A clever young boy named Pierce rebuilds a small crashed airplane he finds on the rooftop

of his apartment building, equipping it with mechanical arms, folding wings,

and trap doors in order to outwit a neighborhood gang of bullies.

Gangs are portrayed negatively.

APPROXIMATE WORD COUNT:  4600

CURRENT STATUS:  completed

(sample illustrations below)

      

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II.     Hands Are to the Heart What Eyes Are to the Soul
(author:  Carla Larson, illustrator:  Becky Mitchum)

Actions really do speak louder than words.
Told in the voice of a young Korean child adopted by American parents,
the story demonstrates how doing things together can express love
regardless of age or physical differences.

APPROXIMATE WORD COUNT:

CURRENT STATUS:  completed

Because gestures and activities are the focus of the story,
the book begins with a key to the American Sign Language
so parents and children reading the book can practice signing their names
and saying things to one another with their hands.
Every first word on each page is written
with a hand forming that letter in American Sign Language.



The illustrations help instill awareness of other ways of communicating,
introducing children perhaps for the first time to the world of sign language.

The final illustration in the story shows a hand making the sign for
I LOVE YOU
in American Sign Language, drawn with a child's crayon.



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more on the way...