Celebrating Deaf Awareness Month
September is National Deaf Awareness Month, a time to honor Deaf culture and support the use of sign language. To celebrate this year, we are excited to introduce you to a collection of books and resources to learn more about the Deaf community and help you learn American Sign Language. These resources include books for children and adults, eResources featuring digital picture books, a language platform for learning American Sign Language and more! And you can access all of these amazing resources for free with your Fountaindale Public Library card.
Book Recommendations
Check out these curated lists of books either by Deaf Authors or that feature Deaf characters.
Emma Every Day Book Series by C.L Reid
It’s great to see growing representation for the Deaf community in children’s books. Emma Every Day is a beginning-reader series that centers on 8-year-old Emma, a little girl with a cochlear implant, who uses sign language and loves to swim and ride her bike.
Each book in the series shows Emma having a different adventure, from a soccer game to a writing contest. Plus, every book also includes a guide to fingerspelling and a few basic signs.
You can find the Emma Every Day series in the Easy-Reader section of our Children’s collection.
eResources
We want to highlight two eResources you can use to learn American Sign Language and celebrate National Deaf Awareness Month: Mango Languages and Lote4Kids. You can find both of these on our eResource page.
Mango Languages offers more than 70 foreign-language courses, including American Sign Language. When you select ASL as your language, you can start by learning how to sign the Word of the Day. In the example below, I learned how to sign the word “building” in ASL. As the name suggests, the World of the Day changes every day!
Mango Languages also offers separate ASL courses based on your level. If you’re completely new to ASL, you can select the 101 course. If you have some experience with ASL, you can try out the 102 course. Throughout each course, there are instructive and demonstrative videos, and each module concludes with a homework assignment. If you’re interested in learning fingerspelling, there are basic and advanced courses for that as well.
Lote4Kids offers a wide range of children’s digital picture books and activities in over 100 world languages, including Spanish, Polish, Arabic and even American Sign Language! These books are organized into three levels, so if you’re a beginner, you can start at Level 1, or if you’re more advanced, you can go all the way up to Level 3. Lote4Kids also has playlists to show you how to sign the letters of the alphabet and basic words from categories like numbers, transportation, towns and more. This is a great introduction for kids and parents.
Event: Disney Songs in Sign
Tuesday, September 8, 4:30–5:30 p.m. (Drop in)
Grades K–5
To celebrate the re-animation of several popular Disney songs, Children’s Services is hosting a special event where kids can learn basic ASL signs. Celebrate National Deaf Awareness Month and learn basic American Sign Language signs with your favorite reimagined Disney songs.
American Girl Doll: Joss Kendrick
Joss Kendrick was the American Girl Doll of the Year in 2020. Joss loves surfing and skateboarding. She wears a hearing aid and also uses sign language. Check out the Joss doll kit from the Children’s Services Desk and learn more about Joss by reading the book included with the kit.
