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quefelicia's review against another edition
4.0
Yes, it’s a bit preachy. No, the plot and dialogue aren’t groundbreaking. But the messages are so important, and Jilly is such a genuine character to tackle them with. I really appreciated how Gino embraced the discomfort and messy reality of confronting one’s privilege. Jilly made so many mistakes, but she owned them and learned from them. Even after apologizing and resolving conflicts, she is still left feeling “icky,” an all too real and sometimes newly familiar feeling to tweens and teens. This title will do especially well with young middle schoolers.
carolineinthelibrary's review against another edition
3.0
I really liked the message and the story of You Don't Know Everything, Jilly P! but rated it three stars for some stylistic choices that I'll get into...
Jilly has a new baby sister who is born deaf. Jilly also has a friend through an online community who is deaf as well as Black. Jilly learns tough lessons throughout the book about how to be a good friend and ally to both the Deaf community and the Black folks in her life, often by making mistakes and learning from them. I liked that about the book - Jilly is young and learning, and even adults make mistakes while learning to be good allies. Jilly has supportive family members to help her learn and grow and she takes accountability for her mistakes as she begins to understand them. Gino explains at the end of the book their tie to the Deaf community and I've seen some great reviews from Deaf folks about the quality and commitment to honoring the Deaf community, so while I'm hearing and obviously don't think I'm qualified to speak to that commitment myself, I really appreciate the care that Gino put into their work and am glad to see it being praised by folks in the community.
A couple of things kept me from loving the story. There were some picky things, like repetitive things that I think were meant to tell us more about the character but just sort of got annoying to me - Jilly has a special way of making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, so she calls them JP PB&Js and throughout the book we're reminded what the acronym stands for. I think after the first time most readers would get it, but this is aimed at a young audience, so maybe that's why it's done. I also found it sort of weird how Jilly's best friend has a secret language with Jilly's dad that Jilly is left out of, but maybe that's just my daddy issues knee jerk reaction.
Bigger things that I struggled with: as someone who works with kids, I know there's a wiiiiiide, wide range of understandings out there but I felt at times like this book overexplained things to the point of feeling like it was talking down to the reader. Some of the topics covered didn't require much explanation in my opinion, but obviously everyone comes from a different place in reading and in social justice topics. Maybe I only felt this way because I’m an adult but I’m sure there are very informed kids out there who might feel turned away from Jilly’s story for the same reason. I also wanted just one or two more ways that Jilly showed her growing awareness through successes rather than mistakes. It felt like a lot of the story was Jilly failing or making mistakes in order to learn how to be a better friend, family member, and ally, but I would have loved to see a little more of Jilly learning through things she did right throughout the story rather than at the very end. I want kids to know that learning is tough and it does take making mistakes and learning from them, but everything they do to learn to be a better ally won’t be mistakes or failings.
Jilly has a new baby sister who is born deaf. Jilly also has a friend through an online community who is deaf as well as Black. Jilly learns tough lessons throughout the book about how to be a good friend and ally to both the Deaf community and the Black folks in her life, often by making mistakes and learning from them. I liked that about the book - Jilly is young and learning, and even adults make mistakes while learning to be good allies. Jilly has supportive family members to help her learn and grow and she takes accountability for her mistakes as she begins to understand them. Gino explains at the end of the book their tie to the Deaf community and I've seen some great reviews from Deaf folks about the quality and commitment to honoring the Deaf community, so while I'm hearing and obviously don't think I'm qualified to speak to that commitment myself, I really appreciate the care that Gino put into their work and am glad to see it being praised by folks in the community.
A couple of things kept me from loving the story. There were some picky things, like repetitive things that I think were meant to tell us more about the character but just sort of got annoying to me - Jilly has a special way of making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, so she calls them JP PB&Js and throughout the book we're reminded what the acronym stands for. I think after the first time most readers would get it, but this is aimed at a young audience, so maybe that's why it's done. I also found it sort of weird how Jilly's best friend has a secret language with Jilly's dad that Jilly is left out of, but maybe that's just my daddy issues knee jerk reaction.
Bigger things that I struggled with: as someone who works with kids, I know there's a wiiiiiide, wide range of understandings out there but I felt at times like this book overexplained things to the point of feeling like it was talking down to the reader. Some of the topics covered didn't require much explanation in my opinion, but obviously everyone comes from a different place in reading and in social justice topics. Maybe I only felt this way because I’m an adult but I’m sure there are very informed kids out there who might feel turned away from Jilly’s story for the same reason. I also wanted just one or two more ways that Jilly showed her growing awareness through successes rather than mistakes. It felt like a lot of the story was Jilly failing or making mistakes in order to learn how to be a better friend, family member, and ally, but I would have loved to see a little more of Jilly learning through things she did right throughout the story rather than at the very end. I want kids to know that learning is tough and it does take making mistakes and learning from them, but everything they do to learn to be a better ally won’t be mistakes or failings.
bardicbramley's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
maddydaisy's review
emotional
hopeful
informative
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
mbrandmaier's review against another edition
4.0
After her baby sister is born, Jilly learns to be a better advocate for members of the Deaf community as well as for members of the Black community. Sometimes that means making awkward mistakes or saying the wrong thing. Sometimes that means having conversations that make everyone uncomfortable. But all through the story, Jilly continues to learn and grow.
kice7788's review against another edition
4.0
This book was great! It is about a girl named Jilly P and her sister who is born deaf. Of course lots of other things happen but it was really cool reading about this topic when I never have before. It has some hard emotions in it that I truly think kids now need to read about them! Parents dont like to talk to their kids about things and this book is a great way to open up the conversation with your kids! I think Alex Geno really puts it all on the table and that makes things so easy! I cannot wait to see what they have for us readers next! I will have a video talking about my thoughts on my booktube channel soon! Please head over to kwellsbooks on youtube to see it.
mrs_bookdragon's review against another edition
5.0
Alex Gino is such a wonderful writer. I listened to the audio version and would recommend, it was done very well. There were many important topics covered and they were done very well. Jilly P grew so much and I enjoyed the ending. Highly recommend. Now excuse me while I go learn sign language.
sweetm917's review against another edition
emotional
informative
inspiring
fast-paced
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.5
beths0103's review against another edition
5.0
Jillian is experiencing growing pains in the form of life lessons. Her new baby sister was born deaf and she is dealing with some racial tensions in her family as well as in a newly forming friendship.
While this is a book written for kids, Gino is very open that it "is consciously written for white people as a catalyst to talk about modern racism and police violence in the United States," as they stated in the author's note at the end.
The part of the book that especially spoke to me was the tension-filled Thanksgiving dinner where Jilly is saddened to learn that some of her family members are racist. That was such a palpable moment in the story.
If I had one criticism of the book is that it's as subtle as a sledgehammer in addressing political issues, to the point where it feels a bit didactic in places. But the book has lovable characters and its greatest strength is that it models the necessity for white people to talk about race and in order to do that, we need to get uncomfortable and recognize that we're going to screw up. But doing and saying nothing speaks just as loudly as saying something offensive.
While this is a book written for kids, Gino is very open that it "is consciously written for white people as a catalyst to talk about modern racism and police violence in the United States," as they stated in the author's note at the end.
The part of the book that especially spoke to me was the tension-filled Thanksgiving dinner where Jilly is saddened to learn that some of her family members are racist. That was such a palpable moment in the story.
If I had one criticism of the book is that it's as subtle as a sledgehammer in addressing political issues, to the point where it feels a bit didactic in places. But the book has lovable characters and its greatest strength is that it models the necessity for white people to talk about race and in order to do that, we need to get uncomfortable and recognize that we're going to screw up. But doing and saying nothing speaks just as loudly as saying something offensive.
jbuvalentine's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes