There are so many great books with deaf or hard of hearing characters! What better time to highlight deaf stories than September, which is deaf awareness month.

Some of you may know that my daughter is hard of hearing and we use ASL in our home. Part of our efforts to learn Deaf culture have involved reading books that reflect the Deaf community. Some of these stories have become new favorite books. My son has read one of them at least a dozen times…I’ll tell you which one below!

Picture Books with Deaf Characters

Splish, Splat is a funny story about a pair of Deaf painters who transform a little boy’s bedroom into the dreamy space he didn’t know he wanted. This made my five-year-old giggle!

Silent Days, Silent Dreams is the biography of the 20th-Century artist James Castle, who was both deaf and had autism. I cried through this tragic and touching story. The main character is shown enduring cruelty from bullies and authority figures, so I suggest holding off reading this to very young children. It’s a great lesson for kids with the maturity to handle its themes of bullying, inclusion, and tenacity. The illustrations are fantastic.

Butterfly on the Wind is the story of a Deaf girl who is nervous to perform in public, but the fluttering butterflies she creates with her hands join with butterflies created by deaf people around the world and give her courage.

Kami and the Yaks is about a Sherpa boy who saves his family’s herd of yaks. I liked how this book shared a story that shows the deaf experience in another culture.

Middle Grade and YA Books with Deaf Characters

Show Me a Sign is a must-read middle grade novel. It’s about a Deaf girl kidnapped from Martha’s Vineyard during the early American era. It explores the relationships between deaf and hearing as well as settler and native.

Charlie and Frog is a new favorite in our house! My son has read this at least a dozen times. Two pre-teen detectives, one hearing and one deaf, set off to solve a murder mystery (with no murder) that takes place near a small town’s school for the deaf.

Song for a Whale is one of those books I read, put down, and sighed with contentment. It’s a perfect story. It’s beautiful, poignant, funny, adventurous. There’s no “content” to worry about–well, other than the main character setting off with a grandparent without parental permission, but hey. She’s with Granny.

The book follows a deaf girl who takes a journey to play a special song for a lonely whale whose voice is unique among all the whale songs in the ocean.

Reaching Into Silence is a middle-grade novel based on the author’s childhood as a Vietnam War-era Airforce kid with a deaf baby sister. It’s a beautiful and sometimes brutally honest look at the experience of deafness in the 1960s, when ASL was not yet widely accepted in the United States. There are three books in the series, and one is a 2024 Carol finalist. I got to meet the author in person at a conference and have my copy signed!

Books for Adults with Deaf Characters

A Silent Terror, A Silent Fury, and A Silent Pursuit are a trio of thrilling romantic suspense novels surrounding a deaf teacher and a school for the deaf. The author, Lynette Eason, is my literary agent–she recently told me that she actually used to work at a school for the deaf.

The Right Kind of Fool is the book I’m reading right now! It’s a historical novel about a deaf teen who discovers a murder victim in the woods and draws his estranged father into the hunt for justice. It’s a great read–thanks to Katie Powner for suggesting it!

Deaf Like Me is the nonfiction story of one family’s journey through parenting a deaf child and the life-changing power of ASL. I first read this book 20 years ago and have gone back to it again and again. I’m so glad I read this book and learned the value of sign language before having a hard of hearing child of my own.