Deaf Culture Fairy Tales

by Roz Rosen, Yiqiao Wang (Illustrator)

Readers are transported into the enchanting world of fairy tales in this book - with one slight twist: all the stories have characters who are Deaf or sign. Designed for the reader who uses American Sign Language or wants to learn about sign language and Deaf culture, each story takes unexpected and fun turns, always with a lesson in mind. Classics in this book include Snow White, Hansel and Gretel, Three Little Pigs, Beauty and the Beast, and many others. Also included are signed songs and poems one can play with in sign language. Original illustrations help make the stories come alive. With such magnificent culture, history, morals, humor, and imagination, this marvelous book will delight readers of all ages.

140 pages, Paperback

Published February 18, 2017

Reviews

[Cindy Siebert · Rating 5 out of 5]

The pride of Deaf culture and the preservation of signed languages are heavily embedded in the fairytale stories. For an example, there is a signed song in Cinderella story:

CLEAN, CLEAN ALL-DAY
QUIETLY, QUIETLY.
COOK, COOK ALL-DAY
QUIETLY, QUIETLY.
SWEEP, SWEEP ALL-DAY
QUIETLY, QUIETLY.
FUTURE, FUTURE, NEW!
QUIET, QUIET, NO-MORE!

The author offers the positive perspective of signed language. Also she includes a lot of experiences that Deaf characters have to go through, such as having speech lessons, to be “successful” in the hearing fairy tale worlds, but end up discovering their Deaf identities and the love for our natural, beautiful language, ASL. Lastly, this book is humorous and educational!

My favorite stories are Cinderella, Snow White, and Beauty and the Beast.

[Leigh Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Deaf reader reviewing books with deaf characters. This book is listed on my ranked list of books with deaf characters.

Written by a Deaf author, this collection of reimagined tales each feature at least one deaf character. As the title suggests, the characters are not merely deaf, they are culturally deaf (specifically Western deaf cultured). The lessons in each tale may not come across clearly to those unversed in deaf history, politics, and culture, but these stories can be a fun way to dive into these issues in a classroom setting or be read alongside nonfiction texts pertaining to deaf lives.

Best joke: When Queen asks Mirror who is the most beautiful of all, and it replies Snow White, she is shocked and says that Snow White is dead. The Mirror replies, “Not dead. Just Deaf.”

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic! Most of these you will recognize, but they have an interesting twist and a touch of flare. It's not just that the people or animals Sign. Oh no, there's so much more! These tales are so much better than the ones I'm used to hearing!

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Popular fairy tales and fables, changed a bit to include Deaf or hard of hearing characters, and/or sign language. There are also a few original tales and fables (to the best of my knowledge).
My favorites were Beauty and the Beast and Phoenix.

[Melissa Loucks · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this for my 2024 Reading Challenge and the prompt was a book by a deaf or hard-of-hearing author. I really enjoyed this book the spin on the fairy tales were cute reads.

[Soc Page]

9 - a book by a deaf or hard0of0hearing author

very simple. kind of preachy. changing a few words from the original bare bones stories and inserting editorial comments here and there.
okay for little kids you are trying to help be nicer people, and should be labeled that way.
only the last story about phenix had some historical information about the Deaf community

[Amanda Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great adaptation of traditional fairy tales to include Deaf history and Culture. I learned a lot while reading!

[Jennifer Fetchko · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn’t like it. It kept using the word mute too much yet it reinforce sign language consistently which was a good thing. The word mute was a turn off in the fairy tale book. If it didn’t have it, I would give more stars. I’m bit disappointed.