This book would be good for primary grades. It is about the love of a mother and daughter and how they communicate in sign language, while also showing how to sign some words. I would use this as a read aloud along with other books about deaf culture and use it to help students learn some sign language.

A sweet story of a mother and daughter's day at the beach. There's full-page illustration on one page, with the text on the opposite page. Text in red indicates that the sign for that word is included in the column on the same page, with sequential illustrations, so readers can practice the relevant signs along with the story.

A letter from the author to the reader follows the story, with a link to an online ASL dictionary. ( )

REVIEW:
This book tells the story of a mother and a daughter's day at the beach through poems that blend together in a cohesive story. They dance on the sand, swim in the ocean, build sand castles, and watch the sunset together. The laugher is deaf and communicates using American Sign Language with her mother. On each page, there is a diagram of a word in ASL that goes along with the text on that page. For example, when the mother and daughter watch the sunset, the diagram explains how to sign the ASL word, "sunset". I love how the ASL words combine perfectly with the plot of the story because they match what the mother and daughter are doing. The addition of the ASL words help tell the story as the plot unfolds. This book doesn't develop the characters in much depth, but through the pictures, readers can peek into the loving relationship between the mother and daughter.

This book is interesting, not only because it uses ASL to tell the story, but it also uses poetry to tell the story. The story is told in a poetry-like form, with short and simple lines describing each event the mother and daughter do together.

MEDIA: Watercolor, pencil
I love how the illustrations show the mother and/or daughter signing what ASL word is taught on the page. This adds continuity to the story, as well as helps readers visualize the context of that given word.

GENRE: Contemporary realistic fiction
This is a good example of contemporary realistic fiction because even though this story is made-up, the bond between the mother and daughter can occur in real life. Playing in the sand and dancing on the beach are realistic events. Even if children in the class do not know ASL, they can relate to the bond between the mother and daughter in the story.

USES:
(1) Having taken ASL last semester, I think it would be fun to teach some basic ASL signs to my class. This book would be a great way to do so. I would hope that this book would spark an interest in knowing more about ASL. As a class, we could learn a song in ASL and perform it.
(2) This book does a great job of using poetry to tell a story. Students could write a story using short poems about one of their favorite days. This could also be used to show that poetry isn't just about rules... it can be used to tell a story!

AGE-APPROPRIATENESS: Kindergarten, early elementary ( )

"Hands and Hearts" goes through a series of fifteen different sign language signals. Each of the sign language hand movements match the four verses on the page of the book. The development of the four lines of small bits of text on each page are describing a day at the beach for a little girl and her mom. This book is informational and realistic fiction because it has directions on how to do the sign language signal for specific words but it also follows a storyline that is realistic but fictional. ( )

This story follows a mother and daughter on an outing to the beach. Their simple activities are shown with muted pencil-and-watercolor paintings on one side of the two-page spreads, and illustrations of associated sign language on the other side.

Fifteen words help describe the full and fun day that includes flowers, dance, sun, swim, and of course the word laugh, ending up with the word for sunset.

The illustrations by Amy Bates are perfect for very young children.

Discussion: It turns out that Donna Jo Napoli, one of my favorite authors, is also Professor of Linguistics at Swarthmore and in addition works for the language rights of deaf children. … in her copious spare time. In her scholarly writing, she observes that 80% of children born deaf in the developed world receive cochlear implants, allowing some of them access to sound in the early years critical to speech development.

However, not only is the success rate with cochlear implants highly variable, but children who have not acquired a first language in the early years might never be completely fluent in any language. Napoli advocates teaching these children sign language. But, she reports, some families are opposed, thinking, for example, this might discourage their children from becoming fully competent in a hearing and speaking environment.

Napoli maintains that all deaf children should be given the opportunity for full linguistic development, and the ability to interact with other deaf peers, to ensure they develop social and communication skills.

In the back matter Napoli says that she hopes this book will make readers want to explore being more expressive with hands and faces, whether or not hearing is an issue. ( )