Review by Frank Plowright

Jessi Ramsey is a relatively new addition to The Baby-Sitters Club cast having moved to Stoneybrook from New Jersey, and welcomed by the existing girls despite being a little younger. Her greatest love is ballet dancing and, as the cover shows, when no-one else can take a job looking after a deaf boy Jessi volunteers.

Chan Chau alternates on the graphic novel adaptations with Gabriela Epstein (who last took on Good-Bye Stacey, Good-Bye), and here inherits the trickier assignment. Jessi is asked to babysit Matt, a deaf child, requiring extensive use of sign language, which in turn means drawing plenty of hands, never an artist’s favourite task.

While The Baby-Sitters Club features an ensemble cast, it’s generally a single member who takes centre stage, but Jessi’s experiences dominate here to a greater extent than is customary. Her ballet activities require a separate and distinct supporting cast, and original author Ann M. Martin is diligent in exploring what Matt needs, how he communicates and how it impacts on his slightly older sister Haley. It requires plenty of explanations, and these include pre-emptive qualifications regarding differences of opinion among professionals regarding methods of communication with deaf children.

Martin’s plot cleverly ensures Jessi’s two worlds eventually have a connection point, and it’s a great example of the series ethos being problem solving in a positive manner. The sometimes negative feelings Haley has about having a deaf brother are also sympathetically handled, and well contrasted with a more selfish child Mary Anne’s looking after.

Jessi’s Secret Language is joyful and triumphant and while any graphic novel in the series can be read without reference to the others, this is the best sampler since the opening volume.