A review by jwinchell
Show Me a Sign by Ann Clare LeZotte

4.0

Mary lives on the island of Martha’s Vineyard in the year 1805. She is deaf, so is her father, and so are many others in her village, going back to her deaf great great grandfather, who came from England. Mary loves her life and feels proud of this lineage. Mary’s family is living with the grief from the premature loss of her brother George. There is conflict among the American settlers and the native Wampanoag. Life is upended when a mainland scientist arrives and takes Mary as a “live specimen” and studies her deafness, looking for a solution to this problem of human imperfection. The adventure greatly increases after that and the solution is satisfying. Read the author’s notes before you begin for fascinating information about deaf history, American Sign Language, the Wampanoag and natives on Martha’s Vineyard and more. Most fascinating was how LeZote, deaf herself, differentiates between sign and spoken language.