Deer Run Home

Gr 4-9–Tween Effie and teen sister Deja are removed from a “too scary” situation at their mother’s house to their father’s trailer where “communication with Daddy/ is him stomping on the floor,/ pointing at things.” Effie is Deaf, “even though no one/ in my family ever learned/ my first language,/ American Sign Language.” Effie’s isolation overwhelms when her two Deaf friends go “on to Deaf residential/ school, free.” Being reunited with ASL interpreter Miss Kathy, when Effie must repeat fifth grade, is “like/ all the dead plants/ on our porch/ coming alive/ from a downpour,/ then flowering.” Miss Kathy quickly recognizes the abusive neglect and takes definitive action. Deaf actor Tubert makes her solo audio debut (after leading El Deafo’s ensemble) as a sensitive, empowering cipher for Deaf author LeZotte’s standalone verse novel.