Young Reader Books Featuring Characters who are Blind or Visually Impaired

Teaching Students with Visual Impairments

YOUNG READER BOOKS

By: Carmen Willings
teachingvisuallyimpaired.com

The following books center on characters that are blind or visually impaired or are impacted by those with visual impairments. If there are other books you would like to see here, please let me know so I can add them.

Do You Remember the Color Blue

Alexander, Sally Hobart. Do You Remember the Color Blue: And Other Questions Kids Ask About Blindness. East Rutherford, N.J.: Penguin Putnam Books for Young Readers, 2002. Grades 4-7. This book provides honest and informative answers to the questions that children ask about blindness. Addresses guide dogs, why people who are blind wear dark glasses, relationships, the attitudes of others, and more.

Teacher's Pet

Anderson, Laurie Halse. Teacher's Pet (Vet Volunteers, Name: Maggie). Maggie is adjusting to middle school and it becomes easier when she find that her biology teacher, who is blind, can learn a few things from her about working with his guide dog.

Peter Nimble and His Fantastic Eyes

Auxier, Jonathan. Peter Nimble and His Fantastic Eyes. This is a story of a ten-year-old thief who is also an orphan who is blind. He steals a box that contains three pairs of magical eyes and the adventure begins.

Things Not Seen

Clements, Andrew. Things Not Seen. East Rutherford, N.J.: Penguin Putnam Books for Young Readers, 2002. Grades 5-9. Fifteen-year-old Bobby wakes up invisible one day. His parents don’t deal with this development well, so Bobby sets off for the library to find his own solution. He befriends Alicia, a girl who is blind, who becomes a partner in the adventure, and helps him find a way to deal with his dilemma.

Water at the Blue Earth

Creel, Ann H. Water at the Blue Earth. Boulder: Roberts Rinehart Publishers, 1998. Grades 5-9. "Wren Taylor, the daughter of an 1850s pioneer family in New Mexico territory, befriends Luther, a Ute boy who is blind. When war breaks out between the settlers and the Ute, Wren must decide where her loyalties lie."

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall: The Diary of Bess Brennan

Denenberg, Barry. Mirror, Mirror on the Wall: The Diary of Bess Brennan. Dear America Series. New York: Scholastic, Inc., 2002. Grades 4-9. In 1932, Bess is blinded in a sledding accident at the age of twelve. She becomes a student at Perkins School for the Blind, where she finds new friendship, independence, and self-confidence.

Annerton Pit

Dickinson, Peter. Annerton Pit. When Martin and Jake's grandfather fails to return from a ghost-hunting expedition, the boys set off for Newcastle in search of him. Their investigations take them to Annerton Pit. Told from the point of view of the main character, who is blind.

Blind Spot

Ellen, Laura. Blind Spot. HMH Books for Young Readers. Blind Spot is a realistic portrayal of a girl, Roz, who struggles with macular degeneration. This book is written in the first-person voice of a legally blind teen who just wants to be like everyone else

Seeing Lessons

Hermann, Spring. Seeing Lessons: The Story of Abigail Carter and America’s First School for Blind People. New York: Henry Holt & Co., 1998. Grades 4-7. "Ten-year-old Abigail Carter’s life changes forever when she and her sister go to Boston to be the first students at Perkins, the first school for the blind in America. She is determined to prove that people who are blind can live fulfilling, independent lives."

The Heart of Applebutter Hill

Hill, Donna W. The Heart of Applebutter Hill. The heroine of The Heart of Applebutter Hill is a 14-year-old, shy songwriter, who is losing her sight. Abigail has a guide dog named Curly Connor, and she is just starting to learn about Braille and assistive technology. The reader witnesses her struggles and triumphs as the story unfolds.

The Window

Ingold, Jeanette. The Window. Orlando: Harcourt Trade Publishers, 2003. Grades 6-9. "Fifteen years old and blinded by the accident that killed her mother, Mandy has just moved to Texas to live with relatives she has never met. She explores the mystery of her family history and learns about her own strengths and resilience as she makes a new life for herself."

A Different Kind of Beauty

McNicoll, Sylvia. A Different Kind of Beauty. A story of Kyle, a 16 year old who is recently blinded due to diabetes and struggling with the adjustments and Elizabeth who is raising a future guide dog.

Miss Spitfire: Reaching Helen Keller

Miller, Sarah. Miss Spitfire: Reaching Helen Keller. This is the story, told in first person, of Annie Sullivan, an orphan who is partially blind who takes the job of teaching Helen Keller.

Blind Sighted

Moore, Peter G. Blind Sighted. A story of fifteen year old Kirk who is a loner who struggles making friends and with school. He takes a job reading to a young woman who is blind who makes him feel good about himself.

The World at His Fingertips

O'Connor, Barbara. The World at His Fingertips. Carolrhoda Books, 1997. In this book the author goes into simple details about how Louis Braille came to invent the braille alphabet.

Wild Horse Summer

Ryden, Hope. Wild Horse Summer. Boston: Clarion Books, 1997. Grades 4-6. Alison, a twelve-year-old from Chicago, is nervous about spending the summer on a ranch in Wyoming. She learns to ride, and her cousin Kelly, who is blind, helps her to overcome her fears and anxieties.

Who Was Helen Keller

Thompson, Gare. Who Was Helen Keller. Grosset & Dunlap, 2003. This book tells the story of Helen Keller. This illustrated biography is perfect for young middle-grade readers. It includes line drawings and sidebars on related topics such as Louis Braille.

Being Blind

White, Peter. Being Blind. Think About Series. North Mankato, Minn.: Smart Apple Media, 1999. Grades 2-5. Peter White, who is blind, explains what blindness is, how it is caused, and ways in which some vision problems can be helped.

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TVI's Guide to Teaching the ECC: An Activities Based Curriculum for Teaching Students who are Blind or Visually Impaired

$50.00

Written specifically for fellow itinerant Teachers of Students with Visual Impairments (TVI’s), this book consists of over 400 activities and topic areas of discussion for instructing students in the Expanded Core Curriculum. The activities are age-neutral and multi-sensory and therefore can meet the needs of the broad range of students served on an itinerant caseload serving. The activities can be individualized to the students various learning modalities and scaffold in order to challenge students but ensure success. Select those activities that align with the student’s learning objects based on the student’s unique visual needs and academic and developmental level.

The core activities listed in the Activity section can be adapted to each thematic unit. These include:

Object Characteristic Activities
Quantity & Number Concepts
Time Concept Activities
Environment & Job Awareness Activities
Listening Skills Activities
Reading Foundation Activities
Reading Fluency Activities
Braille Basics Activities
Writing Activities
Tactual Efficiency Activities
Developing Skillful Hands Activities
Visual Efficiency Activities
Optical Device Instruction Activities
Recipe Activities

In addition to the core activity areas, each of the 32 Thematic Units incorporates additional unique ECC concepts and skills providing you with a years’ worth of activities. These units are cyclical and can be used repeatedly to help students build on prior knowledge and develop a deeper understanding of concepts. Each unit includes suggestions for activity adaptation associated with the unit. These include lists of objects, possible community based experiences, environmental print, poems, children & young reader books, children's songs, pop culture songs, movies, and websites.

Unique Concepts within the Units include:

Self Advocacy Activities (e.g. advocating for safe classroom, presenting to class on visual impairment, requesting help and more)
Social Skills Activities (e.g. Being bullied or teased, giving and receiving compliments, body language, "I" messages when upset and more)
Recreation & Leisure Activities (e.g. exploring interest areas, getting involved in clubs and sports, playing games, and more)
O&M Support Activities (e.g. Suggestions for community based experiences, dog guide information, locations in the school, bioptics, ride sharing, traffic signs, and more)
Independent Living Skill Activities (e.g. chores, being responsible, using tools, recipe suggestions, hygiene, staying healthy, labeling foods and products, and more)
Sensory Efficiency Activities (e.g. unique sensory experiences related to the unit, unique optical device activities, and more)
Compensatory Activities (e.g. organizing materials, study habits, and many unique concepts related to the unit)
Career & Vocational Activities (e.g. job awareness, completing applications, job task suggestions, and more)

Although the intended audience of this resource is fellow Teachers of Students with Visual Impairments, special education teachers may find these activities beneficial to the students in their classrooms as the activities are multisensory and include life skills and concepts needed by all students. This resource, however, is not intended to take the place of a Teacher of Students with Visual Impairments (TVI). Readers are advised to consult their own TVI’s regarding instruction in the ECC and the unique visual needs of the student’s served in their programs.

Note: This curriculum is a digital pdf download. Once you make your purchase you will be directed to an order confirmation page where you will find the download link. This download will also be included on the receipt sent to the email address you provide. The pdf download can be found directly under the order number.

Each download is intended for single instructor use per copyright. Thank you for helping me preserve the content and not distributing copies to third parties.

Product details

Digital pdf download: 364 pages (11 pt font)

Publisher: Teaching Students with Visual Impairments

Author: Carmen Willings

Language: English

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Visual Efficiency & Magnifier Fluency Grab & Go ECC Supplements

$20.00

This workbook is a pdf download that can be printed on demand for use with students. It contains five different types of worksheets for developing visual motor skills and near magnifier fluency skills particularly with the use of a video magnifier. As a supplement to the TVI’s Guide to the ECC, the worksheets correspond to each of the 32 ECC Thematic units. The worksheets, along with a list of environmental print for each thematic unit, are designed to help students refine their visual motor skills while reinforcing ECC concepts presented in the thematic units.

Visual Efficiency & Near Magnifier Fluency Worksheet Details:

Digital pdf download: 210 pages

Publisher: Teaching Students with Visual Impairments

Author: Carmen Willings

Language: English

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