Have you heard about Twin Vision Books?

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Did you know that the Indiana Talking Book Library has a robust collection of Twin Vision braille books? The Talking Book Library houses hundreds of Twin Vision braille books for you to enjoy, but what exactly are Twin Vision braille books?

Here is just a small example of the many Twin Vision books we have in house.

In 1960, Jean Dyon Norris had the idea to create a way that blind children could read with their sighted parents, or blind parents could read bedtime stories to their sighted children. Norris found a way to create books that contained print with pictures along with the same text in braille.

Two book in the collection: “Stack the Cats” and “The Very Hungry Caterpillar.”

“I heard this blind mother talking about her children,” Norris recalled. “She said, ‘My children just don’t understand why I can’t read books to them.’” She went home that night and dug out a copy of a book her son had loved as a child, “Fuzzy Wuzzy Puppy.” Using a slate and stylus, the most labor intensive of braille transcribing methods, she created the first Twin Vision braille book (Colker, 1990).

The interior of “Stack the Cats.”

Norris started creating Twin Vision braille books on her kitchen table and distributing them to friends that needed them. Her work grew into creating libraries that included Twin Vision books. Eventually, the National Federation of the Blind and the National Library Service followed her lead and started manufacturing these books.

The interior of “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” with the braille overlay pulled up so it is visible.

All this history leads us to today, and our collection. We have the old classic Twin Vision books, as well as newly-published books for kids and adults alike to enjoy together.

If you are interested in any of our twin vision books, give us a call at 800-622-4970.

This post was written by Abby Chumin, librarian in the Indiana Talking Book and Braille Library.

Colker, D. (1990, March 29). “Once more, with feeling: Twin vision translates classic children’s stories into Braille.” Los Angeles Times.