Among our Programs for Children and Youth
are the Children's Braille Book Club, the Intermediate
Reader Series, the Learn by Doing Series, and
Braille Publications for Circulation by the Library of Congress.
Our Children's Braille Book Club every month offers
print editions of popular storybooks into which we have interleaved clear
plastic pages containing the same text in braille. These books enable
blind children and sighted parents (or sighted children and blind parents)
to experience the joy of reading together. One braille-reading father
writes: "I am totally blind and you have opened a door for me that I am
very grateful for! Thank you for helping me read to my two little boys."
The Intermediate Reader series provides stimulating materials to
sustain children's interest in reading. Titles include
A Series of Unfortunate Events, from the Lemony Snicket series;
Magic Tree House Series; and volumes from the
popular Harry Potter series.
The Learn By Doing series teaches practical life skills
and how to read and follow directions. Titles include Kids Gardening and A Simple Guide to Word for Kids.
Our Braille Production Department produces print/braille library books
that the Library of Congress circulates to children and adults across the country,
thereby increasing access to braille materials for blind people of all ages.
We also publish board books in uncontracted braille. Board
books are produced on thick cardboard, so baby and toddler fingers can easily
turn the pages, and uncontracted braille is a letter-by-letter transcription of
the Roman alphabet. Most blind children are whisked through mastering the braille
alphabet in order to learn contracted braille, which involves nearly 200
contractions of frequently-used words and letter combinations. We believe our
renewed focus on the fundamentals of the braille alphabet will make learning
braille easier for both blind children and sighted parents.
Our Phonics Readers introduce blind children, parents, and teachers to a mainstream
approach to beginning reading. Blind children may now learn reading in the same
way as their sighted peers, which is especially important for the many blind children
who have been mainstreamed into regular classrooms.
