Episode 9: Deaf & Hard of Hearing Characters

In the longest episode yet, the mamas just can’t stop yakking about the great and not-so-great (Judge Judy’s in da house!) Middle Grade books with deaf and hard of hearing characters. The mamas find authors to stalk and characters to love while advocating for the deaf community. And that’s not all. The BFFs end the show with science, history and math related books that will help parents and caregivers survive e-learning and homeschooling in 2020. The struggle is real, but the mamas have your back. 

MG Books with Deaf and Hard of Hearing Characters:

Song for a Whale by Lynne Kelly

Iris is a Deaf girl in a hearing world who is acutely aware of how it feels to be disconnected, especially since her Deaf grandfather passed. When she learns of a whale struggling with the same disconnection, she’ll risk anything to make sure he knows he’s not alone.  

Wonderstruck by Brian Selznik

Wonderstruck is two stories, from two different times with stunning similarities. Ben’s story of searching for answers in 1977 is told in words while Rose’s story of searching for freedom in 1927 is told through stunning illustrations. Each is determined to find what they need but can they handle their journeys?

Harriet Versus the Galaxy by Samantha Baines

Harriet recently moved in with her grandmother and isn’t too excited about it. But when she learns her hearing aids can translate the language of the alien under her bed and that her grandmother is a secret agent, she realizes staying at Grandma’s is nothing like she expected.

El Defo by CeCe Bell

In this classic graphic novel, Cece wants to connect with her classmates and make a best friend. The only obstacle is the huge hearing device she wears around her neck called the Phonic Ear. Without it Cece can’t hear but with it she feels like a sore thumb.

Hello Universe by Erin Entrada Kelly

Virgil would like to befriend Valencia but she’s smart, independent and Deaf, all things Virgil is not. Karori promises she can use her psychic powers to help him but before she can connect the two, the universe, in the form of the class bully, gets in the way. 

Pick Six: Fiction that Supports Science, Math and History Subjects

1.     Lizzy Bright and the Buckminster Boy by Gary D. Schmidt

2.     Birchbark House by Louise Erdrich

3.     Prairie Cooks by Carrie Young

4.     Miscalculations of Lightning Girl by Stacy McAnulty

5.     Counting by 7s by Holly Golberg Sloan

6.     The Tornado by Jake Burt

7.     Bonus Pick: The Poetry of Science: The Poetry Friday Anthology for Science for Kids

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