Do You Remember the Color Blue?: The Questions Children Ask About Blindness - Hardcover

Alexander, Sally Hobart

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0670880434 ISBN 13: 9780670880430

Publisher: Viking Juvenile, 2000

Synopsis

Offers personal and insightful answers to children's most commonly asked questions about blindness from a woman who lost her sight at the age of twentysix.

About this title

About the Author

Sally Hobart Alexander is the award-winning author of six books for children.

Reviews

Grade 4-8-As she has done in past books, Alexander makes blindness clear to readers. Here, she responds to frequently asked questions, including how it feels to be blind and how blind people cope with daily living. She tells how she lost her sight and recounts the fears she experienced at the time. Readers learn how she gets around and how she writes. The author briefly describes the tools she uses, from talking books to machines that transpose the written word into vibrations to be read with the fingers. She spends some time discussing problems related to dating, how she met her husband, and how she was able to raise two children. Her discussion of remembering colors and dimensions will interest sighted readers. Small black-and-white photos appear throughout; most are snapshots from the personal collections of the author and her friends. A list of organizations for additional information is included.
Margaret C. Howell, West Springfield Elementary School, VA
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

An eloquent memoir in questions and answers, as Alexander (On My Own, 1997, etc.) tackles the children's queries she most often encounters. The essay format is a departure for Alexanderher story of blindness began in the autobiography Taking Hold (1995)but it retains the anecdotal intimacy of the previous book. Ultimately upbeat, she conversationally recounts her journey from fear and despair to having a family and becoming a successful writer. Without self-pity, she describes the difficulties and frustrations of learning how to negotiate a world designed for the sighted. Her sense of humorespecially when talking about her family, or mistakes she has made in the process of livingis always apparent, but it gains strength in her honesty. Her answers are followed by seven tasks that palpably simulate blindness for readers; there is also a short list of helpful tools, e.g., Braille clothing tags that identify the color of the cloth, along with a discussion of ways the blind benefit from modern technology. A witty, wise, inspiring book. (Nonfiction. 9-12) -- Copyright ©2000, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Sally Hobart Alexander lost her sight to disease at the age of 26. A writer, she also speaks to groups, and especially to young people, about her blindness. One of her goals is to help her audience feel comfortable around disabled people by being respectfully curious. After acknowledging that not everyone is willing to share experiences, she responds to some of the fairly personal questions children and teens have asked her. Her answers reveal what daily life is like for a blind person: how she tells time, dresses and grooms herself (and why she wears sunglasses), works with her guide dog, reads, and writes. She also discusses how she raised two sighted children, how others react to her disability, and how much she remembers of the visual world. Tools for the blind are illustrated, and family photos reveal Sally leading a full and happy life with family and friends. Several activities that illustrate everyday problems encountered by the blind are included, as is a list of organizations. A concluding note by a physician briefly (and reassuringly) discusses Sally's personal experience of going blind and her degrees of vision loss. The information is less objective than students may need for reports; however, this book is sure to interest young people curious about how the blind interact with their world. Catherine Andronik

Edition details

• Publisher: Viking Juvenile
• Publication date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0670880434
• ISBN 13: 9780670880430
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 48