Louis Braille School

I was delighted when publisher Cathy Feldman telephoned to tell me about Blue Point Books’ latest release, The Blind Doctor: The Jacob Bolotin Story. I was even more pleased when she offered to send me a complimentary copy. I was looking for a good read for the weekend, and the excitement in Cathy’s voice made the book seem irresistible.

The Blind Doctor tells the remarkable story of the man believed to be the world’s first totally blind physician fully licensed to practice medicine. Born to poor parents in Chicago in 1888, he worked as a door-to-door salesman to pay for his medical school tuition. He graduated with honors from the Chicago College of Medicine and became one of the top heart and lung specialists in the city.

Dr. Bolotin, a contemporary of Helen Keller, was among the first to raise public awareness that blindness need not deprive a person of a full and rewarding life.

For more information about The Blind Doctor, visit www.bluepointbooks.com

The Blind Doctor: The Jacob Bolotin Story by Rosalind Perlman, copyright 2007, is published by Blue Point Books, Santa Barbara, California

ISBN-13: 978-1-8834213-1, 256 pages, $19.95

Large Type Edition: ISBN-13: 978-1-8834214-8, 416 pages, $24.95

Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic is taping a cassette edition. The US Library of Congress, National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, is preparing a braille edition.

Are you interested in knowing Where the Wild Things Are? Would you like to share Arthur’s Valentine or Arthur’s Christmas Day? Perhaps you would like to participate in Clifford’s Funny Adventures or Clifford’s Happy Mother’s Day. You may like being charmed by the sweet story of Koko’s Kitten where a female gorilla who uses American Sign language befriends an orphaned kitten. Maybe a romp through the alphabet with Steve Martin’s The Alphabet from A to Y with Bonus Letter Z suits your mood.

These are but a few of the new titles that are now part of the Louis Braille School library.

Thank you Judy and Chris Guitton and Dr. Bill Rees for remembering the children and for gifting them with the wonder of books.

Kara Dyko, president of the Seattle Area Delta Gamma Alumnae Group, paid an October visit to the Louis Braille School to present three unique tactile pictures. Created especially for the Louis Braille School by the alumnae group, the pictures are made from items that can be readily found around the house and at craft stores. The items are arranged on 20 x 30 inch foam board to form lovely tactile creations. Each picture contains a few words of raised braille.

Delta Gamma’s primary philanthropy is “Sight Conservation and Aid to the Blind.” www.seattledg.com

When a Sioux Falls, South Dakota, adult new reader book club selected Out of Darkness, Russell Freedman’s biography of Louis Braille, to read little did they know the subject would lead to a study of the braille alphabet. Eager to learn more, members went online, discovered louisbrailleschool.org and our offer of a free braille alphabet card in exchange for a self-addressed, stamped envelope. We were pleased to fill their request and even more pleased to learn that the book club members studied the braille alphabet and translated some simple braille sentences. Hooray for Braille!

If you would like to receive a free braille alphabet card, send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to Louis Braille School, 10130 Edmonds Way, Edmonds WA 98020.

When Jesse selected Louis Braille as the subject for a school report, his parents visited the Louis Braille School for assistance. We were happy to give him a braille alphabet card and a braille calendar to share with his classmates. Jesse presented his report to the class but did not mention Louis Braille’s name. It was up to the students to figure that out. The class was puzzled until Jesse spoke of the six-dot system of reading that is read with the fingertips. That was the clue that brought the correct answer: Louis Braille.

The Louis Braille School website has information about Mr. Braille and the braille code especially for students working on school reports. Go to louisbrailleschool.org and click on Resources to explore FAQ about braille and Louis Braille, pictures of where Mr. Braille was born, and a braille alphabet chart.

On a drizzly Sunday afternoon in October, Louis Braille School director Carolyn Meyer joined guide dog puppies-in-training and their trainers at Fall City Farms in the foothills of Washington’s Cascade mountains. The trainers, affiliated with Guide Dogs for the Blind in San Rafael, California, were from the Western Washington puppy training group. The crowd enjoyed freshly pressed apple juice, toured the working farm and purchased organic produce from the little store. One young pup showed up in a scarecrow costume in honor of the Halloween season.

For information about Guide Dogs for the Blind, visit www.guidedogs.com. To learn about puppy raising, click Programs/Dog Programs/Puppy Raising.

For information about the farm, go to www.fallcityfarms.com