My Home Library

Anne Fine celebrated World Book Day on March 14th 2002 by launching a unique project to give blind children, and children with blind parents, their own Braille books.

By mid-December 280 young braille readers had requested their four free brailled books. About 1000 books have been sent out so far, along with special "feelie" book marks so you don't lose your place! Requests are still coming in at a good rate. Feedback confirms that the books have been very well-received. For many children these are the first braille books they have owned.

The contributions received from Terry Pratchett, Philip Pullman, J K Rowling, Jacqueline Wilson and the St James's Place Foundation were so generous that the project has decided to make even more books available:

• The National Library for the Blind's 'Birthday Book' scheme, which sends a brailled book to each young NLB member on his/her birthday, will be funded for six months. (This scheme benefits children who are fluent braille readers.)
• Forty braille books and eighty large print books will be given to visually impared children by the RNIB in exchange for vouchers distributed at RNIB summer vacation schemes. (This scheme benefits fluent braille and large print readers.)
• Ninety story cassettes will be given to visually impared children by Calibre in exchange for vouchers distributed at RNIB summer vacation schemes. (This scheme benefits visually impared readers of any format, and those unable to read print or braille.)
• Fifteen titles will be added to the range of books in large print available from the National Blind Children's Society. Customised copies are sold at standard print cover price to individual visually impared children. (This benefits large-print readers.)

Anne says:

I am absolutely delighted with these latest proposals, and very proud indeed to have been able to be a part of such useful schemes.

I wanted to be certain that everyone could build up a home library, not just those people who can slope off to a bookshop at any old time. (I am a patron of Calibre and I know how difficult it is for some of you, if you're blind or seriously visually impared, even to browse through possible choices of reading - and we all know how much braille books cost.)

Terry Pratchett, Philip Pullman, J K Rowling and Jacqueline Wilson know this too. We all agreed to chip in so that 2,400 books - that's 200 each of 12 titles - could be brailled and passed on for free to younger blind and visually impared children. The St James's Place Foundation have also funded this project.

ClearVision, the postal lending library of Braille/print children's books, selected twelve of the books. Gartree Prison Braille Unit brailled the books and re-bound them to incorporate the brailled text. The Inside Out Trust is managing the project. A list of the books is available over on the My Home Library website.

Not everyone reads a book in one go - I know I don't. I thought that for the Home Library project you ought to have something a little bit more special than an old bus ticket or a chocolate wrapper to keep your place.

We came up with the idea of bookmarks in special shapes, each with a different texture andd a message about the book you are reading in Braille. Prisoners at HMP Long Lartin are making 5,000 tactile bookmarks. Once again, ClearVision co-ordinated the project with the Inside Out Trust.