GRAVETTE - In “Ricki,” author Lou Honderich introduces us to the title character, a horse-crazy 10-year-old. Her greatest pleasure comes when she gets on the back of a horse and can ride her cares away. She loves to ride, loves to groom and care for horses. She even loves the smell of horses. She reminds me somewhat of myself when I was a teenager.
But Ricki is no ordinary 10-year-old. She’s a deaf girl and has to deal with the frustrations of communicating with friends who don’t know sign language. There’s some teasing from the kids at school who call her and her fellow deaf students “hearing aids” and one particularly embarrassing incident where she finds herself going the opposite direction from all the other riders in her class when she fails to notice the horse show judge’s signal.
When Ricki’s dad is laid off from his job, she faces another hurdle. The family is forced to move from their beloved Oklahoma home, and Ricki must leave her best friend Rachel. Her brother Jason soon makes a new friend but Ricki is lonelier. She’s thankful for the love of her grandmother, Nana, who lives nearby and is also deaf, and a wonderfully supportive mother who comes up with a special project to prove to Ricki’s classmates that deaf children are just like the other students. They just can’t hear.
Ricki’s being deaf has one advantage in her new location. She can’t hear the cicadas and tree frogs that keep her brother awake at night. She makes new friends at summer camp and is introduced to other horse lovers at a meeting of the local 4-H club. Then she and Jason find a pair of abandoned puppies and, when their parents agree to let them keep the little bundles of fur, it makes their new house seem more like a home.
“Ricki” is a good book for youngsters, but it has appeal for horse lovers of all ages. Told from the unique perspective of the deaf girl, it introduces us to the special challenges of the hearing impaired and helps the reader sympathize with their handicap. One page shows the American Sign Language alphabet and conversations in sign language are in bold print throughout the book.
If you want to read an absorbing tale of a young horse lover, this book is for you. If you want to learn more about how deaf youngsters are successfully blending in with a world of folks who take their hearing for granted, this is the book to read. Either way, you’ll have an enjoyable reading experience, thanks to a first-time author who’s started off with a bang.
“Ricki” will be available at a book signing from 4 to 6 p.m. Friday, June 28, at the Gravette Public Library. Lou Honderich and fellow authors Crow Johnson and Radine Nehring will offer their books for sale and be on hand to autograph them.
“Ricki” may also be purchased by calling Honderich, 795-4226, contacting her at [email protected] or by ordering online at Barnes and Noble or Amazon.
News, Pages 5 on 06/19/2013