The National Braille Press Releases Second Book in it's 'Great Expectations' Series

National Braille Press (NBP) today released the second book in the Great Expectations series The Day the Crayons Quit which is also its April Book of the Month for the Children’s Braille Book Club.

In this New York Times bestseller by Drew Daywalt and illustrated by Oliver Jeffers, poor Duncan just wants to color. But when he opens his box of crayons, he finds only letters, all saying the same thing: His crayons have had enough! They quit! Beige Crayon is tired of playing second fiddle to Brown Crayon. Black wants to be used for more than just outlining. Blue needs a break from coloring all those bodies of water. And Orange and Yellow are no longer speaking because each believes he is the true color of the sun. What can Duncan possibly do to appease all of the crayons and get them back to doing what they do best?

The Great Expectations series is a program that brings popular books to life with a multi-sensory approach to promote active reading experiences using songs, tactile play, picture descriptions, body movement, engaged listening — all designed to promote active reading experiences for children with visual impairments. Parents learn how to describe a picture in a book, how to explore a book’s visual concepts, how to play and have fun telling “the whole story.” Children learn to listen carefully to words, feelings (voice), actions, scene, plots, and character development—elements that they would otherwise miss by not seeing the pictures.

“We always strive to make our books special for children with visual impairments,” said Brian Mac Donald, NBP’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “We are proud of our revolutionary Great Expectations Series, and this book’s fun activities will help kids and families learn together.”

For kids, The Day the Crayons Quit will include an original song about color, letter-writing exercise, a clapping game involving colors, a color wheel game, detailed picture descriptions, a set of crayons with braille labels, and two tactile drawings among many other fun activities. For parents, the book also includes resources such as tips for talking to blind children about color, a video showing a blind parent and her son making a fruit salad and talking about colors, how to make tactile paint and explanations in the margins to help them explore new ideas.

Note: The book is transcribed in Unified English Braille (UEB). A cheat sheet with special/new UEB characters is included.

About the National Braille Press’ Children’s Braille Book Club

National Braille Press’ Children’s Braille Book Club is the first Braille Book Club in the country that features a new print/braille book each month for children ranging from preschool through third grade. NBP selects popular children’s picture books that can be read by both braille and sighted readers. Each book’s text can stand alone without help from illustrations to tell the story by the insertion of the identical text in braille on clear plastic sheets. NBP sells these print/braille books for the same price as the original print books even though they cost two to three times more to produce in braille. Each month, the Children’s Braille Book Club sends notices in either print or braille describing the book of the month with no obligation to buy. Those who become members automatically receive a copy of each book of the month for a year

About National Braille Press (NBP)

A non-profit braille publisher, National Braille Press promotes literacy for blind children through outreach programs and provides access to information by producing information in braille for blind children and adults. National Braille Press is the premier braille publisher in the US that specializes in producing original braille works written by blind authors expressly for blind people.