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Reviewed by Rosie Malezer for Readers' Favorite
May I Sit At Your Table? is a children's book written by Grace A. Wolf and illustrated by Samuel J. Gross. Abby is a Deaf girl who lives in Sunwoody. Although she uses sign language to communicate, her parents enroll her in mainstream education alongside hearing children. Being the only Deaf student at Sunwoody School makes Abby's school days very lonely as the students avoid her. To them, she is the strange girl who makes no sense, talks with her hands, and is very different from them. Although Abby spends much of her time trying to lipread, she finds it nearly impossible to understand anything that the hearing children are saying to each other. During lunch breaks, students sit with their friends and eat, while Abby always sits alone. One day when she signed that she would like to sit at their table for lunch, the hearing children laughed and looked away. On witnessing their reaction, the teacher studies that night about Deaf culture and sign language and teaches the children the next day to be accepting of Abby, while showing her students some sign language. From then on, Abby's classmates ask in sign language if they can sit at her table, making Abby feel accepted.
As a Deaf reader of this story, I was able to fully empathize with Abby's situation, as being Deaf in a hearing world can be extremely lonely. Children and adults alike can be very cruel to a Deaf person who is simply trying to communicate with the world. If these ideas were put into practice by people from all walks of life worldwide, it would make living in the world a wonderful place. Grace A. Wolf's story teaches the reader that there is no need for rude behavior or cruelty toward those of us who are Deaf or who have disabilities that might seem odd or different to hearing people. Treating people how you wish to be treated is a great standard to live by, and making those who are new to the workplace or to school feel welcome from the moment they are introduced would eliminate much of the stigma, bias, and hatred that we have in the world today. I applaud Grace A. Wolf's tale of friendship, acceptance, and compassion and recommend May I Sit At Your Table? to all readers under the age of 12 years.
