You Don't Know Everything, Jilly P! by Alex Gino
Published by Scholastic Press on September 25th 2018
ISBN: 0545956242
Pages: 256
Goodreads

This book is about a girl named Jilly with a new baby sister, Emma, that is born deaf. Jilly wants to find a way to help and communicate with her so she seeks help from an online young friend that is deaf. What she finds out is that it is easy to say things that are hurtful without meaning to and finding a way to avoid that takes thoughtfulness and a willingness to work at it, including saying you’re sorry.

The chatroom that Jilly meets her friend Derek in was great, it is made up of a bunch of students that love a book series and like to talk about it with each other, almost a book club kind of thing. The stuff they say to each other is honest and sometimes uncomfortable which puts the reader in the position of thinking, “What would I do”? With Jilly’s own family, the remarks they make towards her aunt and other Black people are sometimes racist and often just pushed aside and ignored until Jilly decides that it’s not right. When she finds her voice and stands up to them, it will make you hope you would do the same. This book will definitely make readers look at themselves and how they can support others.

Cream, Grades 4 and up, Mary Lehmer, Freeport Community Library.