The Biz

 Sara Novic is the author of the fiction novel called The Biz. Set in Pennsylvania at a residential school for deaf elementary and high school students. Charlie (Charlotte) is a new student at the school and trying to fit in. She is 15 and was not doing well in public school. She has never met another deaf person. Her parents had a cochlear implant inserted into her brain. Charlie does not like her implant because it's not functioning as it should. She is unable to hear most things in school. Her parents have divorced. Her father in understanding. Her mother, who works at as consultant to help girls and women win beauty pageants, is more concerned about looks and fitting in. At school the headmistress, February, asks Austin to show Charlie the ropes and take her under his wing. Austin is a popular boy at school. His mother and grandparents attended the school. His family celebrates their deafness. They do not consider themselves as disabled or less than. February, the head of the school, can hear but was born to deaf parents. February is doing all she can to keep the school running. When students break the rules February had a technique called the biz. If the offending student gave a full explanation of why they broke the rules February would go easier on the punishment. I enjoyed this novel and learning more about the deaf culture. Some people think the increased use of cochlear implants will eliminate the rich and varied deaf culture. Some people think giving cochlear implants to children who can't refuse is wrong. The author said in the notes she got the idea for the story after reading about a cochlear implant manufacturer who knew their implants were malfunctioning and hurting patients and kept that information to themselves and kept selling their defective products.