ASL — Blog — Rebel-Mouthed Books

Commentary: "Sounds Like Home: Growing Up Black and Deaf in the South" by Mary Herring Wright

Mary Herring Wright (1924-2018) was a Black and Deaf writer and teacher who participated in the Black ASL Project, which researched the linguistic features that make Black ASL recognizable as a distinct variety of American Sign Language. Having attended the North Carolina School for the Colored Deaf and Blind (NCSCDB), Mary was deeply familiar with ‘Raleigh Sign Language’— a distinct North Carolina variety of Black American Sign Language primarily used by Black Deaf signers who has attended segregated schools for the deaf, making her position in the project invaluable. Her memoir, Sounds Like Home, mainly focuses on her school days at NCSCDB.

Commentary: "A Quiet Kind of Thunder" by Sara Barnard

For the hearing world, talking is the end-all-be-all. But do we really need to talk to communicate? A Quiet Kind of Thunder is a young adult story about Steffi, who is selectively mute, who falls in love with Rhys, a Deaf student at her school. It’s a coming-of-age tale about communication and how we all communicate in different ways. Maybe there is more to life than talk!

Commentary: Strong Deaf by Lynn E. McElfresh

A story of sibling rivalry, Deaf culture, sign language, and relationships between Deaf and hearing people, Strong Deaf is an emotionally rich children’s/middle grade book that doesn’t shy away from the precariousness of communication— the tension inherent to being understood.

Commentary: Pet by Akwaeke Emezi

I've been on the hunt lately for books written by and/or about Deaf and HOH characters, or any character who signs to communicate. Jam is not Deaf or HOH. She signs because she wants to and chooses to. She voices (or speaks out loud) sometimes, and more as the story progresses and the drama intensifies, but the culture of signing is present and alive in her relationships with other characters.