Braille Literacy Month Reading List
January recognizes the legally blind and visually impaired for National Braille Literacy Month. The observance raises awareness of the importance of Braille to the blind and visually impaired community. SC Talking Book Services partners with the Utah State Library for the Blind & Disabled to provide print Braille and other services to our Braille readers. For more information contact us at tbsbooks@statelibrary.sc.gov. Here are some audio titles for adults & children about the life of Louis Braille and his amazing creation as well as some other inspiring works..
Braille into the Next Millennium
Essays examining the history and future of braille include such topics as the development of the literary, Nemeth, and music codes; braille production; legal issues; library service; and literacy and computer access concerns. Edited by Judith Dixon, with a foreword by Frank Kurt Cylke and a preface by Kenneth Jernigan.
Book Length:
Digital Book Number: DB050969
Louis Braille: A Touch of Genius
Biography of Louis Braille (1809-1852), a blind Frenchman who by age sixteen designed a code of raised dots enabling blind people to read and write easily. Discusses his schooling, his love of music, and the advantages of his tactile reading system. For junior and senior high and older readers.
Book Length:
Digital Book Number: DB063350
Louis Braille
A poignant story of the man who developed the Braille system of printing for the blind.
Book Length:
Digital Book Number: DBC25015
Triumph over Darkness: The Life of Louis Braille
Biography of Frenchman Louis Braille (1809-1852), who perfected a raised-dot alphabet code named in his honor when he was only fifteen. Discusses the development of the system of reading and writing that opened the world of learning for blind people.
Book Length:
Digital Book Number: DB068015
Seeing Home: the Ed Lucas story: a Blind Broadcaster’s Story of Overcoming Life’s Greatest Obstacles
A blind baseball broadcaster tells his personal and professional story. Lucas lost his sight in an accident in 1951 at age twelve. His love of baseball led him to a career broadcasting games and interviewing players. His love of his children led him to fight for custody after his wife left.
Book Length: 9 hours, 18 minutes
Digital Book Number: DB086568
Flying blind: One Man’s Journey out of Darkness
An account of the experiences of Joe Koury, who lost his sight suddenly at the age of nineteen and started a new life as a blind man. Strong language.
Book Length: 6 hours, 6 minutes
Digital Book Number: DB097425
Inside My World
Author reminisces about growing up as a blind child in Chicago during the 1940s and 1950s. Describes learning braille in grammar school, becoming a boy scout, and joining a fraternity at age sixteen.
Book Length: 4 hours, 19 minutes
Digital Book Number: DB072707
Do You Dream in Color? Insights from a Girl without Sight
Rubin, a blind mezzo-soprano opera singer born with perfect pitch and Leber’s Amaurosis--a disease that prevents the retina from developing--recounts her idyllic California childhood learning to read braille, use a cane, and ski and taking voice lessons. Highlights her struggles getting roles because of her disability. Young adult appeal.
Book Length: 8 hours, 18 minutes
Digital Book Number: DB075761
Louis Braille: Windows for the Blind
Biography of the inventor of the system of reading that opened the world of books to the blind. Though Braille’s revolutionary innovation remained unrecognized during his lifetime, it is now used in every language and in every country throughout the world. For high school and adult readers.
Book Length: 3 hours, 3 minutes
Digital Book Number: DB009596
Haben: The Deafblind Woman Who Conquered Harvard Law
The autobiography of the first deaf-blind graduate of Harvard Law School. Girma describes her childhood, world travels, development of a text-to-braille communication system, and time at Harvard Law, as well as the ways she uses her talents to advocate for those with disabilities. Commercial audiobook. 2019.
Book Length: 7 hours, 32 minutes
Digital Book Number: DB096188