Deaf Characters in Fiction
Children's Miscellaneous
Reading Ages 4-8
(Recent discoveries)

Read any of these? Let us know what you think of the books & deaf characters.email

Carole Addabbo  -  Dina The Deaf Dinosaur  
Dina the deaf dinosaur. Her parents won't let her use ASL .
out-of-print

Althea (illustrated by Jean Anderson)- I Can't Hear Like You
    Main character, Tom, is a deaf boy.


Lorraine Aseltine, Evelyn Mueller, Nancy Tait  -  I'm Deaf and It's Okay
      A young boy hates being deaf until he befriends a deaf teenage boy. 


Barbara D. Booth  -   Mandy   
      Picture book format. Mandy, a deaf girl, touches readers with her perceptions of sound.
Freddy Bloom  - The Boy Who Couldn't Hear
      Deafness. English story. [picture book]
out-of-print
Tami Chiovari  -  Harold the Magic Hearing Aid  
      Harold is a special hearing aid that helps a boy accepts his difference.
Mary Blount B. Christian - Goosehill Gang and the May Basket Mystery
      Pete decides that the family next door are "weirdos" because they never speak, but learns along with the other members of his gang that the family is not weird but handicapped.
Gary Clemente -  Cosmo Gets an Ear  
      Story of Cosmo who gets a hearing aid.
Teresa Battisti-Cole - Silent One: The Adventure of a Hearing Impaired Heroine
     A young hearing-impaired Paiute Indian girl is rejected by her people until she witnesses a great event and over the years, the story she brought back to her people becomes a legend passed down by Paiute storytellers.
out of print
Phyllis Colonna, Della M. Rassmussen - Power of Dreaming
     Spunky Spaniel tells how Helen Keller, left blind and deaf by an illness, overcame her handicaps and inspired others to do the same.
Loren Spiotta-Dimare - Caesar: On Deaf Ears  
      A dog is born deaf; a shelter worker gives it hope.
Joyce Dunbar  -  Mundo and the Weather-Child
     Edmund feels a stranger in the rambling house he and his parents have moved to. Unable to hear, he is locked into a solitary world of silence. H he discovers another world in the wild garden. There he makes friends with the Weather-Child, who climbs and rides on the weather, swinging on all its changes.

Patricia A. Dyreson - A Very Special Egg
      In the eye-catching and colorfully illustrated picture book with one page of written story, two children (one deaf and the other hearing) will discover the true meaning of Easter-including religious symbolism- "new life" in nature. Guy's pictures capture the children's facial expressions and include hands that sign.

Raewyn Caisley, Leanne Fleming (Illustrator) - Quiet World
     When he learns that his younger brother can't hear, David wants to experience what it is like to be deaf.
Dorothy Fournier, Walter Fournier (Illustrator) - The Search
     While camping with her family, Laura loses the receiver to her hearing aid.
Wilson Gage - Down in the Boondocks
     Relates in rhyme what happens when a thief decides to rob a deaf farmer.

Amazon

Kate Gaynor - A Birthday for Ben
     It’s Ben’s 7th birthday, but he really doesn’t want a birthday party! When his friends surprise him, he then learns just how easy it is for everyone to join in the fun.

Cheryl & Jim Goldfeder  -  The Girl Who Wouldn't Talk
     Relates the communication problems of a little deaf girl growing up in a world where everybody talks.
Phillis Gershator, Lynne W. Cravath (Illustrator) - Tiny and Bigman
     On an island in the West Indies, a big, strong woman with a booming voice meets a weak, nearly deaf man, they fall in love and expect a baby and a hurricane at the same time.
Rachna Gilmore, Gordon Sauve (Illustrator) -    Screaming Kind of Day
     Scully, a young hearing-impaired girl, wants to play outside in the rain, away from her brother Leo and her busy mother. Instead, after escaping to the wet green trees outside, she is grounded and not allowed to leave the house for the day.
Amazon
Ron Hamilton, Peggy B. Deal (Illustrator) -  Alan and the Baron
      A deaf child tells how he uses sign language, hearing aids, and his other senses to communicate, how his friends help him, and how he goes to public school with an interpreter.

Amazon
Jamee Riggio Heelan, Nicola Simmonds (Illustrator)   -   Can You Hear a Rainbow?: The Story of a Deaf Boy Named Chris
Candri Hodges, Dot Yoder (Illustrator) - When I Grow Up
     Jimmy, who is deaf, attends Career Day where he meets deaf adults with varied and interesting careers, who communicate using sign language. Includes diagrams illustrating signs for some of the words in the text.
(October 25, 2012)

Amazon

Jack Hughes  -  Dachy's Deaf

    (Dinosaur Friends) Dachy wears a hearing aid. But sometimes, when his friends get too noisy, he likes to turn it off to get some peace and quiet. One day, when his hearing aid is off, Dachy falls asleep and ends up floating down the river towards a waterfall and a hungry crocodile. Can his friends rescue him in time?
Sharona Kadish, Joanne Scribner (Illustrator)  -   Discovering Friendship (Publish-A-Book) 
      When Kimberly, who is hearing impaired, joins her sixth-grade class, Samantha befriends her and learns sign language.
Bob Kane (creator)  -   Batman Beyond: Hear No Evil
Illustrators: John Delaney, Mike Decarlo, David Tanguay
      The villain Shriek, who uses sound as his weapon, is wreaking havoc on Gotham City. But when Shriek’s stone-splitting sound vibrations miraculously shatter the wall of silence surrounding a hapless deaf boy, a whole new world opens for the supervillain. Can Batman cage a criminal who’s started whistling a new tune?

Amazon
out of print

Lucille R Kraiman  -  Thanks a Lot!
     Jordan is used to going to school where he uses sign language instead of speech. Now that he is in a new school, how can he make friends? Will he have a part in the Thanksgiving play? What role does the class bully, Max, play in Jordan's life?

Amazon
Wendy Kupfer - Let's Hear It For Almigal  

      Meet Almigal, the happy, spunky little girl with a BIG personality who feels unlucky because she can’t hear everything she wants to hear. Almigal wants to hear every sound in the universe—from the robins singing outside her bedroom window to the soft music during ballet class and her friend’s teeny-tiny voice. Readers will rejoice with Almigal when a solution is found to her problem.
Patricia Lakin, Robert C. Steele (Illustrator) - Dad and Me in the Morning 
     Adventure of a parent and hard of hearing child at the lake.
Jeanne M. Lee - Silent Lotus
     Cambodian court ballet and a young Deaf dancer.
Edna Simon Levine, Gloria Kamen (Illustrator) - Lisa and Her Soundless World (New Juvenile Series on the Exceptional Child)
     A little girl with impaired hearing learns through various methods to use and understand speech. (ages 6 - 10)

Amazon

Nancy Simpson Levene, Susan Morris  -  Crocodile Meatloaf (The Alex Series)
    As she becomes friends with Rachel, a deaf girl who has joined her sixth grade class, Alex begins to feel that God has given her a mission to protect Rachel from the boy who is tormenting her.

Dorothy Hoffman Levi & Ethel Gold  -  A Very Special Friend
      In search of a friend her own age, six-year-old Frannie meets Laura, who is deaf, and learns sign language from her.
Patricia Lakin, Diana Magnuson (Illustrator) - Helen Keller and the Big Storm
     Helen Keller cannot see or hear. But that does not stop her from playing tricks on people, including her new teacher, Annie Sullivan. Still, Annie will not give up on Helen. Can Helen ever learn to trust her teacher?
Joan Marie Loreto  -  Duchess : A Story in Words and Sign Language
      A deaf boy relates his experiences going to school and playing with his dog Duchess. Text is accompanied by diagrams showing how to form the American Sign Language signs for each word.
Elizabeth Levy  (Invisible Inc. Series) The Karate Class Mystery ~ The Creepy Computer Mystery ~ The School Yard Mystery ~ The Mystery of the Missing Dog ~ The Snack Attack Mystery ~ Parents' Night Fright 
       Justin is hard of hearing, Chip is invisible, together with Charlene, the form a company the "rights wrongs" and solves mysteries.
Ada B. Litchfield  -   A Button In Her Ear  
      Angela needs hearing aids. A child's show & tell experiences.
Ada B. Litchfield  -  Words in Our Hands  
      Nine-year-old Michael has deaf parents.
Gloria Roth Lowell, Karen Stormer Brooks (Illustrator) - Elana's Ears, or How I Became the Best Big Sister in the World
     Lacey the family dog is jealous of the new baby that her human parents brought home, until she discovers that the baby cannot hear.
Mark Ludy  - The Grump
      Mr. McCurry Brogan Howlweister has long been referred to as "the Grump." The streets clear on Thursday when he does his weekly shopping at the store run by the parents of Lydia, a little deaf girl, a "picture of innocence" who "knew the sweetness of love." One by one, small gifts arrive on the Grump's doorstep. He catches Lydia leaving the third gift, her beloved doll, and is reformed.
Christy Mackinnon -  Silent Observer 
   Story of a deaf child & her family's life in Canada during the late 1800s.
Christobel Mattingley -  The Race
      Deaf character. Takes place in school.
Isaac Millman -   Moses Goes to School ~ Moses Goes to a Concert  ~ **Moses Goes to the Circus ~ **Moses Sees a Play
      This series is written English and American Sign Language (ASL). Moses goes to a special school, a public school for the deaf. His deaf classmates and him go on different adventures.
JoAnne Nelson, Tracy DuCharme - (Illustrator) - Friends All Around
     Children on a class outing to an amusement park enjoy interacting with their disabled friends, one of whom is deaf, one blind, one with Down's syndrome, and one in a wheelchair.
Amazon

Diana Peter - Claire and Emma
    2 Sisters, ages 2 and 4 born deaf and the issues they go through.

Jeanne Whitehouse Peterson -  I Have a Sister. My Sister is Deaf  
      Older sister tells a story about her deaf sibling.
Anita Riggio - Secret Signs: Along the Underground Railroad
     When the barn used for hiding runaway slaves burns to the ground, Luke, who is deaf, finds a unique way to pass along information about the next safe haven.
Betty Rushford - Best Buddies and The Fruit of the Spirit
     (Religiion) Best Buddies: And the Fruit of the Spirit is a collection of nine individual stories that correspond with each of the nine Fruits of the Spirit mentioned in the Bible. In each story a little girl named Krista encounters a situation she doesn't understand and talks it over with her favorite bear and best buddy, DeDe. The collection teaches children the importance of such things as accepting people as they are, keeping promises, obeying parents, eating vegetables, fastening seatbelts, good manners, and controlling the tongue. It contains storylines about the mentally and physically handicapped, the deaf, how to handle scary situations, and the neighborhood bully.

 


Amazon

Pete Seeger, Paul Dubois Jacobs, R. Gregory Christie (Illustrator)  -  The Deaf Musicians

Poor Lee! He used to be a jazzman who could make the piano go yimbatimba- TANG—zang-zang. But now he’s lost his hearing, and the bandleader had to let him go.

So Lee goes to a school for the deaf to learn sign language. There, he meets Max, who used to play the sax. Riding the subway to class, they start signing about all the songs they love. A bass player named Rose joins in and soon they’ve got a little sign language band.

And in no time they’re performing for audiences in the subway, night after night.

This book was honored by the ALA for embodying "the artistic expression of the disability experience"

Christopher Darnell Smith, Ryan Haralson (Illustrator)  -  The Land of the Lullaby
     (Baby-Preschool)

      Three main characters are insects with disabilities who use their gifts and cooperate to accomplish the goal of traveling through the Peek-A-Boo trail. (excellent learning tool for students, parents, teachers and others.) Author's web page.

Nigel Snell  -  Peter Gets a Hearing Aid

 If you know of this title or deaf character, please email the info to me at info@myshelf.com
Anne Marie Starowitz -  The Day We Met Cindy  
      Picture storybook. A first grade  class meets Cindy, a hearing impaired aunt of a student. The class uses sign to communicate with Cindy. Colorful pictures!

Darlene Toole - Cajun's Song
       Cajun's Song is about a hearing dog from the shelter and a deaf woman named Janice.

Myron Uhlberg, Henri Sorensen (Illustrator) -  The Printer
     The book is about Myron Uhlberg's deaf father, Louis Uhlberg. He was a printer for the New York Daily News.

JanWahl  / Tomie De Paola -  Jamie's Tiger

 If you know of this title or deaf character, please email the info to me at info@myshelf.com
Jan Wahl, Kim Howard (Illustrator) - Rosa's Parrot
     Rosa is hard of hearing and she relies on her parrot, Pico, to repeat things loudly for her, but sometimes Pico takes advantage of Rosa to create mischief.
Dawn L. Watkins  - The Spelling Window
      Shelly usually ignores the spelling window, the window that her sister and their hearing-impaired neighbor, Seth, use when they sign to each other. (Preschool)

Siv Widerberg, Anna Walfridson, Tiina Nunnally  -  Suddenly One Day
     Includes a deaf character. (From School Library Journal) Kindergarten-Grade 2-A touching tale of first love. One day, a strange young boy appears in the yard; for some reason he piques a little girl's curiosity. Tentatively, their friendship blossoms over the summer, as they swing and play together in the sandbox, although the boy seldom speaks.

Amazon
Edel Wignell - I Wonder Who Lives Upstairs
(1993, University of Western Australia Press – Cygnet Books) – for ages 3-6 years. Children's Book Council of Australia, Notable Book.

Sophie, Mum and Dad and baby Julian are moving into a downstairs flat. Sophie wonders who lives upstairs, and wants to meet them. Soon she sees clues, and then there are surprises. Look at the upstairs pictures. Can you work out the mystery?
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