Boogie Bass, Sign Language Star [After-School Superstars]
by Claudia Mills; illus. by Grace Zong
Primary, Intermediate    Ferguson/Holiday    128 pp.    g
8/21    978-0-8234-4629-2    $15.99
Paper ed.  978-0-8234-4936-1    $7.99
e-book ed.  978-0-8234-5046-6    $7.99

Good-hearted Boogie Bass is in a third-grade sign language camp with friends, including his bestie Nolan, whom Boogie reveres, along with Nixie and Vera from the previous series entries. With one hearing and one Deaf teacher, Boogie and the other campers learn the basics of American Sign Language; briefly study its history; and even get a demonstration of ASL ABC stories from Deaf students at another school. Boogie is a well-rounded character; he is kind and conscientious and learns to not be so tough on himself (“Maybe the point of learning a new language wasn’t to be perfect”), not to compare himself to others (especially Nolan), and to accept his own strengths. A lot of time at camp is spent on iconic signs (ones that look like what they represent), which can be typical for children first learning. But the book also captures the non-manual markers necessary for ASL — including facial expressions, at which Boogie excels — and a back-matter note provides more details about the language’s complex grammar.

From the September/October 2021 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.