The Whispering Dark by Kelly Andrew
Continue reading Read This!: THE WHISPERING DARK by Kelly Andrew
Category Archives: American Sign Language
Read This!: SAIL ME AWAY HOME by Ann Clare LeZotte
Sail Me Away Home by Ann Clare LeZotte
Summary: As a young teacher on Martha’s Vineyard, Mary Lambert feels restless and adrift. So when a league of missionaries invite her to travel abroad, she knows it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity. Paris is home to a pioneering deaf school where she could meet its visionary instructors Jean Massieu and Laurent Clerc—and even bring back their methods to help advance formal deaf education in America!
But the endeavor comes at a cost: The missionaries’ plan to “save” deaf children is questionable at best—and requires Mary’s support. What’s more, the missionaries’ work threatens the Wampanoag and other native peoples’ freedom and safety. Is pursuing Mary’s own goals worth the price of betraying her friends and her own values?
Mary Lambert has always been a restless sort, so when she gets the opportunity to travel to Europe, of course she’s going to take it. But it comes at a cost – traveling with missionaries whose view of deaf people, and Mary herself, is patronizing and harmful. Mary learns hard lessons along the way about who to trust and how to weigh her own choices and actions. As in the previous books in the trilogy, LeZotte immerses her readers into Mary’s world. She seamlessly tackles topics like discrimination, privilege, and diversity within the Deaf community in a story that offers ample discussion starters without ever becoming preachy. Along the way, readers will meet many real historical figures from Deaf history. Mary finishes her trilogy sure of her home in the Deaf community, wherever her travels take her.
I was honored to be selected by Ann Clare LeZotte to write the reading guide for the trilogy, which contains discussion questions and classroom/programming activities. Check it out the reading guide here.
SAIL ME AWAY HOME is out now.
Webinar Recordings Available for Purchase
Learn on your own schedule with these recorded webinars, available now!
You will receive recording access information by email within 24 hours of order. You will have access to the recording for 30 days.
For Writers
Sale! $35.00 $20.00
You’ve got the idea, you’ve got the drive, and you’ve got the willingness to work to get your book in print. But where do you start? Kathy MacMillan, Compton Crook Award finalist and author of more than two dozen traditionally published fiction and nonfiction books for children, breaks down the bewildering world of publishing, from writing and revision to submission and publication and the realities of life after publication.
Sale! $35.00 $20.00
No matter your genre, a rich palette of details brings the world of your story to life. Compton Crook Award Finalist and author of fiction and nonfiction for children, teens, and adults Kathy MacMillan shows how to focus on the specifics you need at each stage of the writing process to build your characters’ world without ever losing sight of the story at its heart.
Manuscript critiques and coaching calls also available!
For Librarians and Educators
Learn basic American Sign Language vocabulary and how to use it in storytime with these lively sessions that teach themed vocabulary while demonstrating storytime activities and best practices for signing with young children. Each webinar focuses on a vocabulary theme and follows a demo storytime with language and culture notes to help you present American Sign Language to hearing audiences in context. $35.00 per recording.
One-on-one coaching calls also available.
Read This!: GIVE ME A SIGN by Anna Sortino
Give Me a Sign by Anna Sortino
Summary: Lilah is stuck in the middle. At least, that’s what having a hearing loss seems like sometimes—when you don’t feel “deaf enough” to identify as Deaf or hearing enough to meet the world’s expectations. But this summer, Lilah is ready for a change. When Lilah becomes a counselor at a summer camp for the deaf and blind, her plan is to brush up on her ASL. Once there, she also finds a community. There are cute British lifeguards who break hearts but not rules, a YouTuber who’s just a bit desperate for clout, the campers Lilah’s responsible for (and overwhelmed by)—and then there’s Isaac, the dreamy Deaf counselor who volunteers to help Lilah with her signing. Romance was never on the agenda, and Lilah’s not positive Isaac likes her that way. But all signs seem to point to love. Unless she’s reading them wrong? One thing’s for sure: Lilah wanted change, and things here are certainly different than what she’s used to.
As soon as I found out about this book, I knew I had to read it, and I knew exactly when and where I would do so: at the Deaf/American Sign Language Camp where I have been a counselor and director for 23 years and counting.** Having seen how many of our campers have discovered and embraced their Deaf identities at camp, I couldn’t wait to see how Deaf author Anna Sortino tackled this story. And she NAILED it. Lilah’s story is both effective and affecting, touching on many hot topics in the Deaf community: cochlear implants, hearing social media influencers, interactions with law enforcement, feeling “not Deaf enough”. But the story stays firmly grounded in Lilah’s singular experience, never feeling like a lecture or a checklist. (Aside from being a nuanced depiction of the Deaf experience, this book is also a terrific mentor text for any author who wants to tackle big issues in a natural way that keeps the story grounded in the protagonist’s wants and needs.) Through Lilah’s interactions with campers and counselors, Sortino showcases the diversity of the Deaf community and the disabled community, highlighting many different communication styles, language preferences, abilities, educational backgrounds, and perspectives coming together. Add to that a very sweet summer romance, and you’ve got a fun, immersive read that will appeal to anyone with a heart.
**If you or someone you know is between the ages of 7 and 17 and is Deaf/hard-of-hearing OR wants to learn American Sign Language in an immersion environment, check out Deaf Camps, Inc.’s residential camps!
GIVE ME A SIGN at Deaf/ASL Camp 2023:
GIVE ME A SIGN is out now.
Catch NITA’S FIRST SIGNS on Netflix!
Nita’s First Signs is now streaming on Netflix as part of the Story Time Book Read-Along series! Check out these animated read-along storybooks here. Kids can read along with illustrated books that come to life through animation, music and narration. Exciting adventures, fuzzy animal friends and more! (Find Nita’s First Signs in Episode #7: Kindness and Family.)
Stories By Hand with Kathy MacMillan 