Horn Book

Luminous, realistically rendered colored-pencil drawings illustrate the hand shapes for the letters of the manual alphabet, used by the hearing impaired as a part of American Sign Language. Each drawing incorporates objects or actions while clearly picturing the correct position of the fingers and hands to make each sign. An elegant, imaginative alphabet book.

Kirkus Reviews

Exquisitely detailed, realistically portrayed hands of different ages, sexes, and colors demonstrate the positions for the manual alphabet used in American Sign; an object with the appropriate initial appears with each—the pointing finger for I'' reaches toward a dripping icicle;T'' sports three thimbles and a fistful of thread; ``X'' appears on an X-ray. An elegant roman capital completes each beautifully designed color- pencil illustration. The key includes the lovely jacket and title-page pictures, each of which adds something special—e.g., the hand on the title-page is overlaid with some of the many styles of letters that may be represented by the signs. The point of view sometimes varies from signer to observer, but the illustrations are so admirably clear that this should cause no confusion. An excellent introduction. (Nonfiction/Picture book. 2+)"

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

ENQUIRING MINDS... The I Want to Know series, imported from Italy, rolls out with Rain, Where Do You Come From?; Flower, Why Do You Smell So Nice?; Wind, What Makes You Move? and Sun, Where Do You Go?, all by Francesca Grazzini, illus. by Chiara Carrer. The books teach natural history through curious cartoon animals-the narrators include a bird who learns from the wind and a bee who quizzes a flower about pollination. The varied format includes simple poems and informal games/quizzes. Illustrations are fresh and winsome; the frog in Rain is particularly inspired and expressive. PW called this book displaying the American Sign Language alphabet """"exceptionally striking... a glorious success."""" All ages. (Nov.)