Book now for Summer Reading 2026!

American Sign Language, Resources for Teachers and Librarians, summer reading

The Collaborative Summer Reading Theme for 2026 is: Unearth a Story/Desentierra una Historia.

Stories by Hand has you covered with a high-energy, interactive program for multiple age groups:

I Dig American Sign Language. Book now for summer reading 2026! Let’s dig deep and learn basic American Sign Language for dinosaurs, diggers, and the things we love through stories, songs, and more! StoriesByHand.com/summerreading

I Dig American Sign Language

Let’s dig deep and learn basic American Sign Language for dinosaurs, diggers, and the things we love through stories, songs, and more! Presented by Kathy MacMillan, author of the Little Hands Signing series and Little Hands and Big Hands: Children and Adults Signing Together.

This program can be presented as an all-ages program or adapted to a baby, toddler, preschooler, or school-age audience.

Indoor, outdoor, and online programs available.

  • Single program (45 minutes): $500 plus travel expenses.
  • Additional same-day sessions: $400 plus travel expenses.

Book a program for Summer 2026 by February 1, 2026 and get 15% off the single program rate!

Maryland libraries: ask about FREE programming with Arts in Education grant funding!

Availability calendar

Complete booking details

Interested in a different program theme? Check out all program offerings here.

6 Ways to Get Unstuck in Your First Draft

On Writing

Whether you’ve been writing for five minutes or fifty years, first drafts are hard. They rarely resemble the perfect story your imagination wants, and too often, the gulf between the goal and the reality causes writers to give up. More than two dozen books into my publishing career, I still struggle with first drafts. But I have learned some techniques to trick the voices of negativity in my head. Maybe they will help you too.

1) Remember who your real audience is.

The audience for your final book is your readers. But for a first draft, your real audience is simply…you. Future You, who will somehow take this vaguely book-shaped mess you are creating and turn it, draft by draft, into a real book.

Present You has only one responsibility: assemble the ingredients that Future You will need. Future You will have all kinds of perspectives and ideas on how to fix your story, thanks to the hard work that Present You is doing right now to assemble the raw ingredients.

Future You will bake the cake. All Present You has to worry about is measuring out the flour and sugar.

Continue reading 6 Ways to Get Unstuck in Your First Draft →

Read This!: DREAMS TAKE FLIGHT by Brittany Richman and Alisha Monnin

ASL/Deaf Culture Book Reviews, Authors You Should Know, picture books, Read This, Recommended Reading, Reviews,

Dreams Take Flight: The Story of Deaf Pilot Nellie Zabel Willhite (Own Voices, Own Stories)Dreams Take Flight: The Story of Deaf Pilot Nellie Zabel Willhite by Brittany Richman and Alisha Monnin
Summary: After losing her hearing at four and following a tumultuous education, Nellie Zabel was introduced to the world of flight while working at the Sioux Falls airport. The planes and pilots captured her imagination as she watched them sail alongside the birds. With some encouragement, she enrolled in pilot training–carefully tailoring the courses to accommodate her deafness. In 1928, she took off on her own, becoming the first female pilot in South Dakota–and the first deaf pilot in the nation.

This lovely nonfiction picture book tells the true story of Nellie Zabel Willhite, who became the first licensed deaf pilot in the US. The world was far from accommodating when she was growing up as a deaf child in the early 1900s, but with a combination of her own persistence and the support of caring adults, she got an education and found a job. But when she finally took the flying lessons she had been dreaming of, her life took off. This story features an inspiring woman at its center, but it is also a great discussion-starter about intersectional identities and the various barriers that marginalized people throughout history have faced.

DREAMS TAKE FLIGHT is out now.

View all my reviews

Read This!: OCTO, PI AND THE MYSTERIOUS VOICE by Sarah McDavis

Read This, Recommended Reading

Octo, PI and the Mysterious Voice (Zar&r Mysteries)Octo, PI and the Mysterious Voice by Sarah McDavis
Summary: All was quiet at the ZAR&R for Octo, PI and her team. Then came the mysterious voice that shut down the nocturnal comedy night! Octo likes facts that stick and she sets out to uncover who the voice belongs to. It isn’t a ghost because ghosts don’t exist. She hopes. Along the way, Octo has to conquer her own fear while helping a pirate with their lost treasure, keeping an eye on the Ghost Hunters’s show host, and solving the case before residents start to panic!

Octo, PI is back for another adventure, along with trusty sidekicks Tank the chameleon and junior investigator Lightning the hummingbird. This time, there’s a creepy voice (maybe a ghost?) scaring animals at night. Octo has to get to the bottom of it, or else animals might be too scared to come to the ZAR&R for the help they need. By following the clues, gathering evidence, and questioning witnesses, Octo gets to the bottom of not one but two mysteries, and makes friends with a feathered pirate to boot. With a delicious combination of silly antics and real-life animal info, McDavis brings the characters to life through accessible text and humorous illustrative touches. Chapter book readers will be clamoring for Octo, PI’s next adventure!

Read my review of the first book in the series.

View all my reviews.