Product Description

Mandy stared out the window and shivered, She hated the dark; it made her so alone. At night she couldn't sign to her friends or see anyone's lips when they spoke. it felt as if the world ended at the edge of her flashlight beam.

But she looked at Grandma's tear-streaked face and bare collar. The silver pin Grandpa had given her so long ago was lost somewhere in the woods. And even though a stormy night was beginning, Mandy was determined to find it.

Barbara Booth's beautiful text and )im LaMarche's luminescent paintings give readers a rare insight into the world of a very special deaf child.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1419380 in Books
• Published on: 1991-09-23
• Released on: 1991-09-23
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 32 pages

From Publishers Weekly
The silent world of a deaf child brims with imagined sounds and intriguing observations. As Mandy and her grandmother pass an afternoon baking cookies, looking at family photos and taking a walk, the girl wonders at all the sounds she cannot hear: the rustling of tree branches, cookie dough dropping onto baking sheets. With such intricate, poignant details, Booth--in her debut--illuminates Mandy's world and gently refocuses the reader's visual and aural perceptions. Far less subtle are the predictable events that unfold when Mandy's grandmother loses her cherished pin outdoors just as a storm threatens. Mandy's appeal as an engaging, inquisitive child needs no reinforcement from a cliched tale of heroism, and the narrative falters under its clumsiness. LaMarche's luminescent paintings capture a wealth of emotion, touchingly underscoring the importance of visual expression in nonverbal communication. Ages 4-8.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal
Grade 2-4-- Mandy, a deaf girl, overcomes her fear of the dark to find her grandmother's lost pin during a storm. The child's deafness is treated matter-of-factly and explained without any traces of pedantic rhetoric. The book is quite wordy, but the warmth between the grandmother and the child is evident, and is reflected in the illustrations. Subtle use of light and color lends softness to the full-page paintings. While this is not great literature, it's an additional purchase for libraries needing books on grandmothers or conquering fear. --Christine A. Moesch, Buffalo and Erie County Public Library, Buffalo, NY
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews
In her first book, Booth tells a realistic story about a deaf child's day with her widowed grandmother. The main event here is that Grandma loses her treasured 25th-aniversary pin while the two are taking a country walk; that evening, despite her fear of the dark, Mandy is lucky enough to find the pin with the help of a flashlight. Meanwhile, Booth has presented the differences and similarities that go with being deaf; though she weaves the information into her story with skill, it's evident that including it is her primary purpose. LaMarche's rather formal realistic art is well crafted; portraits of the two characters are especially perceptive and appealing. (Picture book. 6-10) -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Customer Reviews

An Inspiration!
Mandy is a really unique picture book dealing with the issue of deafness. It is a heart warming story about a young deaf girl and her grandmother. It is filled with profound statements expressing Mandy's "Deaf" perspective of the hearing world she lives in. While ending a dance in the kitchen with Grandma, Mandy describes "...one of the silly rules of the Hearing World. It makes more sense to stop dancing when you wanted to stop, instead of letting that box (radio) decide." Later, she wonders how the sunlight sounds as it passes through the trees. She concludes that the woods must be a very loud place to be, which is why she and Grandma never see any other people there! This story really makes you stop and think how a young Deaf child might view pieces of the Hearing world. It also makes you think about different ways Hearing people use auditory cues to perceive their world.

The art work in Mandy is touching and enhances the story with its beauty.

One of the things I enjoy most about this book, is that it exposes the readers to Deaf Culuture while immersing them in a sensitive story about two special people. Mandy and Grandma share such fun together, dancing, cooking walking in the woods. However, when Grandma loses a very special pin that Grandpa gave her before he died, it was Mandy who saved the day!

As a teacher of the Deaf, I read as much literature as possible on this subject to share with students, families, teachers and all interested parties. This book on Deaf Culture is inspiring because of how well it is written and because it is the only piece of literature on this subject that I have read that does NOT focus on what the Deaf can and cannot do, or describe a day in the life of a Deaf person. It tells a heartwarming adventure, weaving into the story inspiring perspectives on Deafness that really make the reader/listener think.

In my mind, this is one of the best children's books I've read about Deafness. It is not one that is well-known, but it is a real treasure!

Mandy
Mandy is a young girl who is hearing-impaired. This story tells of things Mandy enjoys in her life and the things she dislikes. It also tells how Mandy uses her other senses. The story is about Mandy going out at night during a storm to look for her beloved grandmother's lost pin. The pin is special to her grandmother because Mandy's grandfather had given it to her on their 25th wedding anniversary. Mandy finds the pin and makes her grandmother very happy.

Teacher Notes: Mandy would be a wonderful book to read to remind students that people are different and that we should respect that diversity. This would be a good read-aloud book for kindergarten and first grade. Second and third graders could read it on their own.