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Deaf Awareness Week

Song for a Whale

This year, Deaf Awareness Week takes place 6 to 12 May 2019.

This booklist includes children's books that feature deafness as a key theme, books with a deaf protagonist, and books that happen to include children with hearing aids and cochlear implants, in a subtle and natural way.

  • Song for a Whale

    Song for a Whale

    Author: Lynne Kelly
    Publisher: Piccadilly Press

    A baleen whale's unique 55-hertz frequency means he cannot communicate with other whales, and 12-year-old Iris is determined to help him. A pacy story told with a tender touch, which also offers examples of common frustrations experienced by deaf children. 

  • Feeling Great

    Feeling Great

    Author: Ailie Busby
    Publisher: Child’s Play

    One of the Just Like Me series, this colourful board book with flaps to lift encourages very young children to find out all about themselves and includes an inclusive cast. 

  • Max and the Millions

    Max and the Millions

    Author: Ross Montgomery
    Publisher: Faber

    When a school caretaker mysteriously disappears, leaving behind a small pile of sand, a student is drawn into an extraordinary adventure. Alongside the delightfully daft plot, Montgomery successfully touches on topics such as assumptions about deafness.

  • The Silent Striker

    The Silent Striker

    Author: Pete Kalu
    Publisher: Hope Road

    Marcus lives and breathes football. He might even have the makings of a professional player. But Marcus' life is about to change. Neither a book 'about' deafness or disability, nor another stock football story, this is an uplifting and accessible read.

  • Fairy Magic

    Fairy Magic

    Author: Cerrie Burnell Illustrator: Laura Ellen Anderson
    Publisher: Scholastic

    Isabelle has discovered a fairy called Summer-Blue in a hidden magical world at the bottom of her garden... But will she be able to convince her brothers and sisters? A charming story about fairies, the changing seasons and a little girl who is deaf.

  • Lucy: Loud and Clear

    Lucy: Loud and Clear

    Author: Laila Lavan Illustrator: Beatriz Iglesias
    Publisher: Topka

    Lucy is deaf and Omar is rather flippantly pretending he can't understand her request. Lucy has to be creative if she is to find a solution.

  • Freddie and the Fairy

    Freddie and the Fairy

    Author: Julia Donaldson Illustrator: Karen George
    Publisher: Macmillan Children's Books

    Freddie rescues a fairy who offers to grant him his every wish. The only problem is that she can't hear very well, and so his wishes result in some unexpected surprises...

  • Noo-Noos

    Noo-Noos

    Author: Carol Thompson
    Publisher: Child's Play

    Every young child has a noo-noo. It’s that scruffy piece of well-loved fabric, fur, plastic or rubber, that goes everywhere with you...

  • Ketchup Clouds

    Ketchup Clouds

    Author: Annabel Pitcher
    Publisher: Indigo

    Fifteen-year-old Zoe attempts to come to terms with a dark secret by writing letters to a murderer awaiting execution on Death Row.

  • Max the Champion

    Max the Champion

    Author: Sean Stockdale and Alexandra Strick Illustrator: Ros Asquith
    Publisher: Frances Lincoln

    This inclusive book is about a boy who loves sport, his friends, and school - and has a vivid imagination

  • What the Jackdaw Saw

    What the Jackdaw Saw

    Author: Julia Donaldson Illustrator: Nick Sharratt
    Publisher: Pan Macmillan

    A highly entertaining book with an inclusive cast of characters, providing an introduction to sign language to all children.

  • River of Ink: Genesis

    River of Ink: Genesis

    Author: Helen Dennis
    Publisher: Hachette Children's Group

    River Boy is washed up on the banks of the River Thames, unable to find his voice or memory. The only things he can draw on are his visions and mysterious symbols. An exciting first book in a trilogy.