Books with Deaf Characters Post 8 - Silent Lotus
Silent Lotus by Jeanne M. Lee is a picturebook, which proudly proclaims it's a Reading Rainbow book. Ah, Reading Rainbow... so weird seeing Levar Burton with eyes.
Anyhoo, this takes place 'Long ago in Kampuchea' and I have no idea where that is. From the pictures, I'm guessing somewhere near India and/or China. Yes, that's how globally aware I am. The author was born in Vietnam, so it may be Vietnam.
Lotus is born deaf and mute. Seriously. Doesn't make a noise as a baby. So, that's rather unusual there. And her mother invents a sign to show her her name is Lotus, like the flower. But in general, they don't seem to communicate a whole lot. Lotus doesn't have any friends. Then they go off to visit a big temple and they see the temple dancers and Lotus starts dancing. So they decide that's a sign. She's to be a dancer. So she learns to be a dancer and dances and somehow she magically acquires friends this way. The end.
You may have guessed I don't think much of this book. It's just sort of all... eh.
Deaf Character: Little girl, Asian (Vietnamese?). Doesn't lipread, speak, read, write, or sign. In short, no language.
Relationship to Main Character: She is the main character! (I know, shocker, right?)
Genre of Book: Historical
Reading Level of Book: Picturebook
