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Apple Is My Sign
A ten-year-old boy returns to his parents' apple farm for the holidays after his first term at a school for the deaf in Philadelphia.
160 pages, Paperback
First published March 23, 1981
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
May 13, 2019
This is the kind of book where the simplicity of the language is not reflective of the book's thematic complexity. That is one of several reasons I loved it. Yes, it is categorized as a children's book. Yes, it is written in a manner that easily allows children to read and enjoy it. But it is so much richer than that.
The themes presented are not superficial. The book moves well beyond the standard "boy goes to boarding school" narrative. It addresses personal agency (and the lack thereof). It demonstrates the power of community and strength in numbers, and how when it comes to identity development, it is *essential* to be around others like yourself.
Even with those running themes, the author (Howell) is respectful of Apple as a character. She doesn't treat him as if he exists only as a vehicle for her ideas. He's not a token in his own story. She doesn't talk over him. Rather, she talks through him. Howell fills him out as a character and invites us to consider the impact of the various events in the book from his perspective.
That is what converts this from being strictly an entertaining children's book into being equally at home under the umbrella of social commentary.
Howell does all that without coming off as preachy. Discrimination, audism, and hearing privilege are clear running themes, but again, this isn't a dissertation. Everything is presented from Apple's perspective: that of a pre-adolescent Deaf boy growing up in a world not built for him.
With respect to the content, Apple Is My Sign is like many children's movies these days: constructed so that children enjoy the adventure while adults analyze the underlying social themes.
The themes presented are not superficial. The book moves well beyond the standard "boy goes to boarding school" narrative. It addresses personal agency (and the lack thereof). It demonstrates the power of community and strength in numbers, and how when it comes to identity development, it is *essential* to be around others like yourself.
Even with those running themes, the author (Howell) is respectful of Apple as a character. She doesn't treat him as if he exists only as a vehicle for her ideas. He's not a token in his own story. She doesn't talk over him. Rather, she talks through him. Howell fills him out as a character and invites us to consider the impact of the various events in the book from his perspective.
That is what converts this from being strictly an entertaining children's book into being equally at home under the umbrella of social commentary.
Howell does all that without coming off as preachy. Discrimination, audism, and hearing privilege are clear running themes, but again, this isn't a dissertation. Everything is presented from Apple's perspective: that of a pre-adolescent Deaf boy growing up in a world not built for him.
With respect to the content, Apple Is My Sign is like many children's movies these days: constructed so that children enjoy the adventure while adults analyze the underlying social themes.
February 22, 2023
Having studied some of the history of deaf people in the US, especially earlier history of their education, I hold this as a special story. A time when authors wrote about real kids in lifelike situations and heroes were people living as best they could under challenging situations. One can get a sense of what life was like and families were realistic, not fantastic, not endowed with magical powers, and troubles were not so depressing.
Apple's family leaves him at the train station and he travels alone to an unfamiliar residential school for deaf children. We cannot imagine that today. My father also got on a train to leave home for college. Not the hovering parents making the bed and unpacking the clothes and attending parent orientation. Not that today's rituals are bad and not without safety concerns, but how does a child learn to be independent and self-confident when everything is really parent-centered.
Apple has troubles like any boy might, and they are confounded by his deafness. And without explaining to the reader we understand the love and the good sense under which he has been raised.
Apple's family leaves him at the train station and he travels alone to an unfamiliar residential school for deaf children. We cannot imagine that today. My father also got on a train to leave home for college. Not the hovering parents making the bed and unpacking the clothes and attending parent orientation. Not that today's rituals are bad and not without safety concerns, but how does a child learn to be independent and self-confident when everything is really parent-centered.
Apple has troubles like any boy might, and they are confounded by his deafness. And without explaining to the reader we understand the love and the good sense under which he has been raised.
November 11, 2022
Apple is My Sign troy HOwell & Riskind, Mary 3 Jr. Hist.1900s Historical turn of century young boy goes away for deal school which changes his relationship with his deaf family & finds place for himself at school & @home 2015 4/1/2015
December 9, 2024
Deaf reader reviewing books with deaf characters. This book is listed on my ranked list of books with deaf characters.
The author is a child of deaf adults (CODA).
The only reason this isn’t 5 stars is how ASL vs. English is represented. She writes the signed dialog in broken English style. She explains why in the foreword, wants to capture that ASL ≠ English, but as I always point out, this isn’t done with spoken languages, and it annoyingly singles out signed languages and makes them “less than” English.
Harry’s parents are deaf too and never went to school—but writes in perfect English. Dictated? It's never explained.
Schoolmates aren’t perfect. Friends, bullies, crushes, teachers are diverse and realistic.
One-on-one speech lessons don’t go well. (Realistic that the signing school has speech lessons!) Becomes voice/breath lesson—how to expel air from the throat to produce a sound (voice).
Good representation of differing ideologies about deaf people's capabilities (e.g., only hearing people can be teachers) from the preacher and then mother’s rebuttal. Moreover, these ideologies are realistically complex—while mother believes deaf people can do things like teach, she also hopes that her deaf friend’s baby will be born hearing.
In short, these characters aren’t one-dimensional and have growth.
The author is a child of deaf adults (CODA).
The only reason this isn’t 5 stars is how ASL vs. English is represented. She writes the signed dialog in broken English style. She explains why in the foreword, wants to capture that ASL ≠ English, but as I always point out, this isn’t done with spoken languages, and it annoyingly singles out signed languages and makes them “less than” English.
Harry’s parents are deaf too and never went to school—but writes in perfect English. Dictated? It's never explained.
Schoolmates aren’t perfect. Friends, bullies, crushes, teachers are diverse and realistic.
One-on-one speech lessons don’t go well. (Realistic that the signing school has speech lessons!) Becomes voice/breath lesson—how to expel air from the throat to produce a sound (voice).
Good representation of differing ideologies about deaf people's capabilities (e.g., only hearing people can be teachers) from the preacher and then mother’s rebuttal. Moreover, these ideologies are realistically complex—while mother believes deaf people can do things like teach, she also hopes that her deaf friend’s baby will be born hearing.
In short, these characters aren’t one-dimensional and have growth.
July 2, 2015
This is a great book that is a little too old and obsolete to review on my blog, but I still wanted to put a word in for it. I've been fascinated by sign language for almost as long as I've spoken English (i.e. my whole life), so I was really excited to read this book written by the daughter of deaf parents about a deaf boy going to a boarding school for deaf kids. It addresses the challenges and prejudices against the deaf community, as well as the prejudices members of the deaf community have about hearing people, and is all-around a great story. If you get a chance to read it, definitely do so!
May 5, 2011
It is difficult to find a book that deals with those who are deaf. This book is a great look into what the deaf face and the obstacles they must overcome when surrounded by the hearing. The main character leaves his family's home to go to a school for the deaf. Over the course of this book, the main character learns where he fits into the world. When the characters speak to each other, it is written in the same form as ASL is signed.
This book is appropriate for all ages. This is a very pleasant book that can teach a lot to those who are uninformed about ASL and those who are deaf.
This book is appropriate for all ages. This is a very pleasant book that can teach a lot to those who are uninformed about ASL and those who are deaf.
February 24, 2015
This is just one of my favorite books. Its very sweet. Dialogue is all sign language and written in that grammatical structure. Apple is a boy who lives on his family's apple orchard, his siblings aren't very interested in school and will just work on the farm, but his parents know Apple is curious. So he gets to go to the city and see a sewing machine for the first time and all this stuff and his wonder is just palpable.
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February 5, 2009JAR4-Ris
November 3, 2012
Easy to read , finished it in 2hrs. Very lovely story highly recommend .
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews