How to Do Book Reviews (& Book Talks)

with Adolescent Literature that

include

Deaf & Hard of Hearing Characters

Sharon Pajka, Ph.D. Gallaudet University

http://pajka.blogspot.com

Have you ever asked:

• Should all adolescent books that include Deaf & Hard of Hearing Characters be recommended?

• How do you determine which books are appropriate for your students?

• Are you willing to criticize an author’s portrayal of a Deaf Character?

• How do you sell these books to your students?

Step 1: Know Your Audience

• Think about your purpose (Book Talk or

Book Review)

• Consider the interests of your students

• Choose a book with broad rather than narrow appeal

• Select a book at the reading level of your students

Step 2: Consider using Deaf & Hard of Hearing Characters

When diverse characters are portrayed realistically and authentically in fiction,

• Children‘s attitudes about race and gender are affected positively (Campbell & Wirtenberg, 1980; Jetton & Savage-Davis, 2005).

• Children begin to understand a sense of ‗self‘ (Campbell & Wirtenberg, 1980; Grice & Vaughn, 1992).

• Children show an increase in enjoyment (Smith, 1995).

• Children who had been identified as low ability students showed an interest in books with diverse characters. Researchers discovered that these children‘s reading levels had been misrepresented as grades lower than the students could read (Grice & Vaughn, 1992).

Research Findings: Are deaf characters being presented as culturally Deaf or as pathologically deaf and disabled?

The majority of the hearing authors presented the cultural perspective model.

• The pathological perspective model was underrepresented in the books by the hearing authors;

• yet, the majority of deaf authors included the pathological perspective.

• Reasons why these deaf authors included more pathological perspective statements while the hearing authors included more cultural perspective statements: – 1. lived experience

– 2. fewer deaf characters in books by deaf authors

– 3. fewer ‘D’eaf authors

Research Findings: Do these readers favor deaf authors over hearing ones?

• The Deaf participants along with the participants as a whole preferred the books written by the hearing authors

1. as better describing realistic deaf people,

2. for presenting deaf characters adequately and realistically, and

3. for the authors’ portrayals of deaf characters matching their own perceptions of deaf people. – In general, the Deaf participants were more critical of the

deaf authors while the familiar participants, although as a group preferred the books by the hearing authors, were more critical of the hearing authors.

• Participants mentioned their preference for a spectrum of deaf characters. – The books used in this study that were written by hearing

authors included a variety of characters.

Step 3: Understand the difference between a Book Review & a Book Talk

Book Review= a reaction to a book in which you note its strengths and weaknesses

– you may or may not recommend reading this book

Book Talk= a brief ―selling‖ of a book with the intent to convince someone to read it

– think of it like a movie trailer--start with an attention-grabber & end with a cliff hanger

Book Review

• Book Analysis

• Characters, Plot, Pt of View, Setting, Style, Tone, Themes

• Pathological & Cultural Perspectives of Deaf & Hard of Hearing Characters

Comics & Adolescent Literature

Portrayals Comics Adolescent Literature

Deafness Pathological Cultural

Gender Female (participants all male)

Male (participants mostly female)

Race Mostly WhiteEcho- Biracial

Mostly White1 African-American1 Asian- American

Language Mostly OralEcho- multilingual

Most use ASL

Authors Hearing HearingDeaf (only a few in

comparison)

Step 4 :Book Selection Tips for a Book Talk

• Choose a book you love

• Never choose a book you haven‘t read

• Select a book that others will enjoy but one they might not otherwise notice

Step 5: Present the Book• Display the book• Tell the genre and author details if possible• Discuss the setting of the book• Introduce the main character(s) and your

opinions of them– Deaf & Hard of Hearing

• Briefly discuss the conflict of the book—but never reveal the resolution; you have to ―hook‖ your readers

• Give your opinion of the book‘s theme• State why you would recommend this book or to

what audience you would recommend it• Never book talk a book you wouldn‘t

recommend (for one reason or another)

(author interviews & insider tips)

Cheshire Moon (1996) by Nancy Butts

early middle school-- mystical story)

13-year-old Miranda expects an unfulfilling summer at her aunt's house in Maine. The plot turns mystical when the teens start having identical dreams about a mysterious island. If they're only dreams, why do the teens wake to sand and shells in their beds?

T4 (September2008)

by Ann Clare LeZotte

It is 1939. Paula Becker, thirteen years old and deaf, lives with her family in a rural German town. As rumors swirl of disabled children quietly disappearing, a priest comes to her family's door with an offer to shield Paula from an uncertain fate. When the sanctuary he offers is fleeting, Paula needs to call upon all her strength

to stay one step ahead of the Nazis.

*Told in Verse (112 pages)

Reading Level: 4th grade

Character communicates through Sign Language

Miss Spitfire: Reaching Helen Keller

(2007) by Sarah MillerPub. Date: July 28, 2007

Age Range: 10 to 12

Hardcover: 240pp

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing

This book offers an alternative approach to

the story of Helen Keller. Readers experience

the life of Annie Sullivan and Helen Keller

through journals written by Annie Sullivan.

Readers learn about Sullivan's abusive father,

her relationship with her "invalid" brother, and

her experiences teaching Helen Keller.

Books for Younger Adolescents

Nobody's Perfect (2006)

By Marlee Matlin & Doug Cooney

Megan is thrown when a new girl, Alexis, ignores her gestures of friendship. Alexis is pretty, smart, and a great soccer player, but she seems intent on ignoring Megan. Alexis behaves strangely around people with disabilities which is related to her having an autistic brother. Megan, whose family and friends accept her deafness as part of their everyday lives, is shocked by this.

Other Books in the Series

Nobody's Perfect (2006)

By Marlee Matlin & Doug Cooney

Made into a Bilingual Musical

(View Website)

http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/nobodysperfect/

Tami Lee Santimyer

with Marlee Matlin

Singing Hands (2006) by Delia Ray

Gussie Davis is the hearing daughter

of deaf parents in 1948. She is a

rebellious teen who sings out loud

during the church for the deaf where her

father ministers. Gussie becomes involved in

missionary efforts at a black deaf church and

with the Alabama School for the Deaf.

Singing Hands (2006) by Delia Ray

based on the author’s family...

her grandfather was a Deaf preacher and a leading pioneer in the Deaf community.

New Books for Teens

featuring a ‘signing’ animal

Hurt Go Happy (2006)

By Ginny Rorby

Though she’s been deaf since the age of six, Joey’s mother has never allowed her to learn sign language. She strains to read the lips of those around her, but often fails. Everything changes when Joey meets Dr. Charles Mansell. She secretly learns sign language and her life has never been happier.

Read My Lips (June 2008) by Teri Brown

Sarcastic, skater chick Serena moves to a new school and mixes with the über popular crowd when they discover her special talent for reading lips. They feel that they have a new secret weapon to snoop out all the gossip in the school.

Reading Level: Teen

Mainstreamed & Empowered

Northlander (Tales of the Borderlands) (2007) by Meg BurdenReading Age: 12 and older

Ellin is a young girl with distinctive hair that indicates that she is clearly from the Southlands. When she goes to assist her father in healing the Northland king, she faces prejudice. While there, she meets members of the king's family, the princes of the Northlands including Finn

Wait for Me by An Na

Reading level: Ages 9-12

Paperback: 192 pages

Publisher: Puffin Reprint Edition (September 6, 2007)

Mina appears to be the perfect daughter. She is bound for Harvard, president of the honor society, a straight

A student, helps out at her family's dry cleaning company and takes care of her young sister, Suna(since their mother isn't such a nurturer). During the summer before her senior year in high school, Mina appears to be responsible. She has conjured up so many lies that lead her mother into believing in Mina's fabricated life. In reality, a family "friend", using that term lightly, has taught her about stealing from the family's business. Mina's perfection turns out to be a life of lies.

The character, Suna, is "hearing-impaired" and uses hearing aids.

Feathers (2007) by Jacqueline Woodson

When a new student arrives at her

school, Frannie’s classmates tell the

boy that he doesn’t belong on their side

of the highway and that he needs to go to

the white side… but the boy says that he

isn’t white?!?!When her classmates bully

him and mock sign language (since the

new boy has yet to respond), the boy

uses sign language to say “No, I’m not

deaf” (p.14) ?!?!

Deaf character Sean is funny and smart… he is also the FIRST African-American Deaf character who uses Sign Language

Deaf Characters in Comics

Echo (Daredevil & New Avengers)

David Mack’s character Maya Lopez, also known as Echo and Ronin, debuted in Daredevil as a love interest for Matt Murdock. This character now appears in the arc of the most recent issues of The New Avengers.

(Biracial, Multilingual, Empowered)

RALLY CAPS (2007) by J.

Cutler Stephen and Cutler Del Dottore Jodi Reading level: Ages 9-12Paperback: 87 pagesPublisher: PublishAmerica (2007)

A story about two boys who love baseball and who become friends through their experiences at summer camp. One of the main characters is deaf and uses a cochlear implant.

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Resources highlighting children’s/adolescent books

with Deaf & Hard of Hearing Characters