You're Welcome, Universe
Books | Young Adult Fiction / Social Themes / General
3.6
(162)
Whitney Gardner
A vibrant, edgy, fresh new YA voice for fans of More Happy Than Not and Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda, packed with interior graffiti.Winner of the Schneider Family Book Award! When Julia finds a slur about her best friend scrawled across the back of the Kingston School for the Deaf, she covers it up with a beautiful (albeit illegal) graffiti mural. Her supposed best friend snitches, the principal expels her, and her two mothers set Julia up with a one-way ticket to a “mainstream” school in the suburbs, where she’s treated like an outcast as the only deaf student. The last thing she has left is her art, and not even Banksy himself could convince her to give that up. Out in the ’burbs, Julia paints anywhere she can, eager to claim some turf of her own. But Julia soon learns that she might not be the only vandal in town. Someone is adding to her tags, making them better, showing off—and showing Julia up in the process. She expected her art might get painted over by cops. But she never imagined getting dragged into a full-blown graffiti war. Told with wit and grit by debut author Whitney Gardner, who also provides gorgeous interior illustrations of Julia’s graffiti tags, You’re Welcome, Universe introduces audiences to a one-of-a-kind protagonist who is unabashedly herself no matter what life throws in her way. "[A] spectacular debut...a moving, beautifully written contemporary novel full of quirky art and complicated friendships...this book is a gift to be thankful for."—BookRiot
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More Details:
Author
Whitney Gardner
Pages
304
Publisher
Random House Children's Books
Published Date
2017-03-07
ISBN
0399551433 9780399551437
Community ReviewsSee all
"Easy read, nothing too challenging to follow. Pretty light, love tue plot. I leant this book to all of my friends so I could talk about it with them."
Why Not
"Great book!! Julia, a 16 year old girl who is deaf, transfers schools after she was expelled. She is a street artist, and as an anonymous figure starts adding to her pieces, a turf war starts. Julia discovers who are her true friends and who she can trust. Would definitely recommend!! (Word of warning, there is a fair bit of swearing in the book.) "
c
chloe
"Found this in my school library and I read it for this marking period! Just finished reading it today and I loved it so much!! Definitely worth a read!!!"
Buzzer
"You're Welcome Universe was an okay story.<br/>There wasn't much to the plot, but it was enough. The characters were fine, and I even did begin to like one of the side characters a bit, though I do wonder why we never learn her real name. Oh well. YP will suffice for now.<br/>The story had a cool theme and potential. It's not often that I read books with deaf MCs. However, in this book, the sign language and spoken language are not discerned. In fact, the author does not always use words like 'signed' for when characters do sign. Instead, she uses words like 'said'. I was often confused as to what actually was going on.<br/>Even the ending confused me a little, and went too fast in my opinion. I wish the author had explained the ending a bit more instead of using so many pronouns without even identifying the subject."
Charis Negley