MOSES GOES TO THE CIRCUS

Moses and his family are having a great time at the circus; but since Moses is deaf, the whole family signs. Even little sister Renee, who cannot talk yet, amuses this loving family by calling every animal “cat.” This third in the series (Moses Goes to a Concert, 1998; Moses Goes to School, 2000) can be read consecutively to watch Moses’s sister grow up. While Renee is getting taller and more able to sign, the hearing reader passively learns that a child who has no verbal language can be developing language skills before she is able to speak, and more important, a family with a child who is deaf can be normal. Set up by the earlier stories, the hearing readers learn by observing the main character, Moses, who can communicate with friends, schoolmates, and family with the ease born of an excellent American Sign Language education. Though Millman does not mean to be political, and it’s fabulous that a juvenile picture book can represent deaf culture, it will be a great day when the bibliotherapeutic aspects in books can be dispensed with in favor of the plot. Millman gently educates the public regarding factual information about sign language or deaf culture before the story begins, but the information shared in the text tends to detract and slow its pace. Insets show Moses signing a whole sentence, but on every page, readers can enjoy the watercolor illustrations edged in black even more, because the text corresponds to hand movements, making it possible to read hands while depicting a sweet boy who loves and is loved by his family—politics aside. (Picture book. 4-8)