7/3/2023 0 Comments True Biz by Sara Nović![]() ![]() February was born at home because her mother knew that there would be no one at the hospital who knew sign language. “True biz” is an expression in American Sign Language, meaning “real talk,” which is what Nović gives her readers, illuminating the challenges deaf people face in a hearing world, and the privileges that are taken for granted by the hearing. But she carries the burden of knowing that River Valley will close at the end of the year. Overseeing Charlie and Austin is River Valley’s headmistress, February Waters, who is a child of Deaf adults and a fierce advocate for her school and its students. Unlike Charlie, whose hearing parents were advised to not learn or teach their daughter ASL, Austin grew up with sign language and surrounded by close-knit Deaf family and friends, to become “the kind of bubbly, self-assured boy one can only be if he feels wholly understood.” However, the arrival of a baby sister who is hearing upends his sense of security. ![]() At River Valley, she befriends Austin Bayard-Workman, who is fifth-generation Deaf. After years of struggling in mainstream public school, 15-year-old Charlie Serrano transfers to River Valley School for the Deaf, a boarding school in the Ohio Rust Belt, where she eventually finds a sense of belonging that she never thought possible. ![]()
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