76 pages • 2 hours read
Show Me a Sign
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2020
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Introduction
Show Me a Sign
- Genre: Fiction; middle grade historical
- Originally Published: 2020
- Reading Level/Interest: Lexile 730L; grades 3-7
- Structure/Length: 2 parts; 37 chapters with prologue; approx. 288 pages; approx. 6 hours, 15 minutes on audio
- Protagonist and Central Conflict: Eleven-year-old Mary, who is deaf, lives on Martha’s Vineyard in 1805, a community that includes many deaf people and where everyone knows sign language. When a prejudiced researcher kidnaps Mary and takes her to Boston to study her deafness, she learns that the rest of the world is not as accepting as her home community.
- Potential Sensitivity Issues: Prejudice against deaf people; grief and guilt after tragic death of sibling; physical abuse of a child
Ann Clare LeZotte, Author
- Bio: Born in Long Island, New York; is completely deaf and has been deaf since childhood; loves to travel; works in public library youth services and enjoys helping young readers find just the right book; first learned from a cab driver on Martha’s Vineyard of the history of deafness on the island; lives in Gainesville, Florida
- Other Works: T4 (2008); Set Me Free (2021)
- Awards: Jane Addams Children’s Book Award (finalist; 2020); NPR Best Books (2020); School Library Journal Best Books (2020); Schneider Family Book Award (2021)
CENTRAL THEMES connected and noted throughout this Teaching Unit:
