One day you might be the greatest basketball player the world has seen and the next your leg is broken. You take and grow and treasure that gift because if you’re not using it for good, your own, He can take it away. (Good luck living with that mentality.) I liked this story for the positive effect.

My kids, like many others, are at an age where they feel like they should just have what they want without trying. So why isn’t his story more known? Why isn’t he considered one of the greatest innovators or inventors? He should be up there with some of the greatest but I doubt people know of him except the ones that use his invention. He gets sent to Paris to a school where others are like him and there he invents the Braille alphabet. He is now officially blind, darkness surrounds him.Īt the time, kids that had problems of blindness or mental retardation (is this the right term?) were either hidden away or sent away to institutions but Louis’ family refused to do this. Instead of letting it heal, he takes off the bandages and the bacteria spreads to his other eye. At age 5, fooling around with his father’s tools, he ruins his eyes. From a young age he was so intelligent and interested in life.

I was so impressed by Louis Braille and his wonderful family. I had to return this book back to library so I didn’t get a nice quote out of it and the year’s escape my memory.

She lives with husband, daughter and their Springer Spaniel in Chester County, PA. Jen has taught writing and Children’s Literature at West Chester University and Bryn Mawr College and gives lectures, workshops and school presentations throughout the year. Library Guild selection), Georgia’s Bones, celebrating the creative vision of artist Georgia O’Keeffe, Music for the End of Time, based on a true story about WWII, and Abe’s Fish: A Boyhood Tale of Abraham Lincoln. Other titles include Pieces of Georgia (IRA Young Adult Choices Pick), The Trial (about the 1935 Lindbergh baby kidnapping trial), a 1960’s-era novel Kaleidoscope Eyes (a Jr. Her biographical picture book: A River of Words: The Story of William Carlos Williams, illustrated by Melissa Sweet,received a Caldecott Honor award and her historical novel in verse RINGSIDE 1925: Views from the Scopes Trial is an Oprah Recommended Book for ages 12 & up. Jen Bryant (Jennifer Fisher Bryant) writes picture books, novels and poems for readers of all ages.

Six dots a story of young louis braille