All about Sign Language: Talking with Your Hands

Do you know sign language? Some people are born hard-of-hearing, deaf, or become deaf later in life. Sign language helps them communicate with people around them. Read about how sign language came about, the jobs where it is useful to know sign language, and people who are important to sign language. Also, learn the manual alphabet. In All About Sign Language: Talking With Your Hands, author Felicia Lowenstein talks about how important sign language is as a way to communicate with others.

School Library Journal

Gr 3-6-With a high-interest format, full-color photos and illustrations, and a solid grasp of its subject matter, this is one of the best books about sign language on the market today. Lowenstein uses stories of real deaf people, such as Helen Keller and Alice Cogswell, to introduce each chapter, and effortlessly weaves the fascinating history of American Sign Language into the narrative. Unlike many books on the subject, this one goes into the linguistic principles of ASL, and also shows that it is a real language. This point, unfortunately, is a bit muddled in other parts of the book in statements that subtly reinforce the widely held misconception that sign language is universal and dependent on spoken language. Also, the time line includes major events in the history of American Sign Language without giving enough information about their significance. Overall, however, this is a well-organized, readable work with an excellent list for further reading to supplement the text.-Kathleen Kelly MacMillan, Maryland School for the Deaf, Columbia Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.