Books Featuring Characters Who Are Blind or Vision-Impaired

Losing her sight while in college in her Puerto Rican home did not stop Wanda’s passion for the stars nor for learning. In accessible narrative and lush illustration, Wanda’s life and work come into focus. Also available in Spanish: Wanda oye las estrellas.

This fictionalized account of how young Louis Braille lost his eyesight is told through his voice. It is realistic but with lighter touches as well as insight into what inspired him to invent a way for blind people to read. Illustrations augment the information and tone to engage and enlighten readers. 

A tactile storybook ideal for children with visual impairments. Come with us to the park! Which way shall we go? What shall we do? What will we find? Containing tactile features, Braille-style numbering, play elements, high-contrast images and a rhythmic rhyming text, this book is designed to create as sensory and involved experience as possible out of a familiar and well-loved journey.

Anne Sullivan arrived at the Keller home in 1887, writing letters to a friend about how she worked with a deaf and blind girl named Helen. Anne’s words combine with a straightforward narration and gentle illustrations to provide deeper insight into how Helen Keller grew into a brilliant woman.

Yuko-chan, an adventurous orphan who is blind, is on a mission to help people in a neighboring village when she trips and tumbles down a snowy cliff. While waiting for help, she notices that the gourd containing her tea always rights itself when tipped over (because the tea is frozen on the bottom). Using this idea, she creates the famous Daruma doll, a representation to never give up, no matter the obstacles!

Zulay and her three best friends are all in the same first grade class and study the same things, even though Zulay is blind. When their teacher asks her students what activity they want to do on Field Day, Zulay surprises everyone when she says she wants to run a race. With the help of a special aide and the support of her friends, Zulay does just that.

Hwei Min, the only daughter of the emperor of China, has been blind since birth. Her father offers a reward to anyone who can find a cure for the little girl. It seems that no one from magicians to physicians can help her. Then, one day a wise old man with a mysterious seeing stick visits the princess. Will he be able to teach Hwei Min that there is more than one way to see the world? (Originally published in 1977)

Joy and Chip wake early for a full day of play. Inside, outside. Riding bikes, reading books. Taking turns, sharing treats. And no day is complete without creating an adventure with their imaginations. Chip is Blind. Joy has sight. Their day is filled with so much more than play. They see the world together. Dana Meachen Rau describes a simple, joyful day between siblings celebrating the senses beyond sight — the sounds, smells, tastes, and textures that make playing together play so much fun.

A blind girl sees the beauty of nature with her heart. Nellie loves the ocean. Every year she travels with her family over the Black Mountains to their beach house. And every year her two brothers compete to see who will catch the first glimpse of the ocean through the mountain passes. Nellie never competes-until this year. This year, the mountains are blanketed in a heavy mist, and no one can see the ocean-no one except Nellie.

A poignant story about a boy’s emerging confidence in facing his blindness. By the warmth of a campfire beneath a starry night sky, a Navajo youth named Boy-Strength-of-Blue-Horses listens to the tale of his birth from his grandfather. Although blind, the boy learns that he has the strength to cope with his condition and meet any challenge that comes his way.
 

It is very hard for a sighted person to imagine what it is like to be blind. This book strives to convey the experience of a person who can only see through his or her sense of touch, taste, smell or hearing. Raised black line drawings on black paper, which can be deciphered by touch, complement rich text describing colors through imagery. Braille letters accompany the text so that the sighted reader can begin to imagine what it is like to use Braille to read. A full Braille alphabet at the end of the book can be used to learn more.

The story of Louis Braille, the Frenchman who invented the raised-dot alphabet/code now used around the world by blind and visually impaired readers. The text traces Braille’s life from the childhood accident that caused him to lose his sight through his career at the National Institute for Blind Children in Paris. Readers can feel the alphabet and numbers from 1-10 at the back of the book.

John’s favorite house is his grandfather’s — not because it is fancy or new but because he sees it through his Grandpa’s eyes. Grandpa is blind, and so when John visits him he gets to see things from a new perspective. If he closes his eyes, everything comes alive through sound and touch. This house is the place where John gets to experience the special way Grandpa sees and moves in the world.

A story introducing how a child with a visual impairment may experience the world. Like most of her friends, five-year-old Emilia loves to learn, play, and discover … but there seems to be something a little different about her. She uses glasses, magnifiers, and a white cane. What these tools do, she will gladly explain. Learn how extra support allows Emilia to happily explore and so much more!

In this story of friendship, loyalty, and trust, readers spend a day in the life of Sarah and her guide dog, Perry. Perry helps Sarah go shopping, to the post office, and take the train to school. Sarah, a blind musician and teacher, entertains the children and tells them about the time she and Perry walked from Boston to New York to show the world what a blind person can accomplish with the help of a guide dog like Perry. Told from the perspective of Perry, readers will learn about the service of seeing-eye dogs and how anything can be accomplished through perseverance and friendship.

In his apartment in the city, Sam hears voices, barking dogs, snoring, and all kinds of other noises. One rainy day he also hears the sad sounds of a harmonica, and wonders who’s playing. Sam’s search leads him to Apt. 3, where he finds not only the source of the music — but a new friend.

When Helen was nineteen months old, an illness left her unable to see or speak. She struggled to make herself understood, and often lashed out when she couldn’t. With the help of a teacher named Annie Sullivan, she learned to spell words with her fingers, opening her world immeasurably. She soon learned to write and to read Braille, and even to read lips by touch; with Annie by her side, she went to college, and wrote an autobiography that shared her story with the world. She was lauded as a genius and became an advocate for people with disabilities, workers’ rights, women’s rights, and racial justice.

A girl learns the power of imagination from her blind neighbor. Eloise likes colors. Her friend, Rainbow Joe, likes colors, too. But Rainbow Joe is blind, so Eloise tells him about the colors she mixes and the fantastic animals she paints. When Rainbow Joe says he can also imagine and mix colors, Eloise is puzzled. How can a blind man see colors? she wonders. Little does Eloise know, Rainbow Joe is planning a surprise to show her his special colors. What she finds is a whole new way of seeing the world. 

Learn about Buddy, the first seeing eye dog in America. Meet Buddy, a dedicated German Shepherd who meets Morris Frank, a young blind man who chooses Buddy to be his seeing eye dog. A classic tale about a young man and a dog, young readers will love this sweet story about a loyal German Shepard and his human.

Most of us have heard of Helen Keller, but few have heard of Laura Bridgman. Left blind and deaf in her childhood in the 1830’s, Bridgman attended school and taught Helen’s teacher, Annie Sullivan, to fingerspell. When she was just two years old, Laura Bridgman lost her sight, her hearing, and most of her senses of smell and taste. At the time, no one believed a child with such severe disabilities could be taught to communicate, much less lead a full and productive life. But then a progressive doctor, who had just opened the country’s first school for the blind in Boston, took her in. Laura learned to communicate, read, and write — and eventually even to teach. By the age of 12, she was world famous. Audiences flocked to see her, and she was loved and admired by children everywhere. This fascinating and moving biography shows how Laura Bridgman paved the way for future generations of children with disabilities, making possible important advances in the way they would be educated.