The Smell Of Parchment: The Wonders of Sign

For the past few months I've begun showing a special interest in Sign-Language, and am eagerly absorbing anything I can find on the subject. Maybe watching the show Switched at Birth, where one of the swapped children is deaf, looking up the internet for facts or videos on basic signs. I'm finding this really interesting! And now that I've been thinking, I haven't read a book with a deaf/dumb protagonist who uses sign-language to communicate... So here I am about to change that :)

But before I mention which book it is that I plan on reading, let me first share with you a few facts about sign-language.

Facts! :

There are perhaps around two hundred sign languages in use around the world today.
A sign language is often the first language of many deaf people in their countries. (e.g. ASL is the first language of many deaf people in the U.S. and some regions of Canada)
The majorities of Deaf people (90%) are born to hearing parents and therefore do not acquire Sign Language as a mother tongue. They acquire Sign Language at school from peers. Sign Language is the first language of the majority of deaf children.
Minorities (10%) of Deaf children are born to Deaf parents and these children acquire Sign Language as a mother tongue.
Sign languages are just one of several communication methods available to deaf people.
A sign language used in one region may not be the same in another region, even if the two regions share the same official language. For example, ASL in the USA is not used in the UK (BSL is), even though both regions share the same official language - English.

So the book I initially planned on reading was Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick. Since I couldn't get my hands on that, I picked up Five Flavors of Dumb upon recommendation from a friend. I'm going to do my best to put up the review within two days!