Special Collections

Nobody's Perfect

"She's practically perfect," Megan said thoughtfully. She repeated the new girl's name, practicing the way Ms. Endee had written it on the whiteboard. Alexis Powell. Megan has spent forever planning her positively purple birthday sleepover. She's even made glittery purple invitations for every girl in her class. Then a new girl, Alexis, joins their class. Alexis seems perfect: She's smart, pretty, and rules the soccer games on the playground. But no matter how hard Megan tries to be a friend to Alexis, the new girl is aloof or rude. At first, Megan thinks Alexis is shy. Then Megan starts to fear that Alexis is treating her differently because she's deaf. When the girls are forced to collaborate on a science fair project, Megan learns the truth -- and realizes that nobody's perfect. Once again Marlee Matlin draws on experiences from her own childhood to tell Megan's story. In this funny, poignant book, readers will root for Megan, a spirited young girl who doesn't let anything stand in her way.

Date Added: 03/08/2018

The Cry of the Gull

A memoir by a deaf, French actress who starred in the French production of Children of a Lesser God.

Date Added: 03/08/2018

Burn Down the Ground

In this powerful, affecting, and unflinching memoir, a daughter looks back on her unconventional childhood with deaf parents in rural Texas while trying to reconcile it to her present life--one in which her father is serving a twenty-year sentence in a maximum-security prison.

As a child, Kambri Crews wished that she'd been born deaf so that she, too, could fully belong to the tight-knit Deaf community that embraced her parents. Her beautiful mother was a saint who would swiftly correct anyone's notion that deaf equaled dumb. Her handsome father, on the other hand, was more likely to be found hanging out with the sinners. Strong, gregarious, and hardworking, he managed to turn a wild plot of land into a family homestead complete with running water and electricity. To Kambri, he was Daniel Boone, Frank Lloyd Wright, Ben Franklin, and Elvis Presley all rolled into one. But if Kambri's dad was Superman, then the hearing world was his kryptonite. The isolation that accompanied his deafness unlocked a fierce temper--a rage that a teenage Kambri witnessed when he attacked her mother, and that culminated fourteen years later in his conviction for another violent crime.

With a smart mix of brutal honesty and blunt humor, Kambri Crews explores her complicated bond with her father--which begins with adoration, moves to fear, and finally arrives at understanding--as she tries to forge a new connection between them while he lives behind bars. Burn Down the Ground is a brilliant portrait of living in two worlds--one hearing, the other deaf; one under the laid-back Texas sun, the other within the energetic pulse of New York City; one mired in violence, the other rife with possibility--and heralds the arrival of a captivating new voice.

Date Added: 03/08/2018

Silent Dances

Deaf since birth, Tesa is the perfect ambassador to the alien Grus, whose sonic cries can shatter human ears. But her mission is harder than it looks. The Grus are not alone on their world. They have deadly enemies, both natural and otherwise. And if Tesa is to save all life on the planet, she will have to make peace with not one alien species but two.

Date Added: 03/08/2018

Silent Songs

The men and women of StarBridge found intelligent life -- and new friends -- across the galaxy... In the skies of Trinity, the birdlike Grus welcomed the deaf human ambassador, Tesa. In the seas of Trinity, the aquatic Singers communicated with the young telepath, Jib. But on the surface of Trinity, a different kind of life form has landed. They are amphibious beings from a distant world. And they are definitely -not- friendly...

Date Added: 03/08/2018

A Place of Their Own

The book is an attempt to provide a coherent look at important aspects of the process whereby deaf Americans became the American deaf community.

Date Added: 03/08/2018

Spencer Tracy

His full name was Spencer Bonaventure Tracy. He was called "The Gray Fox" by Frank Sinatra; other actors called him the "The Pope."

Spencer Tracy's image on-screen was that of a self-reliant man whose sense of rectitude toward others was matched by his sense of humor toward himself. Whether he was Father Flanagan of Boys Town, Clarence Darrow of Inherit the Wind, or the crippled war veteran in Bad Day at Black Rock, Tracy was forever seen as a pillar of strength.In his several comedy roles opposite Katharine Hepburn (Woman of the Year and Adam's Rib among them) or in Father of the Bride with Elizabeth Taylor, Tracy was the sort of regular American guy one could depend on.

Now James Curtis, acclaimed biographer of Preston Sturges ("Definitive" --Variety), James Whale, and W. C. Fields ("By far the fullest, fairest, and most touching account . . . we have yet had. Or are likely to have" --Richard Schickel, The New York Times Book Review, cover review), gives us the life of one of the most revered screen actors of his generation.

Curtis writes of Tracy's distinguished career, his deep Catholicism, his devoted relationship to his wife, his drinking that got him into so much trouble, and his twenty-six-year-long bond with his partner on-screen and off, Katharine Hepburn. Drawing on Tracy's personal papers and writing with the full cooperation of Tracy's daughter, Curtis tells the rich story of the brilliant but haunted man at the heart of the legend. We see him from his boyhood in Milwaukee; given over to Dominican nuns ("They drill that religion in you"); his years struggling in regional shows and stock (Tracy had a photographic memory and an instinct for inhabiting a character from within); acting opposite his future wife, Louise Treadwell; marrying and having two children, their son, John, born deaf.

We see Tracy's success on Broadway, his turning out mostly forgettable programmers with the Fox Film Corporation, and going to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and getting the kinds of roles that had eluded him in the past--a streetwise priest opposite Clark Gable in San Francisco; a screwball comedy, Libeled Lady; Kipling's classic of the sea, Captains Courageous. Three years after arriving at MGM, Tracy became America's top male star.

We see how Tracy embarked on a series of affairs with his costars . . . making Northwest Passage and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, which brought Ingrid Bergman into his life. By the time the unhappy shoot was over, Tracy, looking to do a comedy, made Woman of the Year. Its unlikely costar: Katharine Hepburn.We see Hepburn making Tracy her life's project--protecting and sustaining him in the difficult job of being a top-tier movie star.

And we see Tracy's wife, Louise, devoting herself to studying how deaf children could be taught to communicate orally with the hearing and speaking world.Curtis writes that Tracy was ready to retire when producer-director Stanley Kramer recruited him for Inherit the Wind--a collaboration that led to Judgment at Nuremberg, It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World, and Tracy's final picture, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner . . . A rich, vibrant portrait--the most intimate and telling yet of this complex man considered by many to be the actor's actor.

Date Added: 03/08/2018

A Rancher's Pride

Sam Robertson's life just changed. In one short day, he found out that he's a daddy; that his beautiful little girl, Becky, is deaf; and that her aunt, sign language teacher Kayla Ward, intends to fight him for custody. There are plenty of reasons Sam shouldn't fall for Kayla. A city girl like her has no place on his ranch, particularly when she's his ex-wife's gorgeous sister. But thanks to the judge's orders, Sam's spending a lot of time with Kayla, trying to give Becky the stable home she's never known. Despite their ongoing custody battle, Sam and Kayla's love for Becky brings them closer than they ever expected, and Sam knows that no matter who wins in court, he could still lose—Kayla or his daughter.

Date Added: 03/08/2018

The Story of Alexander Graham Bell, Inventor of the Telephone

A readable, interesting biography of the famous inventor, paying equal attention to his scientific achievements, his personal life, and his lifelong work with the deaf. There are several odd omissions, though, including why Bell adopted the middle name Graham; the spilled-acid aspect of the first telephone message and Bell's demonstration of the telephone before Queen Victoria.

Date Added: 03/08/2018

Enforcing Normalcy

This book tries to think through some of the complex issues raised by concepts such as the body, the normal, the abnormal, disability, the disabled, and people with disabilities. I wrote this book because I believe deeply that people with disabilities, Deaf people, and others who might not even consider themselves as having a disability have been relegated to the margins by the very people who have celebrated and championed the emergence of multiculturalism, class consciousness, feminism, and queer studies from the margins.

Date Added: 03/08/2018

Lanceheim

A fast-paced literary and psychological drama in which the trials and tribulations of a group of stuffed animals illuminate the moral and philosophical dilemmas we all share

While finishing what was to be his greatest symphony, famed composer Reuben Walrus discovers he is going deaf. Desperate to stave off the encroaching silence, he embarks on an odyssey to find a fabled creature named Maximilian, rumored to have healing powers but only traceable via an underground network. But as Reuben gets closer to the truth, he must ask himself: Just who-or what-is Maximilian?

The story of the legendary creature is recorded by Wolf Diaz, Maximilian's oldest friend and most loyal follower. Oddly, unlike the other stuffed animals of Mollisan Town, Maximilian did not arrive by green delivery truck. He cannot be identified as any particular species and is made from a material unlike any other with almost invisible seams. And most puzzling, he grows in size. As Maximilian matures, he begins to preach odd parables, attracting a legion of followers hoping to learn from his teachings. But his believers aren't the only stuffed animals paying attention as his growing influence threatens the power of the darker forces currently ruling Mollisan Town. Now Maximilian is in hiding . . . and time is running out for Reuben to find him. As his search widens, the composer encounters a detective mouse, a giraffe who swears Maximilian miraculously cured his stomach cancer, and a mink who may hold the key to Reuben's salvation. But it's a race against time as Reuben's world steadily goes silent, and his desperation may ultimately lead to his undoing.

With biting prose and compelling plot twists, Lanceheim is a tour de force all the way to the last sentence, as the true natures of Wolf Diaz, Reuben Walrus, and Maximilian are uncovered. Through the stuffed animals living in the imaginative world he introduced in the critically acclaimed Amberville, Tim Davys explores the hopes and fears, strengths and weaknesses, that define humanity as he pens a story that is both gripping and extraordinary.

Date Added: 03/08/2018

A Maiden's Grave

Eight vulnerable girls and their helpless teachers are forced off a school bus and held hostage. The madman who has them at gunpoint has a simple plan: one hostage an hour will die unless the demands are met.

Called to the scene is Arthur Potter, the FBI's best hostage negotiator. He has a plan. But so does one of the hostages-a beautiful teacher who's willing to do anything to save the lives of her students. Now, the clock is ticking as a chilling game of cat and mouse begins.

Date Added: 03/08/2018

Our Stories

Short vignettes of real life sign language interpreting experiences that left a mark on interpreters' souls. Some pieces are funny, some serious. A few are written by Deaf and Deaf-Blind consumers.

Date Added: 03/08/2018

Gallaudet

On a May day in 1814, while watching his younger brothers and sisters at play, Thomas noticed a small girl taking no part. She was Alice Cogswell, and deafness shut her out of the circle. The lack of language created a barrier between her and her friends. Thomas invented a game that helped Alice for the first time in her life to understand that things have names. Thomas knew what he could do. He knew he had to bring education for the deaf to America!

Date Added: 03/08/2018

I Can Hear You Whisper

An investigation into the science of hearing, child language acquisition, neuroplasticity, brain development, and Deaf culture.

A mother notices her toddler is not learning to talk the way his brothers did... Is something wrong? Her search for answers is a journey into the mysteries of the human brain.

Lydia Denworth's third son, Alex, was nearly two when he was identified with significant hearing loss that was likely to get worse. Her sweet boy with the big brown eyes had probably never heard her lullabies.

Denworth knew the importance of enrichment to the developing brain but had never contemplated the opposite: Deprivation. How would a child's brain grow outside the world of sound most of us take for granted? How would he communicate? Would he learn to read and write--weren't phonics a key to literacy? How long did they have until Alex's brain changed irrevocably?

In her drive to understand the choices--starting with the angry debate between supporters of American Sign Language and the controversial but revolutionary cochlear implant--Denworth soon found that every decision carried weighty scientific, social and even political implications. As she grappled with the complex collisions between the emerging field of brain plasticity, the possibilities of modern technology, and the changing culture of the Deaf community, she gained a new appreciation of the exquisite relationship between sound, language and learning. It became clear that Alex's ears--and indeed everyone's--were just the beginning.

An acclaimed science journalist as well as a mother, Denworth interviewed the world's experts on language development, inventors of ground-breaking technology, Deaf leaders, and neuroscientists at the frontiers of research. She presents insights from studies of everything from at-risk kids in Head Start to noisy cocktail party conversation, from songbirds to signal processing, and from the invention of the telephone to sign language.

Weaving together tales from the centuries-long quest to develop the cochlear implant and simultaneous leaps in neuroscientific knowledge against a tumultuous backdrop of identity politics, I Can Hear You Whisper shows how sound sculpts our children's brains and the life changing consequences of that delicate process.

Date Added: 03/08/2018

Dovey Coe

There have been Coes living in the mountains of Indian Creek, North Carolina, going on forever, and everyone in town is amazed that twelve-year-old Dovey might ur and do such a terrible thing. Even if the girl does have the tendency to shoot her mouth off, she's had good reason since she's always had to stick up for her brother, Amos, who may be older and bigger, but folks treat like he's slow on account of his being deaf. Her sister, Caroline, might shake her head over Dovey's high spirits, but if Caroline hadn't been letting the likes of Parnell Caraway hang around her all summer, Dovey wouldn't be in this mess. Dovey's not one to sit back when troubles are brewing, but now with this murder charge, for once she might just have to keep quiet and let the slick city lawyer take care of things, or will she?

Date Added: 03/08/2018

Anything But Silent

This book is a compilation of the most thought-provoking articles by deaf writer Mark Drolsbaugh. With a blend of humor and insight Drolsbaugh tackles some of the most profound topics in deafness deafhearing relationships the rift between American Sign Language and English the hidden world of the hard of hearing oppression in politics and education idiosyncrasies of the deaf and hearing and may others. Anything But Silent offers a deaf perspective that will bring knowing smiles to those familiar with the deaf community and enlightenment to those who are new to it.

Date Added: 03/08/2018

Deaf Again

Drolsbaugh was born to deaf parents, yet had normal hearing that became a progressive hearing loss. Follow his trip through hearing, hard of hearing, and deaf identity. Many provocative ideas and facts are brought forward for discussion.

Date Added: 03/08/2018

On the Fence

Although Drolsbaugh is listed as author, he is actually the editor of writings by 37 individuals. They label themselves hard of hearing or hearing impaired. This is a very different population than the culturally deaf, signing community. Authors found their community in Self Help for the Hard of Hearing (SHHH), later renamed as HLAA (Hearing Loss Association of America). A bio of the authors is included at the end. They vary from childhood age to the elderly.

Date Added: 03/08/2018

A Silent Fury

A classic Lynette Eason story of faith, family and dangerTragedy strikes Palmetto Deaf School--twice. With one student murdered and another missing, it's up to homicide detective Catelyn Clark to find the killer--and probable kidnapper--"fast."

She'll even work with her ex-boyfriend, FBI agent Joseph Santino, to solve the case...while keeping her distance. Relationships between cops never work; her parents taught her that. They also taught her that the only one she can rely on is herself. But when the killer starts targeting Catelyn, it's only by opening her heart to faith--and love--that she can finally bring the silent fury to an end.

Date Added: 03/08/2018

A Silent Terror

Revisit this tale of danger and intrigue from Lynette Eason

When Marianna Santino's roommate is killed, Detective Ethan O'Hara can't fathom the motive. Then he realizes the deaf teacher was the intended target. Marianna must have something the murderer desperately wants. But what? Digging for the truth, the guarded cop tries to learn everything he can about Marianna. Her world. Her family. Her beauty, faith and fierce independence. In spite of himself, Ethan finds that he can't keep his feelings at bay. Soon, he's willing to risk everything--including his heart--to lay the silent terror stalking Marianna to rest.

Date Added: 03/08/2018

Of Sound Mind

Tired of interpreting for his deaf family and resentful of their reliance on him, high school senior Theo finds support and understanding from Ivy, a new student who also has a deaf parent.

Date Added: 03/08/2018

Kicking Up Dirt

At nineteen, Ashley Fiolek is already the top female competitor in a tough men's sport: motocross, a form of off-road motorcycle racing that is one of the most competitive and dangerous extreme sports in the world. Since going pro in late 2007, Fiolek has taken gold at the X Games, won the American Women's Motocross Championship twice, and become the first woman in American motocross history to be signed to a factory team—the highest echelon of industry backing. But Fiolek's rise has not come without obstacles. Fiolek was born profoundly deaf, a handicap that makes everyday life difficult—and competition on the track downright dangerous. Originally misdiagnosed as "mildly retarded," she was a painfully shy and introverted child—until her parents introduced her to the world of dirt bikes, which helped her escape the silence in her head and connect with others who shared her passion. She began racing at seven, and as her successes grew through hard work and no small number of broken bones, so did her confidence.Fiolek has never believed her disability should stand in the way of her dreams. Nor has she allowed her gender to limit her career—motocross historically has been a men's sport, but with the love and support of her dirt-obsessed family, including her "Grandpa Motorcycle," her little brother, Kicker, and her dogs, Turbo and Rocco, Ashley has emerged as one of the sport's most talked-about stars, changing the way the entire industry views women. Armed with her extraordinary talent, contagious grin, and deep faith in God, Fiolek continues to venture into unknown territory, relentlessly pushing herself—and women's motocross—to ever-greater heights.Kicking Up Dirt is a remarkable, inspiring tale of a young woman's courage and determination to succeed in the face of truly challenging obstacles.

Date Added: 03/08/2018

Talking Hands

Imagine a village where everyone "speaks" sign language. Just such a village - an isolated Bedouin community in Israel with an unusually high rate of deafness - is at the heart of Talking Hands: What Sign Language Reveals About the Mind. There, an indigenous sign language has sprung up, used by deaf and hearing villagers alike. It is a language no outsider has been able to decode, until now.

A New York Times reporter trained as a linguist, Margalit Fox is the only Western journalist to have set foot in this remarkable village. In Talking Hands, she follows an international team of scientists that is unraveling this mysterious language.

Because the sign language of the village has arisen completely on its own, outside the influence of any other language, it is a living demonstration of the "language instinct," man's inborn capacity to create language. If the researchers can decode this language, they will have helped isolate ingredients essential to all human language, signed and spoken. But as Talking Hands grippingly shows, their work in the village is also a race against time, because the unique language of the village may already be endangered.

Talking Hands offers a fascinating introduction to the signed languages of the world- languages as beautiful, vital and emphatically human as any other- explaining why they are now furnishing cognitive scientists with long-sought keys to understanding how language works...

Date Added: 03/08/2018

A Mom for Matthew

A wife for him-and a mother for his son?

Zeke Rossetti likes things to run smoothly. He's the single father of a deaf child, and his job managing offshore oil sites in the Texas Gulf doesn't allow for distractions. Grace Stafford is definitely a distraction.

She's searching for a downed plane, hoping to clear her grandfather's World War Two record. Unfortunately, Grace's mission interferes with Zeke's work-and he realizes the quickest way to get rid of her is to help her.

Zeke's been burned before. His ex-wife left him and Matthew. As he grows closer to Grace, Zeke begins to suspect she's the woman for him-but can she be a mom for Matthew?

Date Added: 03/08/2018