Enrique is born deaf and one day has the opportunity to go to a special school for the deaf. When he is young, he feels left out and "weird," but he gets to grow and learn at this special school, and we see him grow into a young man. At the end of the book, there is a chart with the entire alphabet and the corresponding signs so that the reader can learn sign language.

I LOVED this book. I admired the way the author showed Enrique's life from before birth up until he is a young man. I felt like I was there with Enrique and his family. This story was a very sweet one that also showed a very nurturing, loving family and a positive environment for Enrique. The illustrations were a bit subdued, and I thought this was just the right accompaniment to the subject. I especially admired the ending where Enrique smiles and feels good inside. This ending melted my heart. ( )

This book tells the story of Enrique who is born without hearing. He lives in a poor village, and a lady comes to bring him to school so he could sign. It does not really have much of a story line, but more reports what happened. The book was good in that it did not portray Enrique in a "feel sorry" for him type of light. It did demonstrate how learning to sign lead to Enrique having more self esteem. In the back of the book there is the sign language alphabet which is a good tool to teach children how to do rudimentary sign. ( )

Enrique’s family knows he is very special but they don’t know why. When Enrique was a baby, all of his brothers and sisters woke up because of a thunderstorm and Enrique remained still. Enrique's mother knew then that he could not hear. A visitor comes and introduces them to other children in another village like Enrique who are hearing impaired. I liked this story because of the characters, the language style, and the way the book pushes readers. The characters in this story were very well developed. We were able to see Enrique's journey from when he was a baby to him signing with others in a community. I liked how descriptive the language was throughout the story. "As the weeks went by the darkness inside him changed to light." The descriptive language helped the reader to truly understand Enrique's feelings throughout this whole story. This book pushes readers to really think about each others feelings and not to judge based on their differences, which I believe is the message of the story. At his village people called Enrique "the strange one" and this made him feel very alone and sad. After going to the other village, Enrique was so happy because everyone accepted him for who he was and he wasn't alone. ( )

Enrique is a boy who is deaf, and for some years is made fun of and not understood by many. Eventually, he is taken to a group for children who are deaf, and there he learns sign language. His life is changed by the ability to speak with his hands. This is a touching book and children may feel empathy for Enrique. They will learn that children with disabilities are people just as they are and have feelings. This book could be used for an anti-bullying lesson. ( )

I think that this book is a great book for any age group to read or listen to. I think that the big idea for this book is to show the difficulties of struggling with a problem and then overcoming it with a sense of pride and happiness. Having the happiness and openness through the journey is a key detail that came across to me in this story. For example, Enrique, who is deaf, has to put his trust into the "white lady with the red hair" to teach him how to communicate when he is not sure how to even communicate with her. He struggles in the beginning but at the end of his journey he is proud of himself and shares a great big smile for the reader. Another example of how Enrique struggled was when the other people in his village would talk about him. Although he could not hear them he could feel their words pierce through him every time. He felt alone and sad during these moments but this all changed when he saw the lady with the red hair in his village. He felt a sense of hope and happiness when he saw her but he was not so sure why. This book does a great job of making a situation that does not seem so great and turning it into a situation that is amazing. ( )