THREE starred reviews! See what Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, and School Library Journal have to say!
Named one of Kirkus’ Best Books of 2018 (Middle-Grade Friendship Stories).
Received Audiofile’s Earphones Award.
Read Deaf writer Ann Clare Le Zotte‘s interview with Alex here, hosted by We Need Diverse Books.
The way the world sees you changes how you see the world.
Jilly thinks she’s figured out how life works. But when her sister Emma is born Deaf, she realizes how much she still has to learn. The world is going to treat Jilly, who is white and hearing, differently from Emma, just as it will treat them both differently from their Black cousins.
A big fantasy reader, Jilly makes a connection online with another fantasy fan, Derek, who is a Deaf Black ASL user. She goes to Derek for help with Emma but doesn’t always know the best way or time to ask for it. As she and Derek meet in person, have some really fun conversations, and become friends, Jilly makes some mistakes . . . but comes to understand that it’s up to her, not Derek, to figure out how to do better next time — especially when she wants to be there for Derek the most.
Within a world where kids like Derek and Emma aren’t assured the same freedom or safety as kids like Jilly, Jilly is starting to learn all the things she doesn’t know – and by doing that, she’s also working to discover how to support her family and her friends.
With You Don’t Know Everything, Jilly P!, award-winning author Alex Gino uses their trademark humor, heart, and humanity to show readers how being open to difference can make you a better person, and being open to change can make you change in the best possible ways.
Published in hardcover from Scholastic Press on September 25, 2019. Paperback released May 2020. Edited by David Levithan.
You can order a signed copy of JILLY P! through Oblong Books (include any personalization in your comments) or use Indie Bound to find an independent bookstore near you. Award-winning audiobook is available through Libro.fm. JILLY P! is also available at Apple Books, Google Play, Kobo, Barnes & Noble, and Amazon!
Thanks to Ayisha Knight-Shaw for gifting Derek with a wonderful name sign, which gets right at the way Derek has one eyebrow raised at the universe. It is an X-handshape with a wiggling index finger above the eyebrow.
Here, Ayisha tells us “The name sign is Derek.” Derek is the last sign. (In ASL grammar, she says: NAME SIGN WHAT? DEREK)
Thanks also to the Nerdy Book Club for hosting the cover reveal. Read Alex’s thoughts on the book and cover here!