Moses Goes to a Concert by Isaac Millman.

A.Bibliographic Data:
Millman, Isaac. 1998. Moses Goes to a Concert. Frances Foster Books: New York, New York.

B. Plot Summary:
Moses is a young boy with a hearing impairment. He uses sign language to communicate with people, and his sense of touch to feel the vibrations of sounds. On a special field trip to a concert Moses meets Ms. Marjorie Elwyn who is the percussionist in the concert and is also deaf. She shares her experience of being deaf and working hard to accomplish her dream of becoming a percussionist. Moses goes home to tell his parents that he learned that if you really set your mind to something you can accomplish and that he wants to become a percussionist.

C. Critical Analysis:
Isaac Millman's illustrations compliment the story, and Moses and his classmates are depicted are drawn just like the other children. Moses's and his classmate's disability is mentioned in the beginning of the story and is reinforced through out the story with the small pictures of Moses signing words of the event that that specific text is referring. Moses's disability is not the focus of the story, the focus of the story is that through strong will you can accomplish anything. In the story we are provided with an example of a young woman who although is deaf is part of something that most people would think requires the ability to hear. In this book Isaac proves that a hearing impairment doesn't stop you from doing many things that regular people can do. Moses character is is very bright and vivid and full of life along with all of the other characters in the story.

D. Review Excerpt:
From School Library Journal:
“Cheerful watercolor illustrations show the multiethnic children enjoying themselves at the concert, while smaller cartoon strips feature Moses's additional comments in sign language. A page displaying the manual alphabet and a conversion in sign language in which Moses tells his parents about his day enhance the upbeat story.” By Sally R. Dow.

E. Connections
Have student use hypothesis to determine if certain conductors allow them to feel vibrations produced by sound. Like the balloon used in the story.

Have students play game where one student signs words to students who write down the translation to accumulate points. Winner gets prize!