jethrien

Title: Baby Signing for Dummies
Author: Jennifer Watson
Genre: Parenting
Thingummies: 3.5

Synopsis: A how-to guide for baby sign language.

Thoughts: Of this and Baby Sign Language Basics, I think the latter is the better overall guide. Both are acceptable, however.

The Dummies book does actually do a better job of explaining how to physically make many of the signs, which is very helpful for someone who's new to sign language. (Oh, I've been taught the alphabet, which I've repeatedly forgotten, but that's about it.) The other book, however, has far more signs organized in a manner that is more likely to be helpful on the fly. Baby Sign Language Basics's second half is an alphabetical dictionary of signs. The For Dummies book, on the other hand, organizes by category. More annoyingly, each sign is introduced with a cutesy paragraph. So while I appreciate the more sophisticated description of how to form the sign for "hat", when my kid is pointing to his head and demanding to know what the sign is for the thing I just stuck on him, I don't think I'm going to want to flip through the chapter on clothing and then wade through a reminder that hats are good for keeping your head warm and also a fun part of costumes! I'm just going to want to turn to the right letter of the alphabet, see the sign, and answer my kid's question.

Essentially, a huge amount of this book is filler.

The tone is very much the standard "for Dummies" tone--slightly lame jokes and personal anecdotes and all. Some people find this non-threatening, some people find it annoying. You'll have to evaluate for yourself.

Having both books is valuable, since this one's explanations of the words it shows are clearer. But if I had to pick only one, I'd pick the one with the bigger vocabulary, and this one isn't it.