Kisses, even the ones that don’t happen, can be the trace of what’s constant when life changes. In childhood, when what seems to define everything is competition—for style, for knowing, for experience—a kiss is the first first. When a girl’s father moves out and chooses a new family, a kiss on the head from him may be the trace of constancy that she wants most. Later, such things take on a different flavor. Sometimes the kiss she wants doesn’t come. Sometimes the one she wouldn’t have is forced upon her. From time to time, the one she has kissed before is lost to her. Some kisses are final. When things are most hectic a kiss can be a celebration. And when circumstances grow threatening—to a woman, her family, her sister—a kiss becomes the reassertion of the most vital connections. The rich story in these essays rings with good humor and with moving wistfulness. Throughout, Sternbach maintains a perfect balance between them as her story moves from the bittersweet desires of childhood on through loss and love. Reading Lips is the tale of one woman who is just trying to get life right.

Popularity is as easy as a good secret. Serena just wants to fly under the radar at her new school. But Serena is deaf, and she can read lips really well-even across the busy cafeteria. So when the popular girls discover her talent, there's no turning back. From skater chick to cookie-cutter prep, Serena's identity has done a 180...almost. She still wants to date Miller, the school rebel, and she's not ready to trade her hoodies for pink tees just yet. But she is rising through the ranks in the school's most exclusive clique. With each new secret she uncovers, Serena feels pressure to find out more. Reading lips has always been her greatest talent, but now Serena just feels like a gigantic snoop...

Edward B, Nitchie, founder of the New York School for the Hard of Hearing, now the Nitchie School of Lip-Reading, Inc, wrote "LIP-READING Principles and Practice." The development and perfecting of this meritorious work on lip-reading was an undertaking of stupendous proportion, but, nevertheless, was finished in a masterful, scientific and scholarly manner by Mr. Nitchie. A review of the original edition reveals an uncanny ability on the part of the writer to utilize the most progressive methods used in the teaching of reading today. Modern scientific methods of education have also been employed in the complete revision of the text made by Elizabeth Helm Nitchie and Gertrude Torrey, both thoroughly capable Nitchie School teachers of vast and successful experience. This revision was undertaken to bring the original reading exercises up to date and to include new methods of teaching, which have proved to be effective. One of the most wholesome and most inspiring messages is to be found in the chapter "To the Friends of the Deaf." An acceptance of the philosophy presented in this chapter would add much to the sum total of happiness for the hard-of-hearing and their friends. It not only offers hope, but also supplies a specific program. At the same time it encourages the friends of the deaf to develop not only a thoughtful attitude, but also above all a sympathetic understanding. One of the characteristic features of the modern project method of teaching is that the situations provided for in the school should be essentially the same as those found in life. The methods included in this book follow this modern idea by showing the necessity of teaching and learning the movements of the lips made in speaking at an ordinary rate. Emphasis is placed on special and individual sounds and on word drill, but the complete thought or sentence is considered the unit rather than individual words or sounds.