Time to Sign: Sign Language for Kids

by Kathryn Clay, Michael Reid (Illustrator), Margeaux Lucas (Illustrator), Daniel Griffo (Illustrator), Randy Chewning (Illustrator)

Overview

Time to Sign will have you signing in no time! A helpful introduction and alphabet provide a base for hundreds of words and phrases. What's the sign for fun? You'll soon know. And you'll learn signs you can use wherever you are.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781620656877
Publisher:	Capstone Press
Publication date:	07/01/2013
Series:	Time to Sign
Pages:	112
Sales rank:	263,975
Product dimensions:	10.10(w) x 9.20(h) x 0.30(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Kathryn Clay has written more than 40 nonfiction children’s books about everything from dancing to dinosaurs. She also teaches college writing courses. She has a Master’s of Arts in Literature from Minnesota State University, Mankato. Kathryn lives in southern Minnesota with her husband and daughter.

Interviews

• Contains more than 400 words and phrases for everyday things. • Combination of real photos of objects and places, plus illustratied signs. • Great introduction for even the youngest readers.

Editorial Reviews

This is a nice resource for basic sign language. Interested children, teachers, and parents would find this helpful.

Library Media Connection

This kid-friendly guide to American Sign Language (ASL) provides an enjoyable and accessible introduction to the language’s fundamentals. . . .Facial expressions and body language are key in ASL, and the cute cartoon figures of children demonstrating the signs all face the reader directly and depict the appropriate actions. . . .At more than 100 pages, this is approachable for young readers but still significant enough to be of help to anyone.

Booklist

01/01/2014
K-Gr 4—In six thematic chapters, Clay introduces basic American Sign Language (ASL) vocabulary relating to everyday life and surroundings, people and places, the calendar, and conversations. Computer-generated cartoon children demonstrate the signs, accompanied by photos of objects and captions that often confuse by describing only the movement without clarifying other aspects, such as handshape. Oversimplification is a problem throughout. It is never mentioned, for example, that ASL is mainly used in the United States and Canada, thus reinforcing misconceptions about its universality. The critical grammatical role of nonmanual signals goes completely unmentioned-the section on questions, where a raised or lowered eyebrow is key to meaning, fails to address it at all, and the introduction asserts simply that "People use facial expressions when they sign. They smile when signing good news. They frown when signing sad news." More troublingly, some of the signs, such as "fruit," "vegetable," and "math," are depicted misleadingly or incorrectly. Look to Penny Warner's Learn to Sign the Fun Way! (Three Rivers, 2001) or Lora Heller's Sign Language for Kids (Sterling, 2004) instead.—Kathleen Kelly MacMillan, Carroll County Public Library, MD

School Library Journal