA book about how to deal (or in this family's case - not deal) with the illness and impending and subsequent death of a parent. Twelve-year old Abby's dad is very sick, but no one, it appears, wants to say it out loud. Even after he dies and Abby is heading to the wake, no adult is responsible enough to explain to her what that means, and since she's never been to a wake - she has no idea. I understand mom being distraught, but she's still a mom and she should still be thinking of...more
Kim Burean
This book follows Abby and her family from the time she is twelve and her dad is diagnosed with cancer through his death and after. Abby is in denial about the seriousness of her dad's condition. She proceeds on with life even as he is requiring more and more intense care. After he dies, she does not know how to grieve. She tries to act as normal as possible and ends up very angry. Meanwhile, her best friend, Spence is by her side every step of the way. She only has eyes for handsome Logan, howe...more
Brian
What's it like to lose your father? What if you didn't know you were losing him? For Abby North, only a 13-year old, she has to deal with both these questions at far too young an age. Her dad is dying from cancer, and her parents don't even tell her what It is until it's close to the end. In the first ever Amazon Breakthrough YA Novel winner, author Amy Ackley weaves a heartbreaking story told through pain, shadows, tears, empty stomachs, and hope. We follow Abby through her highest highs and lo...more
Reader
Despite doctor visits, operations, and treatments, 12-yr-old Abby never suspected her father had cancer. Even after the terminal diagnosis, she never expected him to actually be gone. As her mother struggles to cope with the day to day, Abby retreats into herself while her brother Josh acts out in self destructive ways. Ackley, the winner of Amazon's Breakout Novel Award, nicely depicts one teen's reaction to a sudden change in family dynamics. Abby's emotions are authentic, if slight cliched, a...more
Jacinda
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...more
Alyssa
This book was too unrealistic and annoying for me. That may be harsh, considering the topic the book is about buy I have way to many problems with this book to even list them in this review.

First of all, Abby is in denial and super gullible, and very immature if, at the age of twelve, her parents hide from her the fact that her father is dying and has cancer.

WHAT?

I mean, in like, fifth grade, when I was ten, I was presented with the fact that my grandmother had cancer, and had two to four years...more
Julia
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
Books to the Sky
Check out more reviews at Books to the Sky.

(We received this book free of charge in exchange for an honest review.)

So it took me awhile to decide what I even wanted to rate this book. It was great but it wasn't bad. It was good and I enjoyed reading it, but I was just unsure. The beginning of the book was a little slow and it wasn't until the last 100 pages or so that I was really into it!

The main character Abby is dealing with a lot of things for a girl her age; father dying, mother grieving, c...more
Kaitlin
Check out more reviews at Books to the Sky.

(I received this book free of charge in exchange for an honest review.)

So it took me awhile to decide what I even wanted to rate this book. It was great but it wasn't bad. It was good and I enjoyed reading it, but I was just unsure. The beginning of the book was a little slow and it wasn't until the last 100 pages or so that I was really into it!

The main character Abby is dealing with a lot of things for a girl her age; father dying, mother grieving, c...more
Hipsta Please
Amazing, incredible, great, fanastic, excellent etc. etc. etc.

Characters: All the characters I think were amazing, they each held what personality I thought was appropriate for people going through that time. I felt sorry for all the Norths and I couldnt help want to help them with all their problems. They each had their own way of dealing with life and I loved that and each character I could see actually living and I actually felt like I wanted to meet them and talk to them about life and thats...more
Carina
My Rating: 4.5 / 5

First thoughts:
How do you write a review for a novel that has left you completely speechless? Sign Language is an incredibly beautifully written and heart-breaking story of a young girl who has to deal with losing her father at a young age. And despite being incredibly sad, I loved the hope that it conveyed.

More detailed:
Reading books like Sign Language always makes me appreciate my easy life a lot more and makes me hope that it will stay like that forever. The only severe loss...more
Stephanie A.
This book hurt so much to read. By the halfway point I was crying so hard every few pages I had to take it away from myself for the night. The biggest qualm I had was that she seemed really childlike for 12-going-on-13, and I worried about how the author was going to make her voice grow up -- but by the end, to my pleasant surprise, I felt like I was reading a regular YA novel after all, so I really like that we were able to follow so much of Abby's journey both during and after her father's dea...more
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Sign Language (Kindle Edition)
Sign Language (ebook)
Sign Language - Excerpt (Kindle Edition)
Sign Language (ebook)
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(from Amazon.com)
Amy Ackley is a mother of three whose career has run the gamut from public administration to labor relations for top automakers. A storyteller since childhood, Ackley left home at the age of sixteen and the need to support herself caused her to abandon writing fiction for many years. She picked up a pen again after her first child was born, and she began writing Sign Language seve...more
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“The Earth never stops spinning, Abby, no matter how fast you run in the opposite direction.” 2 people liked it
“Spence, who had seen Abby at her worst, would most appreciate her at her best.” 1 person liked it
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