Texas resident announces release of novel with deaf teen character

 Magnolia resident and novelist Cynthia T. Toney announces the release of the second novel of her young adult fiction series.
One of the two main male teenage characters in 10 Steps to Girlfriend Status is deaf, pursuing Ms. Toney’s dream of a wider selection of stories depicting deaf teenagers in a mainstream environment.
In her twenties, Ms. Toney befriended a teacher at the Louisiana School for the Deaf and became interested in the needs of deaf children. A few years later, she worked for a large daily newspaper that employed deaf adults, and she and a number of hearing employees learned American Sign Language, although most of the deaf employees read lips very well.
After those experiences, she wanted to include a deaf teen character in at least one of her books. Lots of kids grow up not knowing how to treat deaf kids—which she learned was mostly like a hearing kid wants to be treated, other than their special physical considerations. She decided to show a deaf teen in a mainstream environment, interacting with hearing teens, behaving like them and with the same needs, concerns, and interests as theirs.
This book, 10 Steps to Girlfriend Status, is published by Write Integrity Press, a small publisher in Georgia.  It is currently available in print and Kindle versions through Amazon.com, and on BarnesandNoble.com, with other retail sources becoming available in the future.
Cynthia T. Toney holds a BA in art education and is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers.

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