Final Thoughts
Overall, I am sad to say that finding deaf literature is a very tough thing. It is even more complicated in term of children's literature. I had to search for a very long time just to find the six books that I did find. For this reason, I feel that there is a very large need for books with deaf characters. I would also like to see these characters playing a larger role in the story. I feel that while most of my books used the main characters as deaf characters, most other books nationwide do not.
I also found that most of the time, these characters were never really given a change to portray how they were feeling. Moses Goes to a Concert by Issac Millman is one of the only books that really let the reader experience the speaking that occurs for Moses and his other classmates. It even allows the reader to do sign language as they are reading the book.
Children who are deaf are also not always portrayed in a positive light. I found many books that considered these children to be "special" or "different". A Screaming Kind of Day by Rachna Gilmore also portrayed the child who is deaf as annoying and a pain. This is something that really frustrated me, especially since there is nothing wrong with the child, besides the fact that she is curious about what is occurring in her life.
I feel that in order to successfully find books that portray the idea of being deaf, one must first write these books. I struggled throughout the course to find positive books, and found that most of them portrayed negativity of the character who is deaf.
I also found that most of the time, these characters were never really given a change to portray how they were feeling. Moses Goes to a Concert by Issac Millman is one of the only books that really let the reader experience the speaking that occurs for Moses and his other classmates. It even allows the reader to do sign language as they are reading the book.
Children who are deaf are also not always portrayed in a positive light. I found many books that considered these children to be "special" or "different". A Screaming Kind of Day by Rachna Gilmore also portrayed the child who is deaf as annoying and a pain. This is something that really frustrated me, especially since there is nothing wrong with the child, besides the fact that she is curious about what is occurring in her life.
I feel that in order to successfully find books that portray the idea of being deaf, one must first write these books. I struggled throughout the course to find positive books, and found that most of them portrayed negativity of the character who is deaf.