Children And Teen Fiction To Celebrate National Deaf History Month

Dallas TX

09 April, 2022

6:36 PM

Description

Press release from Dallas Public Library: Alicia Deal-Unsal April 6, 2022 This is the fourth in a series of articles listing books to read while celebrating National Deaf History Month. The previous articles were shared in March and April of 2021. National Deaf History Month occurs from March 13 through April 15th and is supposed to bring awareness about Deaf history and Deaf culture. In 2020, we first wrote about National Deaf History Month, and this year we want to continue our focus on books that either feature deaf characters, discuss prominent events within Deaf history, and/or are written by authors who are deaf. The following are books I wish were around when I was a kid struggling with my hearing loss diagnosis. The young girls featured in these books are roughly the same age I was when I learned I was losing my hearing. They are shown adapting, thriving, surviving, and being resilient in the face of adversity. These girls are often characterized as being "stubborn" (as I was), but I believe this is a mischaracterization, in which they are passionate, curious, and eager to explore the world around them, regardless of what barriers exist. Their seemingly temperamental behaviors are merely reflections of the frustration they feel in light of these barriers and antecedent discrimination. It may be cliché at this point, but representation truly matters, especially for a child. I was the only deaf person I knew and so the messages I was bombarded with by the hearing world around me were pretty toxic and unhealthy for my well-being (which I'm still having to unlearn as an adult). In contrast, these books offer messages to deaf youth that they are capable of anything and do not need to relinquish who they are as deaf youth in order to fit into a hearing world; this message helps build and solidify their self-esteemand independence. This message can easily be translated across to all marginalized youth. T4: A Novel in Verse by Ann Clare LeZotte (2008) Show Me a Sign by Ann Clare LeZotte (2020)Set Me Free by Ann Clare LeZotte (2021) LeZotte is a Deaf librarian whose books shine a light on historical events and places in Deaf history through a fictionalized lens. T4 is in reference to the real program initiated by Hitler and the Nazis to remove those with disabilities from German society as they were viewed "unfit to live". Show Me a Sign and Set Me Free center around a time (in the case of these books, in the early 1800s) when Martha's Vineyard had such a large Deaf community that everyone, both deaf and hearing, communicated in sign language. To convey the importance of these events and places within Deaf history as well as to explore adult themes such as racism and genocide, each book tells the story from the perspective of a young deaf girl who faces insurmountable odds. In T4, Paula Becker is a thirteen-year-old deaf girl who is separated from her hearing family as she hides from the Nazis to avoid being sent to a concentration camp. The book is written in free verse and reveals the evil of the times while also emphasizing the hope to survive. Thankfully, this story has a happy ending; however, LeZotte does provide insight into the actual T4 campaign which had a lot of unhappy endings for many families. In Show Me a Sign, that young girl, Mary Lambert, finds herself the target as a live specimen for a scientist trying to study the origins of the island's high prevalence of deafness. Since it wasn't until later that the scientific community realized that the prevalence of deafness in Martha Vineyards had genetic causes, this scientist took water and soil samples, assuming that it was the local environment that caused the "infirmity" of deafness there. This young scientist views those who are deaf as less than human and do not show any respect toward the Deaf residents; Mary also compares this treatment with that of the Wampanoag by the white settlers on the island. This exploration of how deaf people were viewed as being subhuman is again featured in Set Me Free by continuing Mary's story with a juxtaposition of her life on Martha's Vineyard with that of another young deaf girl who was raised off the island. Three years after the events of the previous book, Mary travels to the mainland in the hopes of teaching another young deaf girl sign language. The young girl is being kept isolated away from others and is unable to communicate. Mary hopes to succeed in instructing this young girl but learns that there are deeper challenges ahead of her, including unraveling the mystery of the identity and origins of the young girl. This book effectively demonstrates how young deaf children often faced ableism, discrimination, and maltreatment especially with being denied the tools to adequately communicate, namely withholding the acquisition of a signed language. These depictions of the treatment of those with disabilities are still prevalent today. Series of pre-teen books by Marlee Matlin:Deaf Child Crossing (2002)Nobody's Perfect (2006)Leading Ladies (2007) Marlee Matlin, the Deaf actress who has won an Academy Award, also happens to be a children's author. Deaf Child Crossing is the first in a series of books about Meagan, a Deaf girl from a hearing family who befriends a hearing girl, Cindy. The series describes Meagan and Cindy's adventures typical of preteen girls, such as attending public school, spending a summer at camp, making new friends, and appearing in a school play. The series demonstrates a modern-day (at the time of publication; some of the technology has now become outdated) depiction of the challenges that deaf youth endure in schools, with technology, and within (especially hearing) friendships and families. The other books include Nobody's Perfect and Leading Ladies. Nobody's Perfect is considered to be the better of the three as it features Meagan's relationship with Alexis, a new girl at school who is aloof around Meagan, causing her to fear that Alexis looks down on those with disabilities or who are "different". However, after being assigned together for a science fair project, she learns that this is not the case. The message Matlin conveys in this book is to not judge others before getting to know them, a timeless message for all readers. This press release was produced by Dallas Public Library. The views expressed here are the author's own.