Future Girl

Local Description

MATILDA BOOKSHOP REVIEW

Art journal, tender coming of age story, imagining of a near future and musings on self sustainability... the disparate parts of this unique novel all come together to form a beautiful and cohesive whole, quite unlike anything I've read before. Sixteen year old Piper's life can be tiring. Deaf, but unable to sign, she spends much time and energy lip reading and correcting misunderstandings with those around her. Nevertheless Piper is strong and clever, most of all she is determined to find the meaning and beauty in the flawed people and situations surrounding her, while working to improve upon what she has been given. Emilie

Description

Piper's mum wants her to be 'normal', to pass as hearing and get a good job. But when peak oil hits and Melbourne lurches towards environmental catastrophe, Piper has more important things to worry about, such as how to get food. When she meets Marley, a CODA (child of Deaf adult), a door opens into a new world - where Deafness is something to celebrate rather than hide, and where resilience is created through growing your own food rather than it being delivered on a truck. As she dives into learning Auslan, sign language that is exquisitely beautiful and expressive, Piper finds herself falling hard for Marley. But Marley, who has grown up in the Deaf community yet is not Deaf, is struggling to find his place in the hearing world. How can they be together?Future Girl is the art journal of sixteen-year-old Piper, a visual extravaganza of text, paint, collage and drawings, woven into a deeply engaging coming-of-age story set in near-future Melbourne.

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Awards

Shortlisted for the ABIA Book of the Year for Older Children (ages 13+) 2021 Shortlisted for the Indie Young Adult’s Book Award 2021

Reviews

MACLEAN'S BOOKS REVIEW: This is one of my favourite books of 2020. It's a stunning package and a book you will just want to keep on your shelf. The book is written as a full colour art diary, by a hearing impaired teenager living in what could be a the near future. It's main story-line is the environmental destruction of our community by big businesses, but from the perspective of a teenager just heading out into the world on her own, discovering the deaf community and how being passionate and active in your community can bring about real change. -- Amanda