Book review: Jack Signs!
Written by Karen Hardwicke
Available from Amazon
Price: £10.99
Ages: 0 to 5
Jack Signs! is published by AVID Language, which publishes books specifically for deaf children.
Reviewed by Maneet, who is mum to William (5). William is profoundly deaf and wears cochlear implants.
We love the book ‘Jack Signs!’. The story about the little boy Jack is one that we can relate with so easily! We love how it’s written in very simple language, talking about the daily life of a little boy with no words. It’s a book that anyone in a similar situation will immediately relate to.
We love how the book describes all the daily scenarios of life with a little boy, like going to the park or getting ready for breakfast. Not being able to communicate makes it hard and frustrating for Jack, but at the same time it's amazing to see how signing brings about such a big change in their lives. The illustrations are very lovely too and depict the emotions so well!
Our son, William, is profoundly deaf and is bilaterally implanted. He started wearing his cochlear implants when he was three and was non-verbal till last year. So signing has been a very important part of our lives. It really helped us in those early days to communicate with our son and understand and manage his emotions.
William loves reading this book at bedtime. He loves all the little pictures, the fact that Jack wears hearing aids, reading about Jack's emotions and learning signs. William can relate to everything that the little boy and his mummy do together. He particularly loves to point out that the glove that Jack's mummy lost turns up in the beak of a bird later in the book. He loves to see how some things make Jack very upset and how happy he is when he is signing 'car' with his mummy. In fact, our younger son, who is hearing, also loves this book and understands how important signing is in our life. ‘Jack Signs’ is a family favourite!
We would absolutely recommend this book to other families. Anybody who has a deaf child will relate to it so well. The book inspires you to communicate with your child. It also gives you hope and encouragement that nothing is impossible. However hard or tricky it might be to have a young deaf child, there is help and hope especially through signing with your child. Communication is the key.