Show Me a Sign by Ann Clare LeZotte

Based on historical facts by a hearing impaired author, readers will be drawn into the surprisingly idyllic life of Mary Lambert on the island of Martha's Vineyard. Readers will be conscious of the tension with the island's Native Americans in a way that the characters in the book are not, and then outraged at Mary's treatment in the later part of the book. Her great-great-grandfather was an early English settler and the first deaf islander. Now, over a hundred years later, many people there -- including Mary -- are deaf, and nearly everyone can communicate in sign language. Mary has never felt isolated. She is proud of her lineage. But then her brother dies tragically, leaving her family shattered. Tensions over land disputes are mounting between English settlers and the Wampanoag people. And a cunning young scientist has arrived, hoping to discover the origin of the island's prevalent deafness. His maniacal drive to find answers soon renders Mary a "live specimen" in a cruel experiment. Her struggle to survive is both to physically escape her captors and to communicate and assert her personhood.