Book review: Future Girl

Written by Asphyxia
Available from Amazon and bookshops
Ages: 11 to 18

Maia (16) is moderately to severely deaf and wears bone conduction hearing devices.

Maia

"Future Girl is an immersive book, styled as a journal, about a deaf teenager called Piper, who’s struggling with her deaf identity. One day, she meets Marley, a hearing teenager who has a deaf mother. He teaches Piper to express her deafness by teaching her sign language. However, Marley is also struggling as he has trouble finding his place in the hearing world. Throughout the book, Piper discovers her artistic abilities and allows these, and her communication skills, to express her political beliefs. Teenagers, both deaf and hearing, will enjoy this book.

When I first received the book, I was in awe of its look. I understand that it’s wrong to judge a book by its cover, but from looking at this front cover, I knew that the book would be very artistic. I couldn’t wait to start reading it!

The first-person narrative allows the story to flow, so it’s easy to read because you’re involved with the events of Piper’s life. I’ve never read anything like this, and that’s a good thing! Not only does it have an original take on climate change, but this is also the first book I’ve read with a deaf protagonist and one to whom I could relate. I can identify with Piper’s struggles to lip-read and communicate in noisy situations. I believe my younger self would have related to her struggles with her deaf identity.

I learnt the importance of being proud of your deafness and not letting it stop you from expressing your beliefs and opinions. I’d recommend this to deaf teenagers and hearing people who want to learn about the deaf community."