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

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

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