This multi-lingual Alphabet Book was created by librarians Diane Brown and Chelsea Sims and 25 students at Southeast Junior High in 2019. Pages are created from craft materials such as wikki-sticks, glass beads, and craft foam, and then mounted on a cardboard base page. This book was displayed at the Iowa City Public Library.
Designer's Note:
These pages are meant to be touched!
Each page of the book displayed includes a tactile letter of the alphabet in English in the upper left corner, the letter in Braille in the upper right corner, a tactile representation of a word that begins with that letter in the lower left corner, and that word in English, Braille, Spanish, French, and Arabic in the lower right corner. We chose to include Spanish, French, and Arabic because those are 3 of the top 4 languages spoken in the Iowa City Community School District.
Students at South East Junior High created this tactile alphabet book after thinking and learning about ways to make books and stories more accessible for all types of learners - especially those who are blind or visually impaired. This project was inspired by the Build a Better Book organization at the University of Colorado Boulder, a National Science Foundation grant-recipient group that trains teachers and librarians to bring accessibility programming into their communities.
Project Resources:
Download additional images of alphabet pages.
Watch a video of the tactile alphabet on display: