THIS IS HOW WE TALK Is a Joy to Read and Explore

My teaching career offered relationships with people of many ages and varied needs. That  provided opportunities to attempt (and sometimes learn) ways to "talk" with others beyond the generality of shared-language conversations. I've used augmented speaker boards, regular keyboards, finger spelling and sign language with and without an ASL interpreter, written forms, and computer translators. Picture/icon cards and other concept tools are also useful when two or more folks are unable to default to an assumed shared model of communication. Having written all that, it is easy to see why such a talk-gap might be viewed as a hardship or obstacle, a barrier to be overcome. 

DIAL BOOKS FOR YOUNG READERS, 2025

In fact, I viewed these circumstances as delightful encounters in which communication has already occurred, presenting a joint puzzle to solve together. That is exactly what this new picture book portrays, implying a lively invitation to get on board the communication train and open ourselves to the wider world around us. THIS IS THE WAY WE TALK: A CELEBRATION OF DISABILITY AND CONNECTION is co-written by Jessica Slice  and Caroline Cupp, with illustrations by Kayla Harren. The subtitle itself uses the word CONNECTION, and that is the central thought I had while reading this new picture books, and afterwards. It is CONNECTION that invites communication, and it is what we lose when we step back instead of reaching out. 

This lively and important new picture book is loads of fun with its fast-paced, rollicking rhymed text and colorful, dynamic illustrations. End papers present cartoon-like images of young people using a range of communication tools to talk, characters who are clearly enthusiastic and eager to share themselves and their ideas with others. That includes a wagging dog, a signing duo, and tech-support tools. This approach is really smart, because young readers notice every detail of picture books, beginning with those endpapers. (Not all adults bother, and they are missing important, purposeful content!). Kids also connect with emotional tone spontaneously, so these images  allow them to begin this book feeling like there's fun ahead. They will be correct!

The page turn takes readers to illustrations that are rendered in more realistic style, with more natural colors, and with more obvious individual differences. From body sizes to ages to abilities to attitudes to mobilities to partnerships and even attitudes, the scenes throughout this book are very community-based and recognizable as real life. It's true that not every reader may live in such a diverse and integrated neighborhood, but the circumstances and activities will resonate and allow anyone to identify with the people in this concept-centered offering. 

That concept is presented in opening lines:

"We sign, write, clap! We tap, stim, scream!

So many ways to talk and joke, play and learn and dream.

With hands and tools and faces, we make our feelings clear,

in school, with friends, and family, too-- with people far and near."

That, you can see, sets the stage for a series of scenes with four-line text that each reveal family members "talking" to each other, to doctors, or caregivers, or educators, or shopkeepers and more. In the midst of these scenes not only will readers see differences and creative solutions to connecting, but they'll see the universality of the need and longing to communicate. From expressing needs to sharing play to learning, teaching, or simply "getting it out" when we need to do it most. Back matter provides brief descriptions of various ways to communicate that are pictured, with separate guides for kids and adults. A number of "disability" examples depicted are also described in further back matter pages. 

I hope you will make extra effort to get your hands on this new books and immerse yourself in the information, of course, but mostly in the joy and celebration of the innovative ways in which we can all build links and locks and love among us all, regardless of the bridges we need to build and cross to make it happen. This belongs in every library and classroom.