Recommended Reads: Braille Literacy Month

Celebrating Braille Literacy Month

“There is a wonder in reading Braille that the sighted will never know: to touch words and have them touch you back.” - Jim Fiebig

"Braille is knowledge, and knowledge is power." -Louis Braille

January is Braille Literacy Month and a good time to highlight our locally produced braille titles. As in our Recording Studio, these books that the Perkins Library selects to put into Braille are written by local authors or cover a variety of genres with New England themes. Most of the braille titles featured have also been produced in a digital audio format in the recording studio, and the digital book number (DBM) has been provided as well as the braille order number so everybody can enjoy these books in their preferred format. The Perkins Library Braille Production Program also produces short titles in uncontracted braille for beginning braille readers; and in jumbo braille, a type of braille where the spacing of the dots in the braille cell is larger to help people with tactile sensitivity issues in their fingers.

Locally produced braille (BRM), locally produced Digital audio book (DBM), digital audio book (DB), and large print (LT) copies of these books are available from the Perkins Braille & Talking Book Library. Please contact the library to order any of these books.

Prepared by Judi Cannon
Braille Services Specialist
Perkins Braille & Talking Book Library

A Place for Joey by Carol Flynn Harris.
BRM 1289, BRM 1361(Uncontracted), BRM 1362 (Jumbo), BRM 1363 (Jumbo, Uncontracted), DBM 875
Joey Calabro and his family live in Boston's North End in the early twentieth century. Since coming to the United States, his parents have wanted to buy a farm in the country. But Joey plans to find work so he can stay in the city. One day, he skips school, and goes to the docks to look for a job. Instead, he encounters a terrible accident, and saves a policeman's life. As a result, he finds a new dream. For grades 4-7. 2001.

Adventures in Darkness by Tom Sullivan.
BRM 1452, DB 63856
Memoir of actor, singer, and entertainer Tom Sullivan, who has been blind since birth. Sullivan describes the summer before his twelfth birthday when he experienced life through sports and adventure. For junior and senior high and older readers. 2006.

Big Papi: My Story of Big Dreams and Big Hits by David Ortiz.
BRM 1418, DB 64968, DB 62952 (Spanish Language)
Autobiography of baseball player David "Big Papi" Ortiz, who helped the Boston Red Sox break the "curse of the bambino" by winning the 2004 World Series. Ortiz recalls his childhood in the Dominican Republic and discusses his career with the Seattle Mariners, the Minnesota Twins, and the Red Sox. 2007.

Deep Drive: A Long Journey to Finding the Champion Within by Mike Lowell and Rob Bradford.
BRM 1425
When the Boston Red Sox won the 2007 World Series, their third baseman Mike Lowell was named MVP. He had overcome many challenges to win that night. He had learned to be a fighter, growing up in Miami, the son of a refugee of Castro's Cuba. He had fought and survived testicular cancer and returned to the game. After helping the Florida Marlins win their 2003 championship, he had lost his swing and his career had plummeted. But he fought back to win the sport's highest honor in 2007. Some strong language. 2008

Coota and the Magic Quilt by Haywood Fennell, Sr.
BRM 1288, BRM 1370 (Uncontracted), BRM 1371(Jumbo), BRM 1372 (Jumbo, Uncontracted), DBM 814
Coota, an eleven-year-old boy, is sent by his mother from Roxbury, Massachusetts to stay in North Carolina. There, his civil-rights activist grandmother introduces him to the Underground Railroad codes sewn into colorful patterns in quilts decorating her home, and he discovers a slave's diary. By the time Coota returns to the 'Bury, he is rapping about Harriet Tubman. For grades 5-8. 2001.

Diary of a Red Sox Season by Johnny Pesky and Maureen Mullen.
BRM 1386, DBM 1019
Johnny Pesky, highly-respected former player, coach, and manager for the Boston Red Sox, celebrates the team and its stellar 2007 season. Beginning with the signing of Daisuke Matsuzaka in December of 2006, Pesky traces the team's entire 2007 year, and shares a wealth of game commentary and insider information. 2010.

Escapade Johnson and the Witches of Belknap County by Michael Sullivan.
BRM 1455, BRM 1456 (Uncontracted), DBM 1104
When a weird trio of elderly women appear one snowy afternoon in Sanbornton's library, the overactive imaginations of Escapade and his buddies shift into overdrive. Has a coven come to town? For grades 2 to 5. 2011.

Fun Trivia Facts of Boston by John F. Crowder.
BRM 1364, BRM 1365 (Uncontracted)
The author presents little-known facts about Boston in a game format. A question is posed, multiple answers are listed, and then the correct answer is provided. An entertaining way to learn interesting and often humorous information about the history of the city. 1997.

Leadership on the Line: Staying Alive Through the Dangers of Leading by Marty Linsky and Ronald A. Heifetz.
BRM 1294
This survival manual for leaders explains what one needs to know to handle the professional and personal perils of leading, and discusses how to exercise leadership in a way that reduces the chances of being pushed aside. The authors address leaders at all levels (parents, general employees, managers, community activists, and presidents of organizations and countries). 2002.

New Boy by Julian Houston.
BRM 1295, DBM 1295
In the late 1950s, fifteen-year-old Rob Garrett escapes the segregated South to become the first black student at an exclusive Connecticut boarding school. There, he witnesses persecution of another student who has bad acne. Perhaps Rob can make a difference, even though he is far away from his hometown friends who are organizing to fight segregation ... and talking of sitting in at a lunch counter. 2005.

Prime Time by Hank Phillippi Ryan.
BRM1403, DBM 989, LT 11394
Seasoned Boston television journalist Charlotte McNally puts her job, heart, and life on the line to investigate a very intriguing email lead. Soon she runs into Josh Gelston, so handsome, so helpful. Can she trust him? The author is an award-winning investigative reporter at Boston's NBC affiliate. Some descriptions of sex. 2007

Reversing the Curse: Inside the 2004 Boston Red Sox by Dan Shaughnessy.
BRM 1292, DBM 824
After nearly a century of close misses, the historic 2004 Boston Red Sox team finally beat their long-time rivals, the New York Yankees, and won the World Series. Shaughnessy, a Boston sports writer who knows the Sox well, chronicles their journey. Some strong language. 2005.

Sacco and Vanzetti by Eli Bortman.
BRM 1419, DBM 850
Niccola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were Italian immigrants and anarchists. But did they commit murder in Massachusetts in 1920? When they were executed seven years later, many believed they were victims of prejudice. 2005.

Seeing Annie Sullivan by Denise Bergman.
BRM 1284
Annie Sullivan escaped life in a Massachusetts almshouse to attend the Perkins School for the Blind. She later became the innovative, dedicated teacher of Helen Keller. These poems explore her early life. 2005.

She's Wearing a Dead Bird on her Head by Kathryn Lasky.
BRM 1420, BRM 1421 (Uncontracted), BRM 1422 (Jumbo), BRM 1423 (Jumbo, Uncontracted)
In nineteenth century Boston, Minna Hall and Harriet Hemenway want to do something about all the fashionable women who wear dead birds on their hats! Besides driving the poor birds to extinction, the hats make the women look silly. So, in 1896, Minna and Harriet form a club of prominent men and women to protect the birds, the Massachusetts Audubon Society. For grades 3-6. 1995.

Some Kind of Genius: The Extraordinary Journey of Musical Savant Tony DeBlois by Janice DeBlois and Felix Antonia.
BRM 1457, DBM 1155
Blind at birth and diagnosed with autism at age five, Tony DeBlois seemed destined to live a life of quiet struggle. But Janice DeBlois had other plans for her musically talented son, who went onto graduate with honors from the famed Berklee School of Music. Told in her own words, this is a mother's story of classroom and courtroom battles, rare gifts, and inspiring achievement. 2011.

Stopping to Home by Lea Wait.
BRM 1424, DBM 909
1806, Wiscasset seaport in Maine. Eleven-year-old Abigail Chambers and her brother, Seth, are alone. Their father has been lost at sea, and their mother has died of smallpox. Seth finds temporary employment working for the young Widow Chase. Then Abbie has an idea that may provide a solution for them all. For grades 5-8. 2010.

The Blind Advantage: How Going Blind Made Me a Stronger Principal and How Including Children with Disabilities Made our School Better for Everyone by William Henderson.
BRM 1454, DBM 1266
Long before inclusion became a professional responsibility, it was a personal struggle for Bill Henderson, a blind man and one of Boston's most successful elementary school principals. Yet he also argues in this thoughtful volume that his physical disability has strengthened him professionally, making him more collaborative, more creative, better able to understand the needs of all his students. 2011.

Beneath the streets of Boston: building America's first subway by Joe McKendry.
BRM 1458, BRM 1459 (Uncontracted)
Boston's first "Big Dig" was begun in 1895, when work on the first United States subway was started. Twenty three years later, underground trains began running between Cambridge and South Boston, and America was introduced to a new form of urban transportation. For grades 5-8. 2005.

Thoughts on Blindness: One Spouse's Perspective on Losing Vision and Living Life by Becky LeBlanc.
BRM 1293, BRM 1322 (Uncontracted), DBM 930
Through poetry and prose, one spouse reflects on her husband's blindness from Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP). Basic information about blindness is included. 2008.

Seeing lessons: fourteen life secrets I've learned along the way by Tom Sullivan.
BRM 1453, DB 63861
Motivational speaker and author of If You Could See What I Hear (RC 35991, BR2848) offers advice on living with purpose, passion, and fulfillment. Sullivan, blind since birth, interweaves personal experiences with reflections on lessons learned, including turning disadvantages into advantages, facing fears, and creating a life plan. 2003.