Deer Run Home

Tween Effie, who is Deaf, commiserates with the deer losing their homes due to redevelopment in her rural neighborhood. After her mother grows “tired/ of my problems,” Effie and her older sister Deja are sent to live with their father. As the sisters navigate their father’s temper (“My communication with Daddy/ is him stomping/ on the floor”), Effie contends with guilt (“I made life/ harder/ for my sister”). Unable to communicate as “no one/ in my family ever learned/ my first language,/ American Sign Language,” Effie keeps her head down. Repeating the fifth grade following at-home learning during the pandemic is difficult, but now she has Miss Kathy, her ASL interpreter and the one adult interested in what Effie says. When Miss Kathy brings Effie to live with her temporarily, Effie signs freely for the first time. In a safe, secure environment, Effie finds family and yearns to open up, despite knowing that she must soon return home. Using vivid and minimalist verse, LeZotte (the Show Me a Sign series) unflinchingly and sympathetically uncovers Effie’s family history of neglect and abuse, shedding light on an issue that often stays in the dark. Main characters default to white. Ages 10–14. Agent: Caryn Wiseman, Andrea Brown Literary. (Oct.)