Highlighting Deaf Culture

A few weeks ago, my colleagues and I were beside ourselves with excitement when we heard about a new easy reader series called Emma Every Day, which is an #OwnVoices series featuring a Deaf protagonist.  Emma uses American Sign Language (ASL) to communicate with her family and friends, and she also has a cochlear implant (CI) that helps with her hearing.

Cochlear implants are highly controversial in the Deaf community, especially where children are involved, but I’m taking that aspect of this series with a grain of salt and celebrating it nonetheless. Here’s a list of books highlighting Deaf culture that I wholeheartedly recommend:

#OwnVoices



Well-Researched Fiction



Biographies



ASL


-Mary Wahlmeier Bracciano is a Youth Services Assistant at Lawrence Public Library.