Out of Darkness: the Story of Louis Braille

by Russell Freedman

Illustrated by Kate Kiesler

Publisher: Houghton Mufflin Company 1999 81 pages

Genre: Nonfiction, Biography and History

Reading Level: Ages 9-12

Summary:Louis Braille was blinded at a very young age and he was sent to a school for the blind. The technique used at the school in order for the students to read was called embossing. The letter were enlarged on the page and raised on the page, so the students could feel their outlines with their fingertips. This technique was impractical. Another technique was introduced with raised dots serving for phonic sounds. Braille over many years, perfected this technique by having the idea of the raised dots serve for letters instead of phonic sounds. It took many years of experimenting, but the eventual product was Braille as we know today.

Response: I really liked this book and I learned about Louis Braille and the struggle of blind people to be able to read.