My Most Excellent Year
is a young adult novel by Steve Kluger. It follows teenagers T.C., his
brother Augie, and Alejandra, and is written in the form of diary
entries, instant messages, and emails from them and other supporting
characters.
My Most Excellent Year also features a very well-written and
-rounded Deaf character named Hucky. Hucky is a six-year-old boy living
in a residence for Deaf children after his mother abandoned him. Hucky
is befriended by the three main characters, especially T.C.
Hucky is an excellent contrast to many deaf children in literature. He definitely stood out in comparison to the little boy in Invincible Summer
by Hannah Moskowitz, who is basically treated as a tragic,
misunderstood character with little feelings of his own except what
other characters lay onto him. Hucky, by contrast, definitely has his
own personality, opinions, way of communicating, and outlook on life.
The little boy is allowed to grow over the course of the novel, along
with the other three main characters. By the end of the novel Hucky is
very different than he was at the start, and you can see him blossoming.
His communication "problems" are never actually a problem. The
characters embrace learning American Sign Language, and there are some
funny moments when they can't communicate properly or don't know the
right signs. The novel even touches on the difference between ASL and
British Sign Language through another character.
This is a really sweet novel that I think is a great example of the way
d/Deaf/hard of hearing characters can be written so well. I really liked
it and I hope you get the chance to pick it up, too.
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