Yet there is something deeply wrong with the man’s attitude, and as Mary investigates further she is pulled into a terrible discovery and grotesque new status as a “live specimen” of her people. Drawn to the mystery of why so many inhabitants are born without hearing, the man is determined to find the cause. Mary’s mother still grieves her dead son desperately, but distraction comes in the form of a young scientist that visits the island. In Mary’s own family her mother and brother, recently deceased, could hear and her father cannot. In this isolated community many people are deaf. Deaf from birth, she lives on Martha’s Vineyard (land “sold” by the Wampanoag who reside there still) in 1805 in the village of Chilmark. “If you are reading this, I suppose you want to know more about the terrible events of last year – which I almost didn’t survive – and the community where I live.” So begins Mary Lambert’s story. And just wait till you hit that twist in the middle of book! This is a work of historical fiction that brings to light a specific community we’ve not seen in a children’s book before.

If you were to pull aside a sixth grader today and ask them to name a book featuring a Deaf main character, would they still think only of Helen? Author Ann Clare LeZotte is a Deaf librarian and brings to Show Me a Sign the ability to pinpoint the subtleties of the white, deaf residents of Martha’s Vineyard. When I was little we had books about Helen Keller and … that was pretty much it. Yet I worry that things have not changed significantly since I was a kid. Such books exist, of course the most notable examples being Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick and El Deafo by Cece Bell. In the pantheon of children’s literature about the differently abled, stories about people in the Deaf community or along the spectrum of hearing loss, are not common. “Not every writer comes to English from the same direction.” Right now I’m sitting here as a reviewer, trying to figure out from which direction I should approach this book.

Show me a sign by ann clare lezotte