Book review: The Book of Legends

Written by Lenny Henry
Available from bookshops
Price: £6.99
Ages: 5 to 14

Reviewed by Katie (11) who's severely to profoundly deaf and wears hearing aids.

The book is about adventure. I feel deaf children can relate to how Bran is feeling, although it’s strange as obviously you can’t see the signing, so they have to say they are signing all the time. Me and my mum read the story together.

I really enjoyed this book. It was really easy to read, and I was excited to read the next part each time. It’s about twins, a brother and sister called Bran and Fran. Bran is deaf and uses sign language to communicate. They go on a magical adventure to find their missing family members through a story book their mum had written. At the beginning, it had a bit of a sad start, but I enjoyed how the story was full of mini stories and followed their journey to find who had gone missing (no spoilers!).

It was nice to have the British Sign Language (BSL) fingerspelling alphabet at the back of the book. I know how to fingerspell already, but it might be good for people who don’t. I think the book is aimed at children my age. I enjoyed the pretend world and all the different people and creatures Bran and Fran meet along the way.