Boy

★★★★

Good Conversation Starter

I enjoy reading and sharing books about individuals that are different from everyone else with my children, so when I saw this one about a deaf child, I immediately nabbed it. 

​It’s a cute children’s story about a deaf boy during a time when a kingdom is fighting a dragon (my daughter likes it because it’s the only book she has with a dragon in it) and the boy is considered strange because the towns folk don’t understand his ‘dancing fingers’ and why he writes in the dirt all the time.  

The way it introduces people who use sign language to speak is a good conversation starter for little one’s questions about the boy’s actions or a teaching moment. The story also has a nice moral as well showing how easily lack of communication and/or preconceived notions can lead to major issues. It also shows a simple way to make someone deaf feel more included in the community. 

The plot moved along nicely, the characters, writing mechanics and the occasional dialogue were good as well for a children’s novel. The illustrations are cute as well. It’s a sweet, simple tale, but it’s not going to grab you emotionally, unless you are able to relate to the character in it, which we personally cannot, hence the 4-stars instead of 5.