Nobody's Perfect
Grade 4-6–This sometimes-tedious sequel to Matlin'sDeaf Child Crossing(S & S, 2002) focuses on Megan, a deaf girl whose speechreading and signing skills allow her to thrive in the hearing world. Megan can't wait for her positively purple birthday party, but her perfect plans get derailed when a new girl, Alexis, joins her class and rebuffs Megan's invitation. Alexis seems to be smart, athletic, and pretty, but she brushes off all of Megan's attempts to be friendly. Not until the two girls are paired up for a science project does Megan find out the reason behind Alexis's behavior. She's ashamed of her autistic brother and is afraid that her new classmates will find out about him. When Megan teaches him some basic sign language, it opens up communication with both him and Alexis. As in the first book, every character except Megan is sketchy at best, and the plot hangs on the flawed, funny forcefulness of the protagonist's giant personality. Information about Megan's school days, though often clunkily inserted into the story, provides interest. Readers unfamiliar with deafness will be fascinated by the descriptions of how she studies for a spelling bee and her interactions with her American Sign Language interpreter in the classroom (though actual interpreters will be appalled at the woman's use of bright red nail polish, an extreme no-no). Illustrations showing the manual alphabet are appended.–Kathleen Kelly MacMillan, Carroll County Public Library, MDCopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.