Twin Vision Translates Classic Children's Stories Into Braille

Judged by their covers, the Twin Vision versions of "Bambi," "Five Little Firemen" and thousands of other children's books are normal. But these books, through an ingenious alteration allow blind people to participate in one of the most hallowed institutions of childhood--the bedtime story.

Facing each page of text inside a Twin Vision book is a page of Braille transcription, allowing a blind parent to read a story to a sighted child and the child, if old enough, to follow along by reading the text. Conversely, a blind child can read to parents, siblings or friends.

Twin Vision has grown into a $100,000-a-year operation that uses more than 100 volunteers, ranging from Boy Scouts to prison inmates. Each year the volunteers collect, transcribe and re-bind about 1,500 children's books, which are then loaned free to the blind.

These books are loaned to readers in good standing with the NH Talking Book Services. To order your books contact us or go to our home page to become a patron of New Hampshire State Library Talking Book Services.

To order by phone in NH (800) 491-4200 or (603) 271-3429, or e-mail us at talking@dcr.nh.gov.

Additional Listings

CHILDREN'S CHORUS (PBR 08920)
Presents the fundamental principles of the United Nations Declaration of the rights of the child, accompanied by drawings by Helme Heine. Tony Ross, Paul O. Zelinsky, and other artists. (JNF)

GREAT BIG GUINEA PIGS (PBR 17246)
A tame, pet guinea pig tells her child a bedtime story about their ancestors: giant, 1,500-pound guinea pigs that roamed the swamp in Venezuela eight million years ago. (JF, K-3)

HOW MANY SEEDS IN A PUMPKIN? (PBR 17334)
Charlie, the smallest child in his first grade class, is amazed to discover that of the three pumpkins his teacher brings to school, the tiniest one has the most seeds. (JF)

I, DOKO: THE TALE OF A BASKET (PBR 16030)
A Nepalese basket tells the story of its use through three generations of a family. (JF, K-3)

I'VE BEEN WORKING ON THE RAILROAD (PBR 10037)
An illustrated presentation of the familiar folk song about railroad life. (JF, 2-4)

MARTINA THE BEAUTIFUL COCKRAOCH: A CUBAN FOLTALE (PBR 17040)
In this humorous retelling of a Cuban folktale, a cockroach interviews her suitors in order to decide whom to marry.

MOVE OVER, ROVER! (PBR 17020)
When a storm comes, Rover expects to ahve his doghouse all to himself. But various other animals including a skunk come to join him. (JF, K-3)

TOUCH THE INVISIBLE SKY (PBR 18011)
Contracted Braille book with spectacular color images of nebulae, stars, galaxies and telescopes. Each space image is embossed with transparent lines, bumps, and other textures to define details of the cosmic objects, allowing visually impaired people to (JNF)