Boogie Bass, Sign Language Star by Claudia Mills

Author:Claudia Mills [Mills, Claudia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Holiday House
Published: 2021-08-03T00:00:00+00:00

For the final number on the program, all the kids in the Deaf after-school program sang along to “America the Beautiful” in ASL. It was easier for Boogie to pick out some of the signs this time because he already knew the words.

At the end of the program, the Longwood campers started whistling and cheering before Peg and Sally signaled to them to clap in the finger-waving Deaf way. Boogie saw that even James was clapping. He should be clapping. James couldn’t dance like that or tell stories like that or sign along to a song.

Then it was time for refreshments and trying to sign with the Deaf kids. Boogie wished he knew the signs for amazing and fabulous and awesome. But he didn’t.

Were they just supposed to go up to somebody and start asking one of the questions they had learned? Boogie could tell the others felt shy, too, because Nixie, Nolan, and Vera hung back with him. Nixie didn’t look eager to ask if anybody had a dog with newborn puppies. Nolan didn’t look ready to demonstrate all the signs he had mastered. Vera looked as if she wanted to flee to a corner of the room and curl up with her art notebook. The other Longwood campers were standing fixed in place, too.

Somebody had to do something.

“Let’s go up to the dancer kids,” Boogie made himself say. “Come on.” He led the way to the food table.

Hi, Boogie signed. He pointed to himself and finger-spelled his name. Nolan and Nixie followed his example, but Vera stood frozen, her face looking like the expression for signing scared.

The four dancers finger-spelled their names. Luckily, Nolan recognized all the letters they signed and said each name aloud: Ben (Boogie had recognized the B and E, at least), Sam, Amy, and Lily.

Now what?

Boogie jumped in first again. He pointed to himself for I, crossed his arms in front of his chest for love, pointed to the dancers, and then made up his own sign for dance, by doing a crazy little jig.

The other kids laughed, but not in a mean James kind of way. The girl named Amy showed Boogie the real sign for dance, made with two fingers of one hand twirling upside down over the other hand, like two dancing legs on a dance floor.

Nixie jumped into the conversation next. She signed, as Boogie had known she would, I want a dog.

Two of the dancers pointed to themselves and made the sign I have a dog; one pointed to herself and made the sign for I have a cat. The fourth one made a sign with one hand wrapped over the other hand, formed into a fist with the thumb poking out, and suddenly Boogie guessed it.

“Turtle!” he shouted, forgetting for a moment that the Deaf kids couldn’t hear him. But the turtle-owning kid must have understood somehow, because he gave a big grin of approval.

Nolan asked one of the questions from Peg and Sally’s list: What is your

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