Thirteen-year-old Joey Willis is used to being left out of conversations. Though she’s been deaf since the age of six, Joey’s mother has never allowed her to learn sign language. She strains to read the lips of those around her, but often fails.

Everything changes when Joey meets Dr. Charles Mansell and his baby chimpanzee, Sukari. Her new friends use sign language to communicate, and Joey secretly begins to learn to sign. Spending time with Charlie and Sukari, Joey has never been happier. She even starts making friends at school for the first time. But as Joey’s world blooms with possibilities, Charlie’s and Sukari’s choices begin to narrow—until Sukari’s very survival is in doubt.

CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 5.0 based on 17 reviews)

Hurt and Happy Reader

This book quickly grabbed my heart and never let go!

Joey Willis is deaf, and her mother refuses to let her learn sign language. While out collecting mushrooms, Joey meets an elderly man, Dr. Charles Mansell, and his baby chimpanzee, Sukari. He communicates with the chimp by signing.

Joey and Sukari have much in common. Both have been hurt by human ignorance. Joey struggles to free herself from an abusive past. Can she find the courage to save Sukari from a similar fate?

The greatest magic of this book is how the author depicts Sukari. I cared as much for her fate as if she were a human child.

I defy anybody to read HURT GO HAPPY without crying. It's that powerful. I plan to read it again.

November 15, 2008

Hurt Go Happy

Hurt Go Happy is about a young girl named Joey Willis who is deaf because of her father being abusive. Joey has a difficult time communicating with other students. Joey goes on an expedition and runs into Charlie, an old man who owns a chimpanzee named Sukari who uses sign language to communicate. Her mother does not approve of her using sign language because Joey will be seen as different in the hearing society. Therefore, Joey struggles to please her mother and pursue her interest in American Sign Language. This book is appropriate for grades fifth through eighth grade. Students reading this book may learn to be tolerant and empathetic of other's differences.

November 05, 2008

This Book Made Me Cry

This book made me cry. I read almost a book a day, which is about 350 books a year. Not many of them make me cry, but this one did. Hurt Go Happy is the most touching and emotional book I have ever read. Ginny Rorby's writing allows you to become the character(s), and see everything through their eyes.
Early in the story, we meet Joey Willis, a rambunctious 13 year old who has been deaf for 7 years. She comes across Dr. Charles Mansell and his pet chimpanzee, Sukari. She immediately likes them and they become friends quickly. Joey's mother, on the other hand, is disgusted by the thought of being near a chimp, and thinks that Charlie is a perverse old man. Joey is amazed that anyone could not like Sukari, an adorable, chocolate colored, three and a half year old chimp.
Sukari can speak in sign language and acts like a normal child. She wears diapers and clothes, has temper tantrums and has a time out corner. She is covered in thin, silky brown hair, white on her bottom (hence the name Sukari, which means "sugar bottom") She carries around a doll and loves to be tickled and to have books read to her. Her favorite snack is raisins, which she begs for constantly.
Most of the action in the story takes place in Charlie's home. His house is built onto the side of a mountain. It is surrounded by huge trees and hills and lots of mushrooms. The inside is a mess, due to Sukari's constant temper tantrums and quick changes of ideas for entertainment. Her room is laced with ropes that she can hang on and a platform. Strewn around are various toys and dolls.
While Joey loves spending time with Sukari at Charlie's house, her mother still does not approve. The main conflict in the story is between Joey and her mother. In addition to not wanting her to be friends with Charlie, her mother also refuses to let Joey learn sign language. Joey has always wanted to learn, but her mother won't let her because she wants her to be "normal", and she (her mother) thinks sign language will make her stand out even more than being deaf already does. However, Joey rebels by secretly learning sign language so she can better communicate with Charlie and Sukari.
The main theme of this story is to not give up on your dreams. Joey always dreamed of learning sign language, and being with other deaf people. She had to work through many difficulties, but once her mother saw how dedicated she was, she allowed her to go to a school for the deaf. This success all happened because Joey was focused on what she wanted, and did not give up.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and recommend it to everyone, whether they like to read or not. Hurt Go Happy was a wonderful and moving story that I loved, and I'm sure that you will, too.

October 03, 2008

Amazing

This is the best book I've ever read about a chimp or a monkey. It was beautiful and full of meaning. A wonderful book.
September 05, 2008

HURT GO HAPPY

As an eighth-grade English teacher, I read young adult novels in hopes of finding a piece of writing that I can offer to my students -- one that they will enjoy, learn from, find easily, and connect to whatever else I am teaching at the time. I will admit that I don't read as many books as I should, but I do a lot of research on the prospective books in advance by reading reviews from others (thanks, Amazon!), so I can use my limited reading time wisely.

HURT GO HAPPY came to me as one of Florida's 2008-2009 Sunshine State recommended texts for students in grades 6 through 8. Researching these fifteen titles to find the couple of diamonds among them requires the use of feedback from Amazon reviewers, and this book came with glowing recommendations.

I was worried by the description that this book would be one of those formulaic, teen adventures, in this case with a deaf girl trying to save a chimpanzee -- NOT what I would call a genre I was giving much hope to. Luckily, these other reviews dispelled that dread, giving me hope that there was something more to this interestingly titled piece.

As an English and Drama teacher, I have to admit that my favorite part of what I teach is the subject of Theme (not as in "essay," or "recurring motif," but "the lessons, morals and wisdom a story has to offer"). I embrace books that come to their themes honestly, creatively and passionately. The greatest works offer themes that sink so deep into our minds, hearts and souls that we cannot remove these lessons from ourselves, no matter how hard we try. You don't have to read TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD more than once to feel that the power of its lessons will NEVER leave you; you only have to think about this type of book years afterward, and you can still feel the impression it has left on you without even trying. These are books we love and consider our favorites.

I didn't think that this book would be anywhere nearly as successful as it turns out to be. Its multiple themes (primary and secondary) are all, oxymoronically, both bold and subtle. However, it is the major theme of HURT GO HAPPY that stays and drives the entire work: We must live up to our responsibilities -- to each other, to our world, to ourselves. This theme shows up in HURT GO HAPPY in each of the key relationships in the story, as well as in some of the minor ones. Some characters have lived up to their responsibilities and others have not. A strong writer will show you both sides of the coin, as it were. Author Ginny Rorby has wisely allowed us to see how our actions (and inactions) affect us and others, sometimes in an intensely painful way (both emotionally and physically). Great authors tend to not shy away from the ugly side of life, and Rorby has written a book that has a tremendous number of layers to it (both beautiful and ugly).

Deeply, deeply felt, HURT GO HAPPY is powerful, and surprised me greatly. The relationship with Joey and her mother seems very one-dimensional at first, but drives the theme in a devastatingly real way as it proves to be very much three-dimensional. Joey's mother Ruth spends her life avoiding her past and, apparently, the future, as well. Her denial for Joey to live in the world in which Joey actually exists (deaf, friendless, and wanting) is painful for us, and when Joey tries to break out of this awful reality, Ruth insists that that cannot be. We begin to see Ruth as selfish, and she is, but as Ginny Rorby develops this magnificent tale of a young girl finding that her responsibilities are to be the driving force of her life, we get to see Ruth as a hurt, wounded creature who has failed in her own life. A small, but beautifully poignant moment in the middle of the book started me on the path to getting excited about HURT GO HAPPY. The rest of the book only heightened that initial excitement.

Joey is a magnificent protagonist, one of my favorites of the past few years, who has to fight to be heard (yeah, I guess that pun is intended). Her observations and reactions to life are pieces of gold for teachers like me. Metaphorically speaking, this is a treasure trove as well -- a trove of metaphors, that is. Rorby has developed wonderfully subtle metaphors as well as bold metaphors that should shake a student's understanding of what finely crafted writing is -- so much so that any student should be able to truly understand and appreciate that the best writing requires great thought, constant planning and driving passion.

Perhaps I fell in love with this book when the meaning of the odd title revealed itself late in the text. It made wonderful, heartfelt sense on a very basic level, but it really sank into that part deep within my heart, soul and mind when I understood that it was the PERFECT title because, metaphorically, it dealt not only with Sukari the chimpanzee, but far more importantly, it spoke of Joey and Ruth and of their failures of the past. At that point, this became the book I was looking for. I can't imagine that any other book I read in the next year will be able to compare.

You MUST read this book.

(And as a side-note, I will be using this book as a companion piece to THE MIRACLE WORKER -- not only because of the subject of deafness, but because I teach THE MIRACLE WORKER to explore metaphor and deeper meanings. I can't wait!)
July 20, 2008

SIMILAR PRODUCTS

Black Duck
by Janet Taylor Lisle

The Sacrifice
by Kathleen Benner Duble

Out of Patience
by Brian Meehl

Shakespeare's Secret
by Elise Broach

Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life
by Wendy Mass