Girl of the Year 2020: Joss

Published: 2020. Author: Erin Falligant. Illustrator: Maike Plenske.

Summary

Jocelyn "Joss" Elizabeth Kendrick is an active fourth grader, zooming from skate boarding to surfing, never letting the fact that she's hard-of-hearing get in the way. After all, as the saying goes, Deaf people can do anything hearing people can--except hear. Joss was born deaf in her left ear and with partial hearing in her right, amplified by a hearing aid. Hasn't stopped her in the least, though; Joss has been surfing at Huntington Beach since she was six, with her two older brothers, impulsive Dylan (now 14) and aspiring pro-surfer Liam (18).

When Joss's best friend Sofia shows her an advertisement for a surfing video competition featuring Joss's surfing hero, Tina Heart, the two "Surf Sisters" start planning their entry right away. They need to showcase what they love about their favorite surf spot, with an eye on conservationism. Maybe Joss can learn do to a frontside air for the video--Tina Heart first did it when she was ten, so why shouldn't Joss be able to? Liam thinks she just might be able to learn it in time! But Sofia's phone's camera isn't up to the task of filming from a distance. Joss needs to ask Dylan...who will definitely want something in return. Joss happens upon just the bribe: she'll try out for the cheerleading team captained by Dylan's best friend's older sister Reina (Joss thinks of cheer as fine for some people but not her thing--she's a "real athlete") if Dylan films her and Sofia's video. He agrees.

Even though she doesn't plan to stick with the team in the off chance she makes it through tryouts, Joss is nervous. The gym where tryouts are held is an acoustic nightmare for someone who's hard-of-hearing, and the cheerleaders are practicing stunts that Joss has no idea how to do. Reina helps Joss find the coach so Joss can give her a special microphone that connects directly to Joss's hearing aid. being able to hear Coach Kara and recognizing a friendly girl from school, Brooklyn, helps Joss relax a little. She ends up on the spot when the other girls (no boys are trying out or on the team) get curious about the microphone, hearing aid, Joss's hearing loss, and how to communicate with her. Joss has fielded questions like this her whole life, so while she might not love answering them, she knows how to. One girl, Mila, seems annoyed by Joss being there, especially when Joss says she's just there to get a favor from Dylan. Even with the microphone, it's hard for Joss to follow the instructions and the beat of the music--between that and Mila's attitude, Joss definitely doesn't want to stay in cheer if she makes the team. She's a surfer, not a cheerleader.

But after a couple days of tryouts, she does make the team. And she feels stronger and more flexible--she almost lands a frontside air! Cheer is making her stronger, and between Brooklyn's friendliness and Mila's snobbishness, Joss wants to do better in it. That means three days a week away from making the video, which is due soon. Sofia is frustrated about that. Joss talks with her, setting firm guidelines and a schedule for filming the video. Sofia figures that Joss can quit cheer once the video's done (and Dylan can no longer hold it over her head), but Joss isn't so sure. Even after briefly losing her hearing aid during a practice, she wants to improve. She's made a commitment, and she wants to see it through.

But cheer is taking up more of Joss's time. It comes to the point that one Saturday when Dylan's filming Joss trying to land a frontside air, Joss doesn't pay attention and accidentally steals a wave Dylan's best friend Nico is on, crashing into him and cutting his ankle. Dylan is furious with Joss and refuses to film the video. Sofia is mad too, accusing Joss of prioritizing her one trick over Sofia's contribution (the video idea was to have Sofia make art pieces with shells and other items from the beach, then Joss to demonstrate what the art represents through surfing).

It takes a heart-to-heart with Liam to help Joss sort things out. He remind Joss that he's undeniably a surfer--but he plays volleyball, too. People can be multi-faceted. Joss can be a surfer girl, a cheerleader, and a good friend and sister. Joss and Sofia patch things up, and then agree to be a team with Dylan and Nico. Together, the four have filmed enough artwork and surf tricks to make a really good video. One more thing would make it perfect: a frontside air. Joss tries once more before they run out of time before the video deadline...and doesn't do it. She does end up combining surf tricks with cheer tricks into a pretty nice move, though, which the new team of four add to finish the video.

International Surfing Day arrives, when Tina Heart will announce the video winners. The day starts with a beach cleanup, then some surfing--Joss lands a frontside air! And then finale: Joss, Sofia, Dylan, and Nico win! Tina Heart signs their surfboards, they each win a new one, she asks Sofia if she can use some of her art to promote her environmental message, and she asks Joss to teach her the surf/cheer trick that was featured in the video. Joss is part surfer, part skateboarder, part cheerleader, part friend, part sister, part daughter--and 100% Joss.


Misc

Dedicated to "my mother, who taught me to be true to myself--one hundred percent." The author also thanks Crystal da Silva, who holds shortboard titles in Pro-Am and World Deaf championships; Dr. Sharon Pajka, English professor at Gallaudet University (which primarily serves Deaf students); Julie Peterson and Sara jo Moen, owners of Fury Athletics and coaches of highly successful competitive cheer teams; Jennifer Richardson, AuD, an educational audiologist who founded Hearing Milestones; and Bianca Valenti, profession surfer and cofounder of the Committee for Equity in Women's Surfing.

I was second in line on the hold list at the library to get this book. I wasn't able to until now because the libraries all closed for three months due to COVID19. All of Joss's competitions and activities would have been cancelled for the same reason, and communication would have been significantly harder for her: masks get in the way of lip-reading.

There are illustrations throughout the book! According to Neth at American Girl Outsider, there was a lot of disappointment about the historical character books losing their illustrations during the BeForever line, so the books have been re-issued with illustrations...but also abridged versions of the text. I guess the Powers That Be decided Girl of the Year book should have pictures, too.

International Surfing Day is indeed June 20.

Sofia is very artistic. Her surfing tends to be more graceful than aggressive, and she's forever looking for shells and rocks on the beach to make art.

Murph, the Kendrick's bulldog, is "goofy-footed, like [Joss], which means [they] push with their left feet." I know next-to-nothing about skate-boarding, but I know soccer, high jump, long jump, triple jump, hurdles, and pole vault. I'm "goofy-footed" in those, in that I use the opposite feet for kicking or jumping from most people. But I jump off my right foot...would I skate-board by pushing with my left? I can't figure out which would feel more natural.

Joss's mom grew up surfing, but her dad has never gotten the hang of it. He likes to do wood-working in his spare time.

Joss will sometimes take out her hearing aid and tune out the remaining muffled sounds for "QT" (quiet time). She finds she can focus better on visualizations and planning that way; it's a nice break.

Joss has various adaptions for her hearing loss that Deaf people I've known in real life use, too; like vibrating alarms clocks. Joss uses her cell phone, but there are alarm clocks with attachments that light up or vibrate--one of my ASL teachers had one.

There's a cool idiom sign for "wow." Hold one hand on either side of your head in the W shape (how most people indicate 3, which is actually 6 in ASL) and open your mouth in an O shape like you're amazed. Together, your hands and mouth spell W-O-W.

Here in Washington, high school cheerleading is classified as an "activity" rather than a "sport." It's certainly more athletic than golf, which is under the sport heading. I considered trying out for it in high school to gain upper body strength for pole vault, but ended up doing gymnastics instead--I got along better with the gymnastics team than the cheer team. Would I want my kids to do cheer? I would be actually be pretty reticent. Because it's an "activity" there are fewer safety regulations. If that were fixed, then I wouldn't have a problem with it.

Joss's revelation about which foot she should lead with for cheer tricks is similar to when I started high jump. I was just awful the first day of it, until my coach noticed I was jumping from my right foot instead of my left. He had me approach the bar from the opposite side, and suddenly it was much easier. When I was older and coaching jumps myself, the first thing I did with new jumpers was figure out which foot they naturally jumped from.