Nita’s First Signs

Available now from Familius Press!

• Text by Kathy MacMillan
• Illustrations by Sara Brezzi
• ASL/Deaf Culture Advisor: Dr. Barbara Kannapell
• 2018 Foreword INDIES Award Silver Winner
• Featured in BookRiot’s 6 of the Best Baby Sign Language Books for Parents

American Sign Language makes it easy to communicate with your child, and Nita makes it fun! Nita’s First Signs teaches ten essential signs for every parent and child to know, including eat, more, hungry, milk, all done, ball, play, love, please, and thank you. A simple story about Nita and her parents teaches each sign in context, and repetition throughout each story makes them easy to practice. Even better, each page slides open to reveal accurate instructions on how to make each sign, plus tabs on the side of each page make it simple to locate every sign for later reference. Baby sign language collections aren’t complete without Nita!

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Nita’s First Signs Teacher/Librarian Guide

“Nita’s First Signs is a wonderful introduction to the world of American Sign Language for children. The book is not only entertaining and creative with its depiction of signs, it encourages the reader to go to a video source as a means to reinforce the signs learned through real-time instruction. In the end, Nita’s First Signs demonstrates the value and fun of learning sign language for ALL infants, toddlers children AND adults, regardless of whether they are Deaf or hearing or hard of hearing.” – Marlee Matlin, award-winning Deaf actress, author, and activist

“This unique and fabulous book teaches ten popular ASL signs to enable basic communication between babies who are not yet talking and their parents. Ten commonly used words (such as more, thank you, all done, please, eat, and hungry) are highlighted. Slide-out panels contain simple instructions along with pictures that name and illustrate each sign. Color-coded tabs will help parents easily find the signs they are looking for. In addition to being beautifully illustrated, the construction of this book is amazing. This book will appeal to children and adults of ALL ages for the simple story, the lovely illustrations, and the access to American Sign Language that it provides.” – Betsy Diamant-Cohen, creator of the award-winning Mother Goose on the Loose early literacy program

“Choosing to teach your baby sign language can open the door to meaningful communication earlier than expected and help defray frustration in the future. Nita’s First Signs is a wonderful way to start that journey with your child.” – Alison H. Scott, MD, FAAP, founder/CEO of Baby Doc Box

“[T]he descriptions and the illustrations on the instructions are really easy to understand, making it easy for parents to perform the signs right away and teach them to their children. The ending to the story is absolutely adorable and will resonate with parents and kids alike!” – Babies to Bookworms Check out the full review and post offering great suggestions for following up the book with other signing activities.

More Reviews: Kiss the Book ~ Making Life a Bliss Complete

Nita’s First Signs on the Reading with Your Kids podcast (recording and transcript)

Click on the video below to see a demonstration of the signs in the story:

 

Nita’s First Signs Storytime with Kathy MacMillan

in Spoken English with closed captions

in American Sign Language

 

 

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Nita’s Day: More Signs for Babies and Parents

“Kathy MacMillan has again created another engaging ASL board book for families that is sure to both entertain and educate…A must for every collection!” – Dr. Betsy Diamant-Cohen, Executive Director, Mother Goose on the Loose, LLC

“Tabbed pages make flipping to the correct sign easy for sleep-deprived parents using the book as a reference. Short, simple, descriptive sentences put the signs in context. Brezzi’s stylized cartoons are clear and accessible, employing a wide range of patterns and unusual colors…Deaf culture, ASL, and early-childhood content were vetted by experts, making it suitable for Deaf children or families who want to incorporate sign into their daily routine. A handy resource for hearing and Deaf families alike.” – Kirkus

Nita’s Day Storytime with Kathy MacMillan

in Spoken English with closed captions

in American Sign Language

 

More Resources for Signing with Young Children:

Little Hands Signing Storytime & Craft Ideas

Little Hands and Big Hands: Children and Adults Signing Together

Resources for Signing with Babies and Young Children

Resources for Signing in Storytime or the Classroom

Resources for Educators and Librarians

Picture Books about ASL and Deaf Culture