The Handmade Alphabet

by Laura Rankin

Overview

Gorgeous pencil illustrations of diverse human hands—male and female, young and old—signing the letters of the alphabet make this alphabet book an incredible learning resource. The entries are further supplemented with objects that begin with the same letter. Author Laura Rankin was inspired to create this book by her deaf stepson. It is a wonderful introduction to the alphabet and to sign language, and the art is beautiful enough to merit sharing it with adults as well.
 
Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor Book

“Brilliant . . . Hauntingly luminous.”—The New York Times Book Review

“Exquisitely detailed, realistically portrayed hands of different ages, sexes, and colors demonstrate the positions for the manual alphabet used in American Sign. An excellent introduction.”—Kirkus Reviews

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780140558760
Publisher:	Penguin Young Readers Group
Publication date:	11/01/1996
Series:	Picture Puffin Books
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	1,050,800
Product dimensions:	8.44(w) x 10.50(h) x 0.17(d)
Lexile:	NP (what's this?)
Age Range:	2 - 5 Years

About the Author

Laura Rankin is the creator of The Handmade Alphabet, a Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor Book, and Ruthie and the (Not So) Teeny Tiny Lie. She is the illustrator of many other books for children, including A Balloon for Isabel, by Deborah Underwood. She lives in Easton, Maryland.

Preface

The language of signing communicates with lyrical clarity and creativity. To celebrate its expressiveness, gifted artist Laura Rankin presents her striking interpretation of the manual alphabet, one part of the world of signing. Here, the hand that signs "V" holds a valentine, "I" points to delicate icicles, "G" wears a mysterious glove, "O" dangles a shining ornament, "R" is entwined with ribbon - each is linked, in an imaginative way, with a word that begins with a corresponding letter of the written alphabet. The art, like the language that inspired it, is at once elegant, eloquent, and astonishing in its beauty.

The hearing world thinks of communcation primarily as a function of the voice. Yet all people use body positions, facial expressions, and gestures to communicate - silently, but with profound significance. This is the realm explored in The Handmade Alphabet: truly complete communcation that is not limited to sound, but is enriched by images.

Editorial Reviews

From a hand grasping two asparagus stalks to a zippered sleeve tracing the letter Z, Rankin's alphabet book is a glorious success as it displays the American Sign Language alphabet. The colored pencil illustrations on charcoal paper of varied hues depict one letter on each page--a pencil's eraser rubs away at a hand that signs the letter E , an icicle is balanced on a pinky, a muscular hand makes a V while holding a valentine. The hands here are as diverse and individual as the objects surrounding them--a baby's chubby fingers grip plastic keys, matronly hands with magenta-polished nails form the letter N , vivid bones of a hand, seen in an X-ray, show off X . Rankin's prefatory note describes how her deaf stepson ``gained more thorough undertanding and total communication'' when he learned sign language at Gallaudet University. In her third book, the artist proceeds to expand the awareness of those in the hearing world in an exceptionally striking ABC that speaks in an eloquent language all its own. All ages. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly