Yesterday a package slip with Gideon's name was put in my mailbox. I'll admit it stumped me. What could it be? Then I remembered that I had signed up for the Seedlings Braille Books Angel Program. This program offers 3 free books a year to visually impaired children between 0-21 years old in both Canada and the United States. You can choose 4 different books from their catalogue (contracted or uncontracted braille) and they will send you three of them. Did I mention it is free? Big time score! Seedlings also sells braille books at a very reasonable price with quite a bit of selection. I'm already soaking up their catalogue.
Today I picked up the package and I couldn't be happier!
The first book is Animal Shapes by Little Bee Books. It has the braille taped on under the words on each page and it has great textures that highlight each shape; heart, square, circle, triangle and star. The illustrations are adorable and the quality is great.
The second book is Little Bee by Edward Gibbs. This book again had the braille taped on under the words and is a traditional chase story. Little bee is chased by frog who is chased by snake who is chased by mongoose ect. There are no additional textures inside the book, but the bees wings on the cover are sparkly. Solid little book!
Book number three is my favourite. The Sensesational Alphabet by April Rofe just makes my happy. I didn't know what to expect when I put it on my list. To be honest, the cover put me off a little and I thought it might come off as a bit unprofessional/amateur/cheap. I was wrong!
There are scratch and sniff pages! (The smell stuck to my fingers- so good!)
There are movable parts!
There is actual representation!
There are bungee cords you can pull!
There are textures galore!
... and all these things are supported by braille, auditory buttons and sign language! MIND BLOWING
Over all, this is an amazing program that opens up the world of books to all visually impaired children in our communities- no matter what your income! How blessed are we to live in a time and place that these opportunities are available to us. Thank you Seedling Angel Program!
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