Moses Goes to School (Hardcover)

~ (Author, Illustrator)

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Kindergarten-Grade 3-Moses, who debuted in Moses Goes to a Concert (Farrar, 1998), is back. Here, he and his classmates, all of whom are deaf or hard of hearing, head back to their special school after summer break. The text explains that in addition to standard curriculum, these children first learn American Sign Language and then learn to read and write spoken English. Computer technology plays an important role in this class, as does music. Just as in the first book, this story reminds readers that even though these children may not be able to hear in the traditional sense, their appreciation of music and song is very enthusiastic. Child-friendly cartoon illustrations do a marvelous job of emphasizing the normalcy and charm of these youngsters. The variety of ethnicities and nationalities represented again emphasizes that special-needs children come from all cultures. The double-page layouts nicely accommodate the primary pictorial action along with written text and ASL inserts featuring Moses signing a particular sequence from the story. An author's note and directions on how to interpret the child's signing are also included. This is another great contribution to children's education about disabilities that also succeeds as effective storytelling in its own right.
Rosalyn Pierini, San Luis Obispo City-County Library, CA
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

As in Moses Goes to a Concert (1998), this joyful picture book tells a story in written English and also in American Sign Language (ASL). This time the focus is directly on how deaf children learn at their special public school--in the classroom, on the playground, and on the school bus. The warm line-and-watercolor illustrations show the diversity of Moses' city classroom, the fun the children have together, and the special way they learn. There are small diagrams of Moses signing simple sentences on almost every page. Millman explains in an introductory note that ASL has its own handshapes, movements, and facial expressions, as well as its own grammar and syntax. Moses types a letter on the computer and learns to translate it into spoken English. The teacher plays "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" on his boom box; the children can feel the vibrations and they sign the words to the song. A must for deaf children, this will also interest hearing kids and adults who want to learn about ASL. Hazel Rochman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4-8
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR); 1st edition (August 29, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0374350698
• ISBN-13: 978-0374350697
• Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 8.5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #169,676 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars My students loved!, June 14, 2003

By	Michelle M Alberts (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews

I teach elementary age deaf and hard-of-hearing children and I have to say they loved this book. They thought seeing a deaf student as the main character in a book was something they could relate to. I used it in my class to talk about the different types of schools deaf children could go to, also how they could become a teacher for the deaf one day. The extra pictures with simple signing sentences were also fun to learn. My favorite, teaching the kids to sign Take Me Out to the Ball Game.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Boring Book, December 21, 2006

By	Tammy (Salt Lake City, UT) - See all my reviews

I just adopted a 5 year old deaf girl. I've had a hard time finding a book that she can relate to. I was hoping this book would focus more on being deaf, wearing hearing aids, showing the kids using ASL, what makes a deaf child/school different than a hearing one, etc. Instead it's a boring book about going to school, typing a letter on a computer, and learning to sign "Take Me Out to the Ball Game". Boring, Boring, Boring! I am so happy that I only bought this one "Moses" book and I will be returning it tomorrow.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Linking Movement to Literature - A Book for All Children, July 24, 2002

By	K. Berman (New York City, NY) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Moses Goes to School is a book written for children, and its language is well suited to informing the understandings of hearing children. Far from being a linguistic primer in the morphology of American Sign Language written for college students and professors, it is instead a wonderful for way for children to physically interact with literature. It is certain that Millman was considering the linguistic development and understanding of children and their language when writing the book. From a teacher's and linguistic researcher's perspective, this book is extremely stimulating and socially valuable piece of a small literature on children and ASL.

For teachers, this book, and others by Millman (Moses Goes to the Circus, Moses Goes to a Concert) allow developing thinkers (primarily 6-9) to understand language from a new perspective, and to have a new form of language that they can share with peers. In addition, sharing this book with a classroom allows teachers to use sign language to manage a classroom, and can give a classroom its own character and signature style.