PerKIDS Newsletter 2010 Fall

Vol. 5, No. 1

Summer Reading Program Update

BTBL patrons had fun with the Go Green @ the Perkins BTBL Summer Reading Program this summer. Readers enjoyed books about the environment and completed lots of fun accessible activities.

47 active readers read 672 books. This is an average of 14 books per participant - more than a book a week! The readers who read the most books in each reading category were:

Grades Preschool-2
Alec Quan (Westford), 52 books
Alec Bulmer (Billerica), 49 books

Grades 2-4
Jake Levine (Wakefield), 15 books
Austen Abele-Castro (Waltham), 13 books

Grades 3-6
Samuel Balcanoff (Greenfield), 55 books
Moriah Lim (North Attleboro), 32 books
Gabrielle Geraghty (Londonderry, NH), 22 braille books

Grades 4-8
Kayla Biagiotti (Franklin), 56 books
Gabrielle Svoboda (Mansfield), 22 books
Rachel Feenstra (Osterville), 16 books

Young Adult
Scott Varga (Holliston), 41 books
Danielle LaPierre (Quincy), 13 books
Nicole Easler (Preque Isle, ME), 13 braille books

A total of 153 prizes were sent out to active participants. Grand prizes included braille pendants, accessible games, and Playaway pre-loaded digital audio players. Please join in the fun next year!

Perkins Products Demo Center

The new Perkins Products Assistive Technology Demo Center and Store is opening next door to the Library!

Adaptive Technology, a division of Perkins Products, has opened the center to feature assistive devices from slates and styluses, to magnifiers. Now you can try all the products in one place and determine which best meets your needs.

Stop by if you are on campus to visit the Library or just in the area! Call 617-972-7308 for more information.

2010 Boston Globe–Horn Book Awards

The Boston Globe–Horn Book Awards (BGHB) recognizes excellence in children’s and young adult literature. The 2010 BGHB winners are:

When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead (DB/RC 69837, BR 18568)
New York City, 1979. Twelve-year-old Miranda helps her mother prepare to be on a television game show. Meanwhile Miranda tries to understand why her best friend doesn’t want to hang out anymore - and why someone is sending Miranda tiny notes from the future. For grades 5-8.

Marching for Freedom: Walk Together, Children, and Don’t You Grow Weary by Elizabeth Partridge (DB/RC 70496)
Traces the 1965 protests against voting discrimination in Alabama led by Martin Luther King Jr. Discusses kids placing themselves at risk of being beaten and sprayed with tear gas for participating in the civil rights struggle in Selma and the five-day march to Montgomery. For grades 5-8.

CCTV Loan Program

The Library has several CCTV video magnification systems that we would like to place FREE with any patron who can benefit from having this equipment available.

The units must be picked up at the Perkins Library and will be on long-term loan for use in the home setting. Contact Debby Smith at 617-972-7376 to have your name added to the list.

Dollars for Scholars

Author James Patterson is launching Book Dollars for Scholars, a contest for college-bound high school seniors to win gift certificates for $250 to $5,000 each to use at any IndieBound bookstore.

To enter, write an essay about how your favorite book has inspired you toward what you’d like to do in life. Patterson will select 56 winners.

Enter by December 31. Visit www.JamesPatterson.com for more information.

James Patterson Books

Contact the Library to order this exciting James Patterson series for grades 6-9, or any other books!

The Angel Experiment (DB/RC 61892)
Fourteen-year-old Max and her adopted family are part-human, part-bird lab experiments pursued by mutant predators. When Angel is kidnapped, Max leads the flock on a mission to rescue her, find their parents, exact revenge, and save the world.

School’s Out – Forever (DB/RC 62734)
After a short stay with an FBI agent, where they attend school and lead a normal life, six genetically altered, winged youths head toward Florida and fourteen-year-old Max’s ultimate destiny - to save the world, whether she wants to or not.

Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports (DB/RC 65516)
The time has come for Max and her family to face their ultimate enemy – “the director” - who plans to reengineer a select population into a scientifically superior master race. The six fight to save the world, despite obstacles.

Accessibility News

On October 8, President Obama signed the 21^st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act. The legislation requires smart phones, television programs and other communications technologies to be accessible to people with vision or hearing loss.

Perkins President Steven Rothstein and Library Director Kim Charlson were at the White House signing ceremony, along with music legend Stevie Wonder. The signing marked one of the most significant victories for the disability community since the Americans with Disabilities Act was signed 20 years ago.

Audio Described Movies

Are you signed up to receive described videos? Our DVDs and VHS videotapes feature popular movies that provide narration of key visual elements, such as characters’ actions, costuming, gestures, and facial expressions. These descriptions are heard during the natural pauses in dialogue.

We have classics, animated films, and all the latest new releases, including Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, The Princess and the Frog, Toy Story 2, and Up. Contact the Library to receive videos and our latest catalog of over 200 new titles!

Thanks to Attorney General Martha Coakley and her accessibility team, accessible movie theaters are being added across Massachusetts. All National Amusements, AMC and Regal Entertainment Group theaters will have at least one accessible auditorium. The total number of accessible auditoriums will increase 450% from 14 to 63.

To subscribe to a weekly email listing of described movies, send a request to library@perkins.org to be placed on the list for Described Movie Access Updates.

Newsline

Do you need to keep up with the news for your current events class at school? Now, it’s easier than ever with Newsline!

Newsline is an electronic system that allows users to listen to newspapers and magazines through synthetic voice output via any touch-tone telephone. It is free of charge and is accessed by calling either a local or toll-free telephone number.

Time Magazine for Kids
You can listen to Time Magazine for Kids on Newsline! Written by young reporters, it is available in editions for grades 2-3 and for grades 4-6. Dial in to listen to the latest issue, along with the Boston Globe, USA Today, and many other newspapers.

Newspapers in your Inbox
Don’t want to listen on the phone? Newsline can email the newspaper to your inbox in DAISY format. Then you can read the newspaper on your PC or portable device.

Television Listings
Have you wondered when and on what channel Glee airs? You can access local TV listings on Newsline to find out when your favorite shows are on. You can customize the channel lineup to find out what is on your favorite channels.

Contact the Library to sign up for Newsline. Your information will be sent out to you in a large print or braille letter or via email.

Social Networking

Do you receive our enewsletters? The PerKIDS email comes out monthly. You can also receive general library news, listings of described movies being shown in theaters, and news about Perkins. Contact the Library to learn more!

Are you on Facebook? Add the official page for Perkins School for the Blind to learn the latest news. Visit www.facebook.com/OfficialPerkins for more information.

Join the new social networking site www.YouAreWhatYouRead.com. You can build a profile based on the five books that are most influential to you. Find other people with shared interests, or “Bookprints,” and browse celebrity profiles including Bill Gates and Whoopi Goldberg.

Digital Talking Books

Do you have our new digital talking book player yet? This player is the smallest unit ever offered by the National Library Service. Patrons say it is very easy to use, and it provides listeners with superior sound quality. Let us know if you don’t have yours yet so we can send you one right away!

BARD: Braille and Audio Reading Download

Once you get your new player, don’t forget to sign up for BARD! In addition to the digital cartridges you will get in the mail, you can download books and magazines from BARD.

Visit the Library of Congress’ downloadable audiobook and magazine service at nlsbard.loc.gov/MA. You can transfer downloads to your new player using your thumb drive or by putting them on a blank cartridge (available through Perkins Products at 617-972-7373).

The BTBL Needs You!

Will you help us make our services even better for children and teens? We are looking for Library patrons between the ages of 12 and 20 to serve on our new Youth Advisory Committee. Meetings will take place 3 times a year using technology like online meeting rooms, Skype, and telephone conferencing. Contact the Library for more information.

Sports Section

Which sports do you like to play? When Rachel Gould, our youth librarian, isn’t helping patrons find books to read, she likes to run and row. In October, her team won their race in the Head of the Charles Regatta.

We would love to hear about how you like to compete and score goals. We would also like to challenge you to a reading marathon! If you read 26 books from January 1 to February 28, you will win a prize. Please let us know which books you have read!

Accessible Sports

You can learn more about accessible sports on Perkins Scout. Scout is a searchable database of carefully evaluated online resources related to blindness and visual impairment. Visit www.perkins.org/resources/scout for a comprehensive list.

New Studio Books

Did you know that the staff and volunteers of the Clive W. Lacy Recording Studio here at Perkins have produced over 1,000 books by Massachusetts authors, about local personalities, celebrities, regional histories, and sports? Let us know if you would like to check out these recent locally produced digital books, or any other books!

A Little Old Maid of Old Maine by Alice Turner Curtis (DBM 1138)
Brave sisters Anna and Rebecca Weston rescue a little settlement on the Maine coast during the Revolutionary War. Based on true events, this historical novel is part of the classic Little Maid series. For grades 3-6.

Babe Ruth and the Baseball Curse by David A. Kelly (DBM 1108)
Why did the Red Sox go 86 years between World Series victories? Was the team cursed? This spirited account surveys nine decades of rotten luck at Fenway Park and the glorious season of 2004 that changed everything. For grades 3-6.

Escapade Johnson and the Phantom of the Science Fair by Michael Sullivan (DBM 1133)
The ho-hum fifth grade science fair in Escapade’s small town is transformed by carnivorous gerbils, NASCAR rats, lipstick-wearing rabbits, and the shocking unmasking of the Phantom of the Science Fair. For grades 2-6.

Accessible Disney Trip

Your visit to Disneyland or Walt Disney World is now more accessible than ever! Disney is adding a GPS system with audio description to its braille park maps and guest assistance cards.

WGBH teamed with Disney to produce audio descriptions, which are delivered via a small handheld device. Contact disney.go.com/disabilities or 407-824-4321 for more information.

Contact the Library to order accessible Disney movies, including The Lion King, The Incredibles, and Chicken Little!

Perkins Braille & Talking Book Library
175 North Beacon Street
Watertown, MA 02472

Hours:  Monday - Friday 8:30 - 5:00
Phone:  800-852-3133 or 617-972-7240
Fax:  617-972-7363
TTY:  617-972-7690
Web:  www.perkinslibrary.org
Email:  library@perkins.org