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Table of Contents
About The Book
A compelling and humorous story of friendship from Academy Award–winning actress Marlee Matlin.
Cindy looked straight at Megan. Now she looked a little frustrated. "What's the matter? Are you deaf or something?" she yelled back.
Megan screamed out, and then fell to the ground, laughing hysterically. "How did you know that?" she asked as she laughed.
Megan is excited when Cindy moves into her neighborhood—maybe she’ll finally have a best friend. Sure enough, the two girls quickly become inseparable. Cindy even starts to learn sign language so they can communicate more easily.
But when they go away to summer camp together, problems arise. Cindy feels left out because Megan is spending all of her time with Lizzie, another deaf girl; Megan resents that Cindy is always trying to help her, even when she doesn’t need help. Before they can mend their differences, both girls have to learn what it means to be a friend.
Cindy looked straight at Megan. Now she looked a little frustrated. "What's the matter? Are you deaf or something?" she yelled back.
Megan screamed out, and then fell to the ground, laughing hysterically. "How did you know that?" she asked as she laughed.
Megan is excited when Cindy moves into her neighborhood—maybe she’ll finally have a best friend. Sure enough, the two girls quickly become inseparable. Cindy even starts to learn sign language so they can communicate more easily.
But when they go away to summer camp together, problems arise. Cindy feels left out because Megan is spending all of her time with Lizzie, another deaf girl; Megan resents that Cindy is always trying to help her, even when she doesn’t need help. Before they can mend their differences, both girls have to learn what it means to be a friend.
Excerpt
Chapter 1: are you deaf or something?
Megan sat on the hood of her father's big blue SUV, watching and waiting for a moving truck to come rumbling down Morton Street toward the Bregenzer house. Of course, Megan thought, it isn't really the Bregenzer house anymore. They moved out in April. Practically every day since the sign had come down, Megan had asked her parents, "When are they moving in?" And they always answered, "Pretty soon." Megan knew they were teasing her, but that didn't matter. The real estate agent who took down the "For Sale" sign told the Merrills that the new owners had a little girl nine years old -- the same age as Megan.
Hardly any kids Megan's age lived in her neighborhood. And the ones who were her age were boys who lived two blocks over, and they weren't really her friends. So this new kid would be the first girl in the neighborhood in a long time. Megan had so many questions running through her head as she waited on the car hood and stared up at the puffy white clouds in the sky. What would the new kid be like? Would she be nice? Funny? What kind of toys would she bring with her? Megan hoped she would have new stuff, unlike the hand-me-down toys and too-big bike she got from her older brother, Matt. But, most of all, Megan wondered if the new girl would be like some of the kids at school who poked fun at her. Megan was tired of having to stick up for herself or have her brother yell at the kids who teased her. She scrunched up her eyes at the memory and pushed those thoughts out of her head. This girl would be different. She knew it. Maybe, Megan thought as she crossed her fingers for luck, she'll be my best friend.
It was the first Saturday of summer vacation, which meant no more homework and no more waking up at the crack of dawn to get to school. Megan scanned the street. Still no moving truck. She looked down at all the huge oak and maple trees on Morton Street, all perfectly lined up on each side of the block. She always wondered if they grew that way or if someone had planted the little saplings in perfect straight lines with rulers when they'd built the street. They were beautiful, towering trees, with big trunks perfect for hiding around during hide-and-seek and low limbs just right for climbing on.
Sometimes on dark winter nights, when the trees had no leaves, Megan imagined the trees turning into giant walking sticks, like the kind she saw in the traveling bug zoo at school. But instead of swallowing unsuspecting flies and spiders, these giant walking sticks swallowed up people and their pets as they walked by. At least that's what Megan's brother, Matt, told her when Mrs. Adams's fat tabby cat turned up missing.
"Probably got eaten up by the trees," Matt said. Megan didn't believe him then, but one night, during a real scary thunderstorm, when some tree branches scraped against their house, Megan was convinced that the trees were coming for them! Her mother told her she was being silly; "trees can't come alive and snatch people." Megan wasn't completely convinced. And just in case, she showed the trees her respect and never carved words on them or peeled off their bark like other kids did.
Megan's nose tickled; it was the smell of freshly cut grass, the perfect summer smell. Megan rolled over on her side and saw old Mr. Rogowski mowing his lawn. Every weekend, unless it was raining, old Mr. Rogowski was out mowing his lawn. Megan's dad made Matt mow the lawn for his allowance, but he always grumbled. Mr. Rogowski never seemed happier than when he was cutting his grass. He was a short little man with a bald spot on the back of his head and had only three fingers on his left hand, which made the kids who lived on the next block over afraid of him. But Mr. Rogowski was always nice to Megan, and besides, Megan's father told her that there was nothing to be afraid of. Mr. Rogowski had lost his fingers in a lawn mower accident, and he was still happy cutting the grass. Megan smiled at the big floppy hat he wore to keep the sun off his bald spot; it was exactly like the hat her mother wore when they went to the beach. Mr. Rogowski looked up from his mower and waved at Megan. She waved back. Megan made it her business to know every person and pet in the neighborhood. Why not? It was Megan's street, and everyone in the neighborhood knew that.
Just then Megan looked up and saw a big truck coming to a stop at the driveway of the Bregenzer home. The movers came up the other end of Morton Street! That was sneaky, Megan thought, laughing to herself. She jumped down from the hood of the car and ran across the street to see her new neighbors.
Megan scurried up to the big oak that was right next to the driveway. From here she could peek around the trunk and watch all the action. Her first look was disappointing. She only saw three moving men starting to work at the back of the truck. They were all wearing gray coveralls with the sleeves cut off and red bandannas tied around their foreheads. Megan noticed their arm muscles because Matt was trying hard to grow his. Megan was going to tell Matt that he should become a mover if he wanted his muscles to grow really big.
But where were the new neighbors? The movers began to unload boxes. And more boxes, and more boxes and more boxes! Megan made sure she saw everything. She looked at the furniture and even the brand-new gardening tools. To Megan, personal belongings said a lot about their owners.
Megan paid close attention to the living room furniture that the movers were bringing in: a long sofa to lie on that she later found out was called a chaise, and two end tables made of dark wood with gleaming handles. How could someone sit in that furniture and watch television? It seemed so stiff and straight!
And then a car pulled up, right behind the moving van. At first it was hard for Megan to see because the June sun was reflecting brightly off of the window, and she had to cover her eyes. But then the doors swung open, and out stepped a couple. The man was tall and thin, with black hair combed very neatly and glasses that he kept pushing back up his nose. The woman was very pretty, with black curly hair just as neat as the man's hair. They both wore pressed tan pants and crisp white shirts. Very clean for moving, Megan thought.
So where is their daughter? she wondered. They're supposed to have a daughter! She remembered the Hammers who lived down the street who had no kids. Mr. Hammer was always chasing kids off his lawn when they tried to play in his leaf piles. Once he had even gone so far as to turn the hose on them. Megan thought it was because he had no kids and didn't understand that sometimes kids just need to jump in leaf piles; she hoped this new couple moving in wouldn't be the same. She crossed her fingers again and ventured closer to the car.
Megan now noticed that the man shouted something over to his wife as he walked up to the new house, but Megan had no idea what he was saying. Megan could tell by their anxious looks that moving day was very stressful for them. Suddenly, another bright reflection from a window flashed in Megan's face, and then she saw the rear of the station wagon open up.
Out stepped a little girl.
The first thing Megan noticed was that she had big brown eyes. Bigger and more brown than even Nancy Culver's, who sat behind Megan in her homeroom class and who had the biggest eyes Megan had ever seen. Nancy liked to gross out the kids in the class by turning her eyelids inside out. The next thing Megan noticed was the new girl's black hair. It was short and wavy, with tight little curls in the back, just like the girl's mother standing next to the car. Megan thought the hairstyle looked a little old-fashioned.
But Megan was still thrilled that the girl was really here. She ran over right to the car.
"Hi there!" yelled Megan, and the young girl nearly jumped out of her sandals. "I'm Megan" she continued to yell, "and I live four houses down from you! I think we should be new best friends!"
Megan knew that her voice sounded different to others, since she couldn't tell how loud or soft she was speaking. Some people said it sounded like she was talking in a box, while others said it sounded like she was imitating a cartoon voice. Still, once people had time to get used to Megan's special way of talking, they didn't seem to have any trouble understanding her.
Megan watched as the girl with the big brown eyes opened them so wide that it almost looked to Megan as if she weren't blinking at all. For a second, Megan imagined that old cartoon where the wolf's eyes pop out and his jaw drops to the ground. This made Megan grin a little. Although she had been speaking this way since she had started taking speech classes at age three, no one had ever been this surprised to hear her voice.
"Hi," said the little girl finally. She shyly tucked her chin to her shoulder when she talked.
"Hi!" Megan repeated with the same voice. "My name is Megan. What's yours?"
The little girl seemed to understand her better this time. "Cindy," she responded quietly, still looking down at the grass. "Cindy Calicchio."
"What?" asked Megan. She couldn't hear her and fiddled with her hearing aids.
"Cindy," said the little girl in a louder voice, but she still didn't look up from the grass.
"I still don't understand you!" Megan yelled. Cindy's mom turned to see why the two girls were yelling at each other.
Cindy looked straight at Megan. Now she looked a little frustrated. "What's the matter? Are you deaf or something?" she yelled back.
Megan screamed out and then fell to the ground, laughing hysterically. "How did you know that?" she asked as she laughed.
"Huh? You mean you are deaf?" Cindy asked meekly.
"Duh! That's why I have these hearing aids!" Megan said as she pointed to her ears and turned her head from side to side so that Cindy could see the bright purple ear molds and hearing aids hanging over each ear. "I am deaf."
Cindy took a moment to let this sink in. "I thought someone put bubble gum in your ears!" she said.
Megan laughed even harder at the thought.
Cindy waited for Megan to stop laughing before she tried asking her another question. "What do they do?" she asked timidly.
"They make everything loud for me. Even though I can't hear a lot of things, I can hear some things with these," said Megan as she stood up again. She purposely turned the little dial on one of the hearing aids until it made a loud squeaking sound like a teakettle that was boiling over. "They're like the headphones my dad wears when he doesn't want my mom to hear his goofy music. Except, for me, they make sounds, not just music, louder."
"You mean you can hear? But I thought you were deaf...," said Cindy.
Megan could see that Cindy was very confused. She went on, anyway. "I can hear a little, but with these on, I can hear more! It's not as much as you can hear, but it helps. And they'll help even more if you look at me when you talk."
Cindy's cheeks flushed with embarrassment.
"Can I finish my lecture now?" Megan asked as she put her hands on her hips.
Cindy giggled and nodded, looking more relaxed. More than that, she looked like she understood everything Megan was saying.
"So you're Megan, right?" asked Cindy cautiously.
Megan nodded enthusiastically. She knew Cindy wasn't confused anymore, and that was the most important thing to her. "Hi, Cindy!" she said, beaming her biggest smile. "Welcome to my neighborhood."
Megan grabbed Cindy's hand and shook it hard. Cindy looked surprised by Megan's grip, but after a moment she shook it right back.
"It's going to be an awesome summer," said Megan.
Copyright © 2002 by Marlee Matlin
Megan sat on the hood of her father's big blue SUV, watching and waiting for a moving truck to come rumbling down Morton Street toward the Bregenzer house. Of course, Megan thought, it isn't really the Bregenzer house anymore. They moved out in April. Practically every day since the sign had come down, Megan had asked her parents, "When are they moving in?" And they always answered, "Pretty soon." Megan knew they were teasing her, but that didn't matter. The real estate agent who took down the "For Sale" sign told the Merrills that the new owners had a little girl nine years old -- the same age as Megan.
Hardly any kids Megan's age lived in her neighborhood. And the ones who were her age were boys who lived two blocks over, and they weren't really her friends. So this new kid would be the first girl in the neighborhood in a long time. Megan had so many questions running through her head as she waited on the car hood and stared up at the puffy white clouds in the sky. What would the new kid be like? Would she be nice? Funny? What kind of toys would she bring with her? Megan hoped she would have new stuff, unlike the hand-me-down toys and too-big bike she got from her older brother, Matt. But, most of all, Megan wondered if the new girl would be like some of the kids at school who poked fun at her. Megan was tired of having to stick up for herself or have her brother yell at the kids who teased her. She scrunched up her eyes at the memory and pushed those thoughts out of her head. This girl would be different. She knew it. Maybe, Megan thought as she crossed her fingers for luck, she'll be my best friend.
It was the first Saturday of summer vacation, which meant no more homework and no more waking up at the crack of dawn to get to school. Megan scanned the street. Still no moving truck. She looked down at all the huge oak and maple trees on Morton Street, all perfectly lined up on each side of the block. She always wondered if they grew that way or if someone had planted the little saplings in perfect straight lines with rulers when they'd built the street. They were beautiful, towering trees, with big trunks perfect for hiding around during hide-and-seek and low limbs just right for climbing on.
Sometimes on dark winter nights, when the trees had no leaves, Megan imagined the trees turning into giant walking sticks, like the kind she saw in the traveling bug zoo at school. But instead of swallowing unsuspecting flies and spiders, these giant walking sticks swallowed up people and their pets as they walked by. At least that's what Megan's brother, Matt, told her when Mrs. Adams's fat tabby cat turned up missing.
"Probably got eaten up by the trees," Matt said. Megan didn't believe him then, but one night, during a real scary thunderstorm, when some tree branches scraped against their house, Megan was convinced that the trees were coming for them! Her mother told her she was being silly; "trees can't come alive and snatch people." Megan wasn't completely convinced. And just in case, she showed the trees her respect and never carved words on them or peeled off their bark like other kids did.
Megan's nose tickled; it was the smell of freshly cut grass, the perfect summer smell. Megan rolled over on her side and saw old Mr. Rogowski mowing his lawn. Every weekend, unless it was raining, old Mr. Rogowski was out mowing his lawn. Megan's dad made Matt mow the lawn for his allowance, but he always grumbled. Mr. Rogowski never seemed happier than when he was cutting his grass. He was a short little man with a bald spot on the back of his head and had only three fingers on his left hand, which made the kids who lived on the next block over afraid of him. But Mr. Rogowski was always nice to Megan, and besides, Megan's father told her that there was nothing to be afraid of. Mr. Rogowski had lost his fingers in a lawn mower accident, and he was still happy cutting the grass. Megan smiled at the big floppy hat he wore to keep the sun off his bald spot; it was exactly like the hat her mother wore when they went to the beach. Mr. Rogowski looked up from his mower and waved at Megan. She waved back. Megan made it her business to know every person and pet in the neighborhood. Why not? It was Megan's street, and everyone in the neighborhood knew that.
Just then Megan looked up and saw a big truck coming to a stop at the driveway of the Bregenzer home. The movers came up the other end of Morton Street! That was sneaky, Megan thought, laughing to herself. She jumped down from the hood of the car and ran across the street to see her new neighbors.
Megan scurried up to the big oak that was right next to the driveway. From here she could peek around the trunk and watch all the action. Her first look was disappointing. She only saw three moving men starting to work at the back of the truck. They were all wearing gray coveralls with the sleeves cut off and red bandannas tied around their foreheads. Megan noticed their arm muscles because Matt was trying hard to grow his. Megan was going to tell Matt that he should become a mover if he wanted his muscles to grow really big.
But where were the new neighbors? The movers began to unload boxes. And more boxes, and more boxes and more boxes! Megan made sure she saw everything. She looked at the furniture and even the brand-new gardening tools. To Megan, personal belongings said a lot about their owners.
Megan paid close attention to the living room furniture that the movers were bringing in: a long sofa to lie on that she later found out was called a chaise, and two end tables made of dark wood with gleaming handles. How could someone sit in that furniture and watch television? It seemed so stiff and straight!
And then a car pulled up, right behind the moving van. At first it was hard for Megan to see because the June sun was reflecting brightly off of the window, and she had to cover her eyes. But then the doors swung open, and out stepped a couple. The man was tall and thin, with black hair combed very neatly and glasses that he kept pushing back up his nose. The woman was very pretty, with black curly hair just as neat as the man's hair. They both wore pressed tan pants and crisp white shirts. Very clean for moving, Megan thought.
So where is their daughter? she wondered. They're supposed to have a daughter! She remembered the Hammers who lived down the street who had no kids. Mr. Hammer was always chasing kids off his lawn when they tried to play in his leaf piles. Once he had even gone so far as to turn the hose on them. Megan thought it was because he had no kids and didn't understand that sometimes kids just need to jump in leaf piles; she hoped this new couple moving in wouldn't be the same. She crossed her fingers again and ventured closer to the car.
Megan now noticed that the man shouted something over to his wife as he walked up to the new house, but Megan had no idea what he was saying. Megan could tell by their anxious looks that moving day was very stressful for them. Suddenly, another bright reflection from a window flashed in Megan's face, and then she saw the rear of the station wagon open up.
Out stepped a little girl.
The first thing Megan noticed was that she had big brown eyes. Bigger and more brown than even Nancy Culver's, who sat behind Megan in her homeroom class and who had the biggest eyes Megan had ever seen. Nancy liked to gross out the kids in the class by turning her eyelids inside out. The next thing Megan noticed was the new girl's black hair. It was short and wavy, with tight little curls in the back, just like the girl's mother standing next to the car. Megan thought the hairstyle looked a little old-fashioned.
But Megan was still thrilled that the girl was really here. She ran over right to the car.
"Hi there!" yelled Megan, and the young girl nearly jumped out of her sandals. "I'm Megan" she continued to yell, "and I live four houses down from you! I think we should be new best friends!"
Megan knew that her voice sounded different to others, since she couldn't tell how loud or soft she was speaking. Some people said it sounded like she was talking in a box, while others said it sounded like she was imitating a cartoon voice. Still, once people had time to get used to Megan's special way of talking, they didn't seem to have any trouble understanding her.
Megan watched as the girl with the big brown eyes opened them so wide that it almost looked to Megan as if she weren't blinking at all. For a second, Megan imagined that old cartoon where the wolf's eyes pop out and his jaw drops to the ground. This made Megan grin a little. Although she had been speaking this way since she had started taking speech classes at age three, no one had ever been this surprised to hear her voice.
"Hi," said the little girl finally. She shyly tucked her chin to her shoulder when she talked.
"Hi!" Megan repeated with the same voice. "My name is Megan. What's yours?"
The little girl seemed to understand her better this time. "Cindy," she responded quietly, still looking down at the grass. "Cindy Calicchio."
"What?" asked Megan. She couldn't hear her and fiddled with her hearing aids.
"Cindy," said the little girl in a louder voice, but she still didn't look up from the grass.
"I still don't understand you!" Megan yelled. Cindy's mom turned to see why the two girls were yelling at each other.
Cindy looked straight at Megan. Now she looked a little frustrated. "What's the matter? Are you deaf or something?" she yelled back.
Megan screamed out and then fell to the ground, laughing hysterically. "How did you know that?" she asked as she laughed.
"Huh? You mean you are deaf?" Cindy asked meekly.
"Duh! That's why I have these hearing aids!" Megan said as she pointed to her ears and turned her head from side to side so that Cindy could see the bright purple ear molds and hearing aids hanging over each ear. "I am deaf."
Cindy took a moment to let this sink in. "I thought someone put bubble gum in your ears!" she said.
Megan laughed even harder at the thought.
Cindy waited for Megan to stop laughing before she tried asking her another question. "What do they do?" she asked timidly.
"They make everything loud for me. Even though I can't hear a lot of things, I can hear some things with these," said Megan as she stood up again. She purposely turned the little dial on one of the hearing aids until it made a loud squeaking sound like a teakettle that was boiling over. "They're like the headphones my dad wears when he doesn't want my mom to hear his goofy music. Except, for me, they make sounds, not just music, louder."
"You mean you can hear? But I thought you were deaf...," said Cindy.
Megan could see that Cindy was very confused. She went on, anyway. "I can hear a little, but with these on, I can hear more! It's not as much as you can hear, but it helps. And they'll help even more if you look at me when you talk."
Cindy's cheeks flushed with embarrassment.
"Can I finish my lecture now?" Megan asked as she put her hands on her hips.
Cindy giggled and nodded, looking more relaxed. More than that, she looked like she understood everything Megan was saying.
"So you're Megan, right?" asked Cindy cautiously.
Megan nodded enthusiastically. She knew Cindy wasn't confused anymore, and that was the most important thing to her. "Hi, Cindy!" she said, beaming her biggest smile. "Welcome to my neighborhood."
Megan grabbed Cindy's hand and shook it hard. Cindy looked surprised by Megan's grip, but after a moment she shook it right back.
"It's going to be an awesome summer," said Megan.
Copyright © 2002 by Marlee Matlin
About The Author
Photo Credit: Mike Rosenthal
Marlee Matlin, deaf since she was eighteen months old, won the
Academy Award and the Golden Globe for Best Actress for her role in Children of a Lesser God. She was nominated for Emmy Awards for her performances in Seinfeld, Picket Fences, The
Practice, and Law & Order: SVU. Her film credits include
It's My Party and What the Bleep Do We Know!? She is the
author of Deaf Child Crossing. She has made numerous television appearances and currently appears on The L Word. Marlee Matlin lives in Los Angeles with her husband and four children. Visit her at www.marleeonline.com.
Product Details
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers (April 30, 2013)
- Length: 208 pages
- ISBN13: 9781442495159
- Ages: 8 - 12
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- Book Cover Image (jpg): Deaf Child Crossing eBook 9781442495159
- Author Photo (jpg): Marlee Matlin Photo Credit: Mike Rosenthal(1.5 MB)
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