Book Review: The Word Dancer

The Word Dancer by Stephanie Edwards is a story about Maribelle, a teacher from Nashville who decides to use her sign language skills in an extremely rural area of Appalachia. I connected with Stephanie because my third novel is also set in Appalachia, and despite the nearly 80 year difference in setting, little had changed when it came to accepting help from strangers.
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Edwards did a great job incorporating sign language and characters with hearing impairment, as well as helping us see the prejudices against those who communicate differently than the average population. Without a doubt, I was routing for Maribelle to get through to the parents of these children - as well as to others in the community.
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Then, just to make things a bit more interesting, she gave us a love interest - or two, a granny woman, and an overbearing mother. What more could you ask for in a story?

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