Sail me away home

Gr 3--7--In this third installment in the series, Mary is a deaf teacher of other deaf young people in her town of Chilmark on Martha's Vineyard. Although she is comfortable in this community where many residents are deaf and using sign language is common, she feels a restless desire to do something great with her life. When given the opportunity to travel with missionaries to England and France, Mary is eager to see the land of her ancestors and the Parisian school for the deaf that is becoming famous for its progressive teaching methods. Although she is reluctant to travel with missionaries (who habitually ignore her and whose interests often threaten the Wampanoag and other Native communities), she knows this is her only chance to learn how to set up a school that will treat the deaf and speechless with dignity. The passage to Europe is arduous, and the school in England disappointing; in France, Mary meets the leaders of deaf education, Jean Massieu and Laurent Clerc, and she comes to appreciate the development of the sign language that she has used all her life. There is the opportunity for a continuation, as the book ends with Mary envisioning returning to New England to share all she has learned. Frequent references to previous volumes can be confusing to those who have not read the series. Lezotte based Mary's experiences and her community on facts, and offers a rich explanation of the development of sign language and education of the d/Deaf, so that readers have an opportunity to learn about a vibrant population that has often been neglected and overlooked. VERDICT Exciting, heartrending and informative, this volume is a strong addition to the series.--MaryAnn Karre

Following the events of Show Me a Sign (rev. 9/20) and Set Me Free (rev. 11/21), it is now 1810 and Mary leaves Martha's Vineyard again, this time to travel with several hearing, non-signing missionary women to England and France. "The holy relics," as she thinks of them, want to use her to learn about deaf education to expand their missionary work. Although Mary feels at odds with their imperialistic religiosity and sourpuss personalities, she can't pass up the chance to connect with deaf educators and students in France, where she knows there is an exclusively signing school for the deaf. Her first-person, present-tense account is in part a history of deaf education in England and France (ultimately, fundamental to American Sign Language and American schools for the deaf). But LeZotte also conveys Mary's experience of exclusion by "the holy relics," who are convinced of her intellectual inferiority and disregard her in communication. Mary's stalwart nature stands her in good stead: stubborn and driven in her desire to bring greater access to sign language and education to the deaf at home, she dodges the missionaries' attempts to keep her captive. Through Mary's insights and opinions (which are rather twenty-first century in articulation), LeZotte shows that the heartfelt need for Deaf culture, solidarity, and belonging is something both historical and contemporary. Deirdre F. BakerNovember/December 2023 p.83 (c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Mary Lambert returns for a journey that takes her to London and Paris in this follow-up to Set Me Free (2021). It's 1810 and Mary, a deaf white teenage girl, is the teacher in her village on Martha's Vineyard. In her world, deaf and hearing people live and work together, and nearly everyone knows Martha's Vineyard Sign Language. As in the previous books, Mary leaves home, this time to travel with missionaries to Europe and learn how schools for the deaf are run there. Though this experience is far less harrowing than her first two adventures, she still encounters audism at every turn, ranging from condescension to an attempt to sell her to a workhouse. LeZotte's prose is as lovely and descriptive as ever, vividly depicting Mary's world as well as her inner life, which is plagued by the traumas of her previous experiences. The author continues to comment on not only audism but also varied prejudices and colonization. Without turning the story into a lecture, she depicts the benefits of bilingual education for deaf students and weaves Mary into Deaf history as she comes into her own as a deaf educator. The open ending does leave space for Mary to grow in the minds of readers, but it feels comparatively underwhelming and unresolved. This book may be enjoyed on its own but is better appreciated as a continuation of Mary's story. Fans will be pleased with this third installment in a delightful series. (additional information) (Historical fiction. 8-14) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.