Out of Darkness: The Story of Louis Braille

by Russell Freedman, Kate Kiesler (Illustrator)

Overview

A biography of the modest Frenchman who, after being blinded at the age of three, went on to develop a system of raised dots on paper that enabled blind people to read and write.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780395968888
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	09/20/1999
Pages:	96
Sales rank:	376,954
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.25(d)
Lexile:	1000L (what's this?)
Age Range:	10 - 13 Years

About the Author

Russell Freedman (1929-2018) received the Newbery Medal for Lincoln: A Photobiography. He was the recipient of three Newbery Honors, a National Humanities Medal, the Sibert Medal, the Orbis Pictus Award, and the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award, and was selected to give the 2006 May Hill Arbuthnot Honor Lecture. Mr. Freedman lived in New York City and traveled widely to research his books.

Born in New Hampshire and raised in Vermont, Kate Kiesler began painting at an early age. She graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design and now paints and illustrates full-time. Kate paints with oils, and her rich style has been highly praised. Kate Kiesler has illustrated numerous picture books, including The Great Frog Race and Other Poems. She lives in Frisco, Colorado.

Table of Contents

	The Dormitory	1
	The Accident	5
	The Little Blind Boy	11
	The Royal Institute for Blind Youth	22
	Nightwriting	33
	The Braille Cell	44
	The Teacher	57
	The Gift	67
	Index	80

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"An extremely well-written and informative book that tells about Braille's life and the development of his alphabet system for the blind. . . . An entertaining and fascinating look at a remarkable man." School Library Journal, Starred

Editorial Reviews

"An extremely well-written and informative book that tells about Braille's life and the development of his alphabet system for the blind. . . . An entertaining and fascinating look at a remarkable man." School Library Journal, Starred —

From the Publisher

Gr 3-6An extremely well-written and informative book that tells about Braille's life and the development of his alphabet system for the blind. Freedman's gift for making his subjects both accessible and intriguing comes through wonderfully in this book. Readers learn not only about Braille and his struggle to communicate through the written word once he lost his sight, but also how long it took for his revolutionary innovation to become universally accepted. They also become aware of how isolated the blind were before his invention. Finely detailed pencil drawings and diagrams appear throughout the readable narrative. An entertaining and fascinating look at a remarkable man.Melissa Hudak, North Suburban District Library, Roscoe, IL

School Library Journal

This biography from Freedman (The Life and Death of Crazy Horse, 1996, etc.) tells the familiar, moving story of the determination of Louis Braille, who did "more than anyone in history to bring blind people into the mainstream of life."

Blinded at age three by a freak accident, Braille was sent to the Royal Institute for Blind Youth in Paris at the age of ten. His first lessons were in "embossing," where raised impressions were "read" by tracing their outlines with a finger. This slow, cumbersome process was sanctioned by the French government, but a retired artillery captain's speech on sonography—a military code based on dots and dashes punched into strips of cardboard—inspired Braille to develop his own system of dots based on the letters of the alphabet. Readers know the ending, but the somber story of this gifted, generous boy is a compelling one. Rigidly rendered black-and-white illustrations make the setting of the story real; useful diagrams of Braille's alphabet and the slate and stylus used to write are included. With warmth and care, Freedman deftly delineates a life.

Kirkus Reviews