Reviewed by annieb123 on
American Sign Language Made Easy for Beginners is a well written and illustrated learning manual for ASL by Travis Belmontes-Merrell. Due out 2nd Aug 2022 from Rockridge Press, it's 276 pages and available in paperback and ebook formats. For Kindle Unlimited subscribers; this title is currently available in the KU subscription to borrow and download for free. It's also worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately.
The book introduces signs gradually starting with the basics (ABCs, numbers, some syntax, how to learn ASL). Later chapters cover greetings, feelings, daily routines, time & place, food & drink, activities & events, travel, health safety & colors. The book also includes a nice bibliography, resources (with active hyperlinks), and some cool learning activities; quizzes and answer keys. The photo illustrations are clear and easy to follow. Each picture is captioned in easy to understand unambiguous language for making the signs. The model, Jocelyn Only, is experienced and has experience as an ASL model from other books.
This is an accessible fun book for learning ASL. It would also make a superlative library book (school, classroom, public) or extracurricular activity (scouting, etc).
Five stars.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
Reading updates
- Started reading
- Finished reading
- 27 July, 2022: Reviewed