A Place For Grace

A Place For Grace

This is a loving story about a mixed pup that has big dreams of becoming a 'Seeing Eye Dog' for the blind. She goes to the school for 'Seeing Eye' dogs and soon finds out she does not fit the criteria. Dejected and alone, this dog begins walking. She sees a boy run into the road after a ball and safes his life by pushing him to the curb. A man sees what this dog has done and rushes out of a café to find her. Before he can find her, the pound catches her and puts her in the pound. This man, Charlie, rushes to the 'Hearing Dog Program' and tells the director, Mrs. Lombardi, he has found the right dog for him. With much skepticism, she goes to the pound to rescue this dog. Charlie names the mutt, Grace, and soon they are fast friends. Through many bloopers and adjustments, Grace tries to become a 'Hearing Dog' for Charlie who is deaf.

A Place For Grace by Jean Davies Okimoto, is a great book to introduce children and adults to deaf people and Deaf culture. Through a loving story about a dog trying to find his place in the world, this book explains accommodations deaf people might need in their daily lives, like technology and a dog that is trained to hear for them. Charlie, however, gets along very well and is a positive image of a deaf man. This book does not focus on deafness as disability; rather it focuses on the accommodations needed in order to 'hear'. Otherwise, Charlie is characterized as a well-adjusted man who lives independently and successfully; and communicates using sign language and a TTD (TTY).

I read this book to a 4th grade classroom in Flint, MI. Before we read the book, we did a picture walk. The students seen the fingerspelling on the front cover and predicted right away that the book would be about sign language. During the picture walk, students predicted all sorts of things; the pictures were great in helping us understand what would happen. In one picture, they seen Charlie's hands flying and realized he was a deaf man. After reading the book, students had all sorts of questions and were excited to know that there were 'Hearing' dogs as well as 'Seeing Eye' dogs. We discussed the accommodations needed that they never thought about, like hearing someone knocking on a door. I told them about flashing lights and other new technologies that make communication so much easier now. We ended our discussion about A Place For Grace, by learning a few sign words and fingerspelling. Since this book generated so much enthusiasm and awareness about deafness and sign language, I would use this book again in my classroom.

A Place For Grace by Jean Davies Okimoto, Illustrated by Doug Keith. Sasquatch Books 1993