Book 096 of 350 ~ 2025

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Well presented. Easy to follow. Not just for babies but for adults like me who want to know a little asl. Yes yes I know it is to enable communication between smallies and their parents, but trust me when I say I have a few helpful signs for when I want to communicate with our fave pho owners who use asl.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

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4/5 Stars! Thanks NetGalley and BooksGoSocial for this eARC of Little Signs, Big Smiles; ASL for Tiny Hands by Vielka Montout.

Def a cute intro book to Amercian Sign Language. This teaches the basic of some of the signs babies and toddlers would need to learn when learning how to communicate. I wish I had this book when first introduced ASL to my firstborn. This book was impressive and I love how engaging this book is. My youngest son is too old for this book so I pretty much read it alone. Very good tool and would highly recommend for teachers of younger grade and for families with young kids/babies.

This is a great introduction for little ones, and us, to American Sign Language. This is designed for babies & toddlers and teaches the basics they need to learn like "thank you, more and love”. This helps encourage communication with little ones who maybe still learning how to express their needs. Using fun rhymes along with adorable illustrations kids are encouraged and want to follow along and learn. Great to share in classrooms or at home with your little ones. Soon to be your new favorite back to share with your family.
I highly recommend this book to enjoy with your little ones.

I wish they had this book when my children were young. I am so impressed to see children who can’t talk yet and are signing to Mom for food, milk or sleep. This book contains common words for little ones to use to communicate. Pleasant to read and for children to understand it is a must have for young children.

Little Signs, Big Smiles is a sweet and engaging introduction to American Sign Language for little learners. Written in gentle, poetic verse, the book features adorable illustrations of children from diverse backgrounds demonstrating 18 common ASL signs like “Mom,” “Dad,” “Hello,” and “Goodbye.” The end of the book includes a fun game and thoughtful reflection questions, making it both an educational tool and a heartwarming read-aloud.

I loved this book! Not only written rhythmically to help adults and children alike will enjoy, it is well paced. The illustrations were very helpful and I also enjoyed all of the diversity representation of the people with the book. The illustrations at the back review all the ASL signs and have review games as well. Very well done and it’s certainly an asset to everyone working on expanding communication styles.

A cute intro to basic signs. The illustrations are colorful and fun. The signs are shown pretty clearly, so parent and child can figure them out together.

Thank you for the ARC. I will purchase for my library.

One of the most wonderful picture books I've ever read. 

The illustrations are so LOVELY. Even though the focus is on the hands (sign language), there's a whole story going on in each page. So many diverse characters as well! I'm genuinely in love with the art style. 

The signs are easy to follow, but in case you don't quite understand them, there's a summary at the end, as well as written descriptions of each vocabulary. 

Sweet idea with the rhymes as well. Makes it easier to remember, especially for young kids! 

Totally recommended to everyone. Its main demographic might be children but anyone who's interested in ASL or sign language in general can and should check this out! A perfect gift for anyone at any occasion. <3 

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Thank you to BooksGoSocial on Netgalley for a digital review copy. The book was released on April 8, 2025.

-Ayxan Solongo, 07.05.25

This book is short but a very helpful resource. It’s perfect for everyone,not just kids, in their ASL journey. The illustrations were perfect and clear to understand. I love when stories have a rhyme scheme!

I definitely recommend this !

Thank you to the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for this e-ARC

This book is short but a very helpful resource. It’s perfect for everyone,not just kids, in their ASL journey. The illustrations were perfect and clear to understand. I love when stories have a rhyme scheme!

I definitely recommend this !

Thank you to the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for this e-ARC.

I love this book! What a fun way to introduce young children and their caregivers to basic signs! The images provided are clear, even though cartoon based. The more in depth written explanations at the end are helpful for anyone who learns best by reading directions. I also really love the game idea in the back. I have many students who are interested in ASL at my elementary school library and this would be a welcome addition to share with them! Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a chance to preview this ARC!

Rating: 3.5/5

This book was very cute and motivating for getting children to learn ASL. However, both my daughter and I found the ASL instructional pictures a bit difficult to read/see due to the pictures being so small. If they were enlarged, I think that would help a lot.

Thank you to the publisher for sharing this with me.

This sweet rhyming book teaches the basic signs in an easy and inviting way for adults to introduce to their babies, or for readers to learn a few ASL words on their own. The book works to be inclusive and seems to tick off every visible minority I can think of in the illustrations. I know tokenism isn't great, but in a book where there isn't a story, but rather a universal focus, I have to be honest, if there wasn't a visible Muslim I would be upset. Hopefully seeing someone like you, or your family, in the pages allows the normalization of sign language to be amplified and valued.

As someone who does not speak ASL I cannot attest to he accuracy of the contents.

This book is a perfect introduction to American Sign Language for kids and those looking to learn sign language. The illustrations are so adorable that it will further spark interest to learn. At the end of the book the words and actions are shown again and a sign vocabulary shows the handshape and movement for each word. There are also questions at the end to ask the kids to see if they understood.

The illustrations are super adorable. This book helps to introduce kids to the American Sign Language. The book shows the movement and actions for each word in a cheerful sing sing-song way. At the end of the book there is a sign vocabulary that shows the handshake and movement for each word.

I absolutely loved this book! As a speech therapist I would adopt this for my students learning sign language as well as use this for push-in lessons in the classroom. Little Signs, Big Smiles was a cute, fun, and interactive book to use with students to introduce them to common signs. I loved the art with the signs in bubbles next to each child and how they are using them. The children featured are diverse and representative which is lovely for students. The only downside is that this book isn't longer!

This was very cute! It was both readable and approachable, which I think some ASL books for littles struggle with. The illustrations were clear, light and cute! Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for letting me read!

This is a beautiful and interactive book aimed at teaching children ASL. As a teacher, books like these are valuable resources in the classroom and help to create a more inclusive classroom environment. The display of various diverse families and characters, as well as the focus on ASL (without it being a critical plot point), helps to foster inclusivity while also enabling students to feel represented in the book themselves. As someone who grew up learning sign language in school, I think this is such an important book to include and should be incorporated into early education, both in schools and at home. This is a book I will definitely come back to after it's published to be used in my teaching for any age (I teach K-6) to help students learn.

However, in a more critical aspect, the illustrations in the book were sometimes difficult to follow along with (would require the teacher/parent/adult to learn them or review the back of the book before reading with children). For someone who knows basic signs, I could follow along, but I do feel like children could get confused about what each sign means (only bolding the word didn't always make it clear and I got confused a couple of times myself). However, the list of instructions at the end of the book did help to address any confusion on the key words or directions for a sign.

Overall, this is an excellent start for learning sign and could be used to teach children at an early age, with an adult prompting and signing alongside.

Thank you BooksGoSocial for providing this book for review via NetGalley. Please note that all opinions are my own.

"Little Signs, Big Smiles: ASL for Tiny Hands" is a wonderful children's book that introduces kids to American Sign Language (ASL). The story is fun and engaging, helping children learn basic signs in a playful way. At the end of the book, there are helpful words and written instructions for each sign, making it easy for parents and teachers to teach ASL to little ones. It's a fantastic resource for anyone wanting to introduce sign language to children.

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book explained how to do signs in a fun way, easy to follow instructions for all (children and adults alike). While reading, it was easy to follow along and try the signs out. Loved the representation of different children throughout the book. Different family dynamics and settings were illustrated wonderfully. This would be a wonderful book for a story time when trying to teach families how to incorporate signs into their daily routines. Wonderful book!