A REESE'S BOOK CLUB PICK True biz (adj. exclamation American Sign Language): really
seriously definitely real-talk True biz? The students at the River Valley School for the
Deaf just want to hook up pass their history finals and have politicians doctors and their
parents stop telling them what to do with their bodies. This revelatory novel plunges readers
into the halls of a residential school for the deaf where they'll meet Charlie a rebellious
transfer student who's never met another deaf person before Austin the school's golden boy
whose world is rocked when his baby sister is born hearing and February the hearing
headmistress a CODA (child of deaf adult(s)) who is fighting to keep her school open and her
marriage intact but might not be able to do both. As a series of crises both personal and
political threaten to unravel each of them Charlie Austin and February find their lives
inextricable from one another-and changed forever. This is a story of sign language and
lip-reading disability and civil rights isolation and injustice first love and loss and
above all great persistence daring and joy. Absorbing and assured idiosyncratic and
relatable this is an unforgettable journey into the Deaf community and a universal celebration
of human connection.
