My Heart Glow: By Emily Arnold McCully

         With ever increasing diversity in our communities, the search and need for books that celebrate these unique individuals and their history is becoming more and more important for educators. My Heart Glow: Alice Cogswell, Thomas Gallaudet and the Birth of American Sign Language, written and illustrated by Emily Arnold McCully, teaches readers about the history of American Sign Language through telling a narrative story. This book was published by Hyperion Books for Children. The story is told about Alice Cogswell, a young deaf girl who is both a curious and quick learner. But, unfortunately, in early nineteenth century America, no one had discovered techniques to teach deaf or hearing impaired children. However, thankfully for Alice, an equally curious man named Thomas Gallaudet, took an interest in her and noticed how smart she was. Gallaudet vowed to help Alice to learn. This vow took him across the Atlantic Ocean to study ways of teaching deaf children in Europe from experts in the subject. Alice worries Gallaudet will never come back to teach her, but just as he promised he does. He returns having learned many knew techniques to teach Alice. Inspired by Alice's story and the new knowledge he has gained, Gallaudet creates the nation's first school for the deaf, improving Alice's life and the lives of generations of young, deaf students to come.
           McCully tells about the birth of American Sign Language through a simple narrative story about Alice Cogswell and Thomas Gallaudet. The narrative uses a basic story structure with a beginning, middle and end. It also gives details about the characterization, plot and setting. Each page contains a watercolor illustration created by Emilly Arnold McCully herself, which extended the meaning of the text by depicting the scene on that page or spread of pages. The watercolors are done using a pallet of bright colors that bring the scenes to life and make them very visually appealing.
           In terms of an informational, nonfiction picture book, McCully does a great job of teaching about the birth of ASL using a story that is easy for young readers to understand. The familiar narrative format provides the readers with a type of story they are familiar with, while still giving them the right amount of factual information for them to actually learn about how American Sign Language came to be. Young readers will be able to relate to Alice's curiosity about the world and understand that she wants to learn new things from school and the world around her, just like they do.
          This book seeks to teach children about the history of American Sign Language through the use of a narrative story with friendly color illustrations. This book would be great for students in grades 2nd-4th, as the language is fairly simple, yet the content is factual and important. Teachers could use this picture book when teaching children about diversity, helping children to understand hearing impairments, and when teaching about different types of languages. This nonfiction, informational picture book is an great example of the genre.

Picture Source: http://www.amazon.com/My-Heart-Glow-Cogswell-Gallaudet/dp/142310028X