I hope readers in the NYC area will join me on March 6th for a free ASL Story Time celebrating the release of my new book Sign Language ABCs.  For details, visit our events page: http://www.mybabyfingers.com/events. There will be books for sale and some fun give-aways.
In addition to my own sign language books, (http://www.mybabyfingers.com/books) I’ll have some great material written by colleagues of mine.
One will be a picture book series for toddlers/preschoolers called Story Time with Signs & Rhymes by Dawn Babb Prochovnic.  These books tell adorable stories through colorful illustrations and catchy rhymes, introducing new vocabulary words and signs.  I had the pleasure of working with Dawn as ASL content consultant for her second series. Learn more about Dawn and her books athttp://www.smalltalklearning.com/.
The other is The Day I Saw a Dragonfly by Heather Fitzpatrick.  This storybook is written from a child’s perspective, and helps kids of all ages talk about the death of a loved one – human or pet!  The mom in the story tells her daughters that a Dragonfly is a special bug with four wings because it carries an angel down from heaven on its back.  Heather was motivated to write this book after her father, an aspiring author himself, had passed away.  She was moved by her children’s empathy for her and created this sweet story.
I love reading, and have always read to my children incorporating sign language.  It was so much fun to see them in toddlerhood taking books off the shelves and “reading out loud” by signing what they saw in the pictures.  There is research that demonstrates the benefits of sign language in reading skill development for school age children.  Dancing with Words: Singing for Hearing Children’s Literacy by Marilyn Daniels is a wonderful resource for parents and professionals.
If you’re in the area, bring your child to our story time and book signing.  If not, check out all the books I mentioned – you’ll be happy to have one or more of them in your collection of books!