My daughter and I enjoyed this book together. The length and signing content were perfect for her comprehension ability. I would purchase this book for friends and family expecting a baby since ASL is so valuable when children don’t have the ability to speak.

I want to give author Vielka L. Montout and illustrator Katharine Frota full marks for good intentions. Making classrooms more inclusive means helping students to communicate with their deaf classmates. Frota sprinkles this book with children of every race, religion and ability, and I would love to see these two collaborate on another picture book.

That said, this book will not accomplish teaching kids ASL. I’m an adult, and I could not understand how to do about half of these signs from this picture book. (Of the other half, some of them I already knew.) The idea of gathering pictures of the signs at the very end would be a great one, if one could deduce how to reproduce them. The written directions are good ones, but, again, that would help the teacher, not the kids, unless she’s teaching them. And if she is, who needs this book? Three stars for effort and hearts in the right place.

In the interest of full disclosure, I received this book from NetGalley, BooksGoSocial in exchange for an honest review.

If you have kids and are looking for an introductory ASL book then this book is for you. The visuals are delicate and self explanatory. I'd say perfect for ages 4+. Anything less it's confusing for the child. Too many details. Good book!

Big thank you to Vielka L. Montout, Katharine Frota (illustrations) and NetGalley for the opportunity to read Little Signs, Big Smiles: ASL for Tiny Hands, a children's picture book for learning common signs. I read in a digital format. I will share my review to Amazon, Goodreads, and Barnes & Noble upon release.

Little Signs, Big Smiles is an adorable and educational picture book focused on helping small children (0-5) learn basic and common signs used in American Sign Language. These signs will help children who may have any kind of communication difficulty, whether they have hearing loss or any other issues with speaking. Babies and their parents will especially benefit from being able to respond to their baby expressing their needs with a sign. The cover is super cute, and each page shares a different common, everyday interaction and a sign used to communicate. The illustrations are lovely and the children represented are diverse, giving lots of opportunities for connection and engagement. The cards in the back with clear visual examples of each sign to summarize is a great feature, and helps kids to remember and process what they've just learned. There's also a game in the back of the book for further connection between kids and their adults, and a page dedicated to the vocabulary of signing used in the book. This book would be great for all kinds of audiences, but especially for children who have parents with hearing loss or who experience it themselves. This would make a great gift for any child, but would also make a great addition to any daycare library, school library, church library, etc. Thanks again!

Right off the bat I will say that it is sometimes difficult to teach sign language through still illustrations rather than video or someone teaching right in front of you. That being said, I still think that the illustrator taught the signs as best as they could with what they had. There was only one sign (dog) that was a little confusing, but as the book progressed the signs got easier to understand. Additionally, I thought that the words the author decided to teach in this book were well-chosen and made sense. On top of that, the vocabulary was relevant to the overall story, showing readers how they can use these signs in everyday situations. Lastly, I loved how much diversity there was in the illustrations because representation is so, so important in kids' books. Bravo!

Firstly the illustrations in the book were incredibly engaging and drawn exceptionally well. Loved the diversity of the characters and children would really enjoy seeing characters that look like them.

The content was great too and I loved how the words and signs were integrated into the story. It made it easy for children to understand when to sign and for what. As well as the actual gestures for signing too.

The questions at the end were the highlight for me. Not only is the book enjoyable but it also helps teach the kids and encourages them to practice signing. All in all I think this is a brilliant book and should be a staple in every classroom.

This is a beautiful book that teaches little hands (and adults) basic ASL! The illustrations are amazing and the close ups of the signs in the book are extremely helpful.

I loved the end with the recaps of signs as well. I was doing the signs with my kids as we went through it and it was easy to understand (I have a toddler and a 5 year old).

You can tell the author and illustrator put a lot of thought and effort into making sure this book presented many diverse people. Truly beautiful, and a great way to learn ASL!

This is one of the prettiest books I've gotten hold of as an ARC via NetGalley, however all the opinions expressed here are my own.
A short book for learning some signs in American sign language, really easy since its intended for little children, and is really lovely the drawings are beautiful, its pretty easy to understand the sign, but if you have doubts you can see the full descriptions at the end of the book.
Perfect for little ones and their parents who want to learn ASL, a little sign at the time.

This is a wonderfully diverse, charming storybook in which kids teach the reader through their daily play and actions how to make simple signs in ASL. The context helps learners understand how to use the signs, even if they can't read yet. The signs are illustrated in a close up view with symbols that demonstrate the motions for forming the signs.

I loved the diversity of the characters, including various racial and ethnic groups. There is even a little girl with vitiligo featured. Written by a Teacher of Deaf and Hard of Hearing students, this book is in good hands, and will be treasured by families who want to read together.

I highly recommend this book for daycares, schools and libraries.

Wow! This is a perfect introductory book for ASL for kiddos! I enjoyed this myself and can't wait to read this with the little ones. The art and visuals of how to do the sign were easy to learn.

This book goes through some of the basic signs you’ll want to start with in the form of a little rhyme paired with an illustrated example of the sign. Overall, it worked really well as an introduction to ASL for young kids.

Teaching signs is such a great idea for all children. It helps them be more inclusive when they grow up but also can help them when they're learning to speak because signs can often be easier than spoken word. I've been teaching my son to sign since he was born and it has been essential as he's slightly behind on speech milestones, but can do quite a few signs.

Signs are hard to do in illustration since they require motion, but I thought this book did a great job of capturing them. Some signs may be a bit challenging for a younger kid to understand on their own, but easy enough for an adult to figure out and then demonstrate. I also very much appreciated the diversity throughout the book’s illustrations because it’s so important for kids to be able to see themselves and others in books (though, a queer parent couple would have been nice to see).

My only complaint is with some of the typography choices. The example word could be more prominent visually, the line-height needs to be increased, and the font felt a little harder to read than necessary.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC digital copy. I was not compensated for this review and all opinions are my own.

Extremely adorable and informative book! Creatively introduces ASL in a memorable rhyming pattern. The descriptions and pictures work together to help instruct correct movement for each sign.

5 out of 5 stars and my respect to the author and illustrator.

Little Hands, Big Smiles is a wonderful, smart, and elegant book showcasing basic ASL skills, words, and more for kids.

I LOVED Little Hands, Big Smiles. The wording is simplistic enough for kids to learn quickly, whilst being colourful and interactive enough to also create a beautiful book that families can return to over and over again. The book is for every kid and parent as it is diverse, showing kids that families and other children can look different/have different families, etc, whilst sharing the commonality of language, love, and respect.

The illustrations were really lovely, as mentioned super colourful, bright, and vibrant.

The book also contains a section at the end for basic words and a game to help kids memorise the things they have learnt.

I can’t wait for more families to read and enjoy this fantastic book!

Such a helpful book for teaching toddlers & preschoolers American Sign Language. The pictures and signs were easy to follow. I found myself doing all the signs the first time I read through the book. A fun tool for early communication!

Little signs, big smiles is a short children's book that aims introduce kids to a over a dozen fundamental ASL sign language words. It does so with one to two illustrations per page, with children and their families or caregivers in our variety of everyday situations, from home to the park to school.
The book does everything that it sets out to accomplish, but I felt that it was somewhat lacking. While the illustrations are colorful and I appreciated that every child will see someone who looks like them, I was not an enormous fan of the art style. That is obviously very subjective, but it felt a little lacking in uniqueness and specificity. Similarly, while it makes sense that a short children's book endeavoring to introduce so many signs will not have an opportunity for much or any story, there didn't seem to be any uniting character or theme. To compare, a Dr Seuss book introducing every letter of the alphabet will also lack story, but it does feel like it has a uniting vibe or tone, that being play and whimsy.
Would I recommend this book to someone, with all of those caveats? Yes. This children's book is perfectly adequate to help a child learn all many useful sign language words, something which we did with our own kids. It will probably not become the sort of story that you keep and cherish and hope to hand down when your children have their own children, but it certainly does a competent job of introducing a number of very useful ASL words to kids.

What a wonderfully inclusive, beautifully illustrated introduction to ASL for kiddos! I really appreciate how the signs are shown in context *and* they're explained with pictures and written instructions in the back. Super helpful! This will make an awesome addition to any child's library.

Thank you to NetGalley and the author for providing me with a free eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I really loved this. What a great way to teach kids ASL. It was simple but had quite a few words exampled in it.

What an absolutely delightful children’s book highlighting ASL words! I love that each page features a different word and that such a diversity of children illustrate the signs. The illustrations are clear and bright, and I know my young children would adore them. I appreciated that the ASL words used were simple and things children would use in everyday life. This is definitely a book I would consider adding to my personal library, and it is perfect for helping children expand their ASL vocabulary.

This cutely illustrated book with rhyming text introduces young children to sign language. Each picture and the story show some aspect of a toddler-young school age child's day with an accompanying sign in a circle.

At the end of the book there is much additional, helpful information.

I very much like the idea of introducing signs to young children. Not only will they have another tool for communicating but it their awareness of those who may have hearing loss will help to make them more understanding, hopefully.

Many thanks to NetGalley and BooksGoSocial for this title. All opinions are my own.

Little Signs, Big Smiles: ASL for Tiny Hands is a heartwarming and practical introduction to American Sign Language (ASL) for the youngest learners and their caregivers. Vielka L. Montout has created a beautifully accessible guide that turns early communication into a joyful and bonding experience.

The book shines with its charming illustrations of babies and toddlers using everyday signs, making it visually engaging for little ones and easy for adults to follow along. Each sign is paired with a simple written description, helping caregivers feel confident as they teach and reinforce ASL during daily routines.

What truly sets this book apart is its emphasis on bridging the gap between pre-verbal children and their families. Readers have praised it for its clarity, warmth, and ability to reduce frustration by empowering children to express their needs before they can speak. While some may desire a bit more detail on certain signs, the book’s overall structure makes it a strong and accessible resource.

In all, Little Signs, Big Smiles is a thoughtful and encouraging addition to any family's bookshelf. It’s especially valuable for parents, educators, and caregivers looking to support early language development in a fun, inclusive, and meaningful way.