Sonderbooks Book Review of Let's Sign

Reviewed March 5, 2006.
Houghton Mifflin, Boston, 2005. 80 pages.
Available at Sembach Library (J 419.7 AUL).

Quite some time ago, my friend Darlene told me about a TV special she’d seen where babies were taught to sign. The researchers found that they could communicate much earlier than babies who only used words. Talking is a difficult physical task, so young babies could learn simple signs before they were able to form words with their mouths. This meant they could communicate their needs to their parents, and caused a lot less frustration than trying to communicate by crying and pointing.

According to the Note to Parents at the front of this book, babies who learn to sign also learn to speak and read earlier. This makes sense, because they have learned the power of communication.

That said, this little book is a beautiful way to teach your baby some basic, simple signs. The book contains three simple stories about three different babies. Each two-page spread has a sentence or two on the left, with a demonstration of signs for a few of the words on the right.

In the process of reading the simple stories, you can learn more than 60 signs. All the basics are there: Mother, father, baby, boy, girl, brother, sister, eat, drink, cup, want, more, please, thank you, and many others.

If I had a baby, I’d want to get this book and try it out. This would be a nice book to own, since you’d want to read it many times to learn the signs. As it is, it was fun to check it out and read through it.

-top of page-

Book Reviews by Sondra Eklund

****Let's Sign*

Every Baby's Guide to Communicating with Grownups

by Kelly Ault

illustrated by Leo Landry