A Quiet Kind of Thunder

November 15, 2017
A 16-year-old English girl with too much anxiety to speak in public makes a new friend.Steffi no longer identifies as selectively mute, though she still finds it nearly impossible to speak in public. She's currently diagnosed with a range of anxiety and communication disorders: healthier but still fragile. And Tem, her sole childhood friend, has switched schools, leaving her alone. Nevertheless, Steffi's been doing cognitive behavioral therapy and has started medication; she's determined to make this the year when she speaks in school. A teacher introduces Steffi to a new boy at school, Rhys, because he's deaf, and Steffi knows a little British Sign Language. A very little--Steffi's BSL and Rhys' lip reading are adequate, but as their friendship grows, they switch fluidly among sign, fingerspelling, writing, and texts. Her deepening relationship with Rhys is exciting, but is he with her only because she speaks BSL? Steffi's improving mental health might enable her to go to university despite parental ambivalence, but her expanding social life alienates her from Tem. There's broad representation in this romantic coming-of-age novel: of perception of disability (Steffi wants to be "normal," Rhys wouldn't choose to hear); of family support (Steffi's infantalizing mum, Rhys' BSL-fluent family); of a racially diverse community (Steffi's white, Tem's black, Rhys is biracial black/white, and their community is realistically diverse).Both earnest and nuanced without seeking causes or cures. (Fiction. 14-16)

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December 1, 2017

Gr 9 Up-When Steffi solves an equation out loud, her shocked classmates turn and stare. At school, Steffi never talks: she's a selective mute with glossophobia and an anxiety disorder. She also has supportive parents, a good therapist and the resolve to communicate at least sometimes-at her part-time job, for example, or with Tem, her trusted friend. It's not that Steffi doesn't want to speak; but sometimes, she just can't. Or, as she puts it: "Meekness is my camouflage. Silence is my force field." This doesn't phase Rhys, however, a new student who is deaf, for whom the speaking world is always silent. That's why he's a good foil and love interest. Unfortunately, he has a habit of editing himself when he signs, keeping his negative thoughts from others and making him hard to read. He may have a wonderful smile, but deep down he's pretty sure that Steffi can do better, which she assures him is not true. Together they build the confidence to find their own voices in a committed relationship. This issues-driven read will make teens care as much about the characters as about the issues that it raises. VERDICT A strong contemporary novel that portrays strength of character through a romance between its protagonists. Recommended as a general purchase.-Georgia Christgau, Middle College High School, Long Island City, NY

Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 1, 2017
Grades 9-12 Steffi does not know why she is unable to speak. She has plenty of diagnoses, including selective mutism and severe anxiety disorder. So her first day in sixth form without her best friend, who has always been there to speak for Steffi, is terrifying. Then the principal introduces Steffi to Rhys, a new boy who is deaf, explaining that Steffi's rudimentary ability to converse in British Sign Language will help Rhys adjust. Rhys is cute and funny, and it's not long before Steffi is crushing badly. A relationship between a girl who cannot speak and a boy who cannot hear is not without challenges, but Steffi and Rhys craft a unique bond that would have been impossible had they both been normal. Barnard gives her characters a bit of racial diversityRhys is mixed raceand backstories that are replete with complicated families and friendships. The result is a delightfully original love story. Recommend to readers who enjoyed John Green's Turtles All the Way Down (2017) or Whitney Gardner's You're Welcome, Universe (2017).(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)

July 1, 2018
Anxiety-sufferer Stefanie Brons hates the diagnosis "selective mutism": it makes others think she has control over her inability to speak. (Her narrative voice, however, is wonderfully sardonic and plainspoken.) When Steffi befriends cute new boy Rhys, who's deaf, and communicates with him through sign language, she sees herself anew. Thunder is the rare, authentic novel that dives into the day-to-day of debilitating anxiety.

(Copyright 2018 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)