New collection of books for braille-reading adults!
We're delighted to announce our new collection of books especially produced for adults with vision impairment to share with sighted children. Here’s why...
For parents, carers or grandparents with vision impairment, reading to a sighted child can be a challenge – it's almost impossible to source regular children's books which include braille as well as the print and pictures from regular bookshops or even online in the UK – this is part of the reason the ClearVision library exists, to fill that gap! Most of ClearVision's library stock is mainstream children’s books, adapted to include the text in braille (or Moon) so that the print, illustrations and braille are all on the same page. This makes them perfect for sharing between those with and without vision impairment. Of course, braille-reading adults can and do borrow these books, but there are two extra things to take into account when you're reading with very young children:
- Firstly, discussing a book’s illustrations is a vital part of the reading experience for toddlers and pre-schoolers, it's crucial to their development and understanding. However, small children generally don’t have the language to describe the picture to the adult who's reading, nor understand that the adult’s experience is different to their own. Because of this, we needed a dedicated collection of books which include simple brailled descriptions of the illustrations, the book’s text in braille, plus locator dots: clear brailled labels stuck onto the key elements of the illustration – allowing the reader to point them out to the child.
- Secondly, there’s a real need for books to help adults with vision impairment support their child’s early education: learning how to count; understanding relative sizes of objects; identifying shapes and colours; supporting print letter and number formation. These concepts can be harder for a blind parent to explain, so having the text and illustration brailled and stuck directly onto the page, along with any locator dots, can be a huge help. For counting books, for example, a description is given of the item being counted and then the numbers added onto each individual object, so that the adult can count each with the child. In the words of a grandparent using them:
“My granddaughter and I both enjoy the ClearVision books. I am the braille reader and my granddaughter is fully sighted. Having these books with the extra labels means that I can participate in her learning alongside her other sighted relatives. I am extremely happy with the service and the books are so up to date, including characters such as Peppa Pig and Hey Duggie. I feel very fortunate to be able to use this service for free.”
Since receiving crucial funding for this project from The Grace Trust and The Spectacle Makers' Charity in March 2025, we have been able to adapt and add a whole range of books suitable for adults with vision impairment to read and share with a sighted child. We’ve added classics such as The Gruffalo’s Child by Julia Donaldson and We’re Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen; both these titles have a sizeable proportion of the story told through the wonderful illustrations by Axel Scheffler and Helen Oxenbury respectively. These children’s cultural icons can now be shared with parents or grandparents with vision impairment, ensuring that their children and grandchildren can experience them within the family environment. Some, such as Janet and Allan Ahlberg’s Peepo and Each Peach Pear Plum are visually complex and excellent for encouraging observation and discussion skills in young children – which the additional notes and locator dots help the adult to initiate.
For older, school-aged children, and after consultation with our borrowers, we have added some books from the first stages of the Oxford Reading Tree scheme. This is used in thousands of UK schools and sighted children can now share the experience of learning to read print with their braille-reading parents and carers.
It can be time consuming to create these books: Peepo, for example, has more than 40 braille labels, as well as the brailled text! We'll be continuing to expand the collection over the next couple of years. We have 114 families with a braille-reading adult registered with us because it’s simply not possible to go out and purchase the books they need to read with their sighted child. The ClearVision library helps adults with vision impairment to enjoy shared bedtime stories and supporting their child to read – just as sighted parents can.
“I really enjoy using the ClearVision service with my little granddaughter and I did use it with my own children when they were growing up. I think it's got lots of good choices, it makes me as a blind person feel able to play and read with my granddaughter just like everyone else does. She really enjoys the books now and calls them ‘Nanna's special books’. She is also very aware of braille, which is a good thing for the future.”
“How else would I read with my kids? And how could I bear not to read with them?”
If you or someone you know would benefit from this special collection, please register here to join the library or get in touch to include them in your next loan. We are completely free to families and charge a small £60 a year fee to organisations (nurseries, schools, public libraries and Sensory Support services).
Perhaps you’ve already borrowed some of these new books and would like to suggest some additional titles, or share your feedback? We would love to hear it – borrowers’ feedback is crucial to help us deliver the best possible service.
We are enormously thankful to The Spectacle Makers' Charity and The Grace Trust for generously funding this project.
