The Printer [Paperback]

As a boy, my father learned to speak with his hands. As a man, he learned how to turn lead-type letters into words and sentences. My father loved being a printer.

Each day in 1940s New York a young boy watches as his father goes to work in the noisy newspaper printing factory. But the boy's father only feels the machines' loud pounding and rumbling as vibrations through the soles of his shoes. He is deaf. Although his father communicates with a few other deaf printers through his hands, he feels largely ignored by his hearing co-workers. But when a silent deadly fire erupts, it is up to the father to warn and save his coworkers, even when they cannot hear him over the printers.

Myron Uhlberg draws on his own experiences as the hearing son of deaf parents to create this dramatic, evocative story that reflects a respect for deaf culture and the unique gifts each individual possesses. Historical details are deftly rendered and brought to life in Henri Sørensen's extraordinary paintings that dramatize and illuminate the powerful text. The large, realistic paintings are enthralling, showing close up both the strong men at work with the pounding machinery and the boy's bond with his brave, gentle father. —Booklist

A unique tale of a quiet kind of heroism-literally and figuratively. . . The simplicity of the story gives the text its drama, and its message of caring for one's fellow humans is powerful. —School Library Journal

Handsome paintings convey the story's emotion. —The Horn Book Guide

A heartfelt tale of an ordinary person rising to meet an extraordinary challenge. —Kirkus ReviewsMyron Uhlberg is the award-wining and critically acclaimed author of sevl3e