Children’s literacy is one of the most important issues facing us today. Fortunately, many groups, organizations, and individuals are dedicated to reversing the staggering statistics. However, as hard as people are working to get kids reading, there are some kids—such as the visually- impaired ones—who get left out.  Thanks to Stevie Wonder, though, visually-impaired literacy is getting some of the attention it deserves.

Stevie Wonder recently appeared before the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) of the United Nations urging for global copyright laws to be changed to the benefit of the 300 million print-reading-disabled global citizens, to whom millions of books are inaccessible to them as audiobooks due to the current copyright system.

According to the Huffington Post, the way the system is currently set up requires that many audiobook versions of the same work be produced, which carries a higher cost, the burden of which falls on the visually-impaired public. What’s more, some poor countries can’t even afford to make their own versions of works, so that they’re not available at all to their blind citizens.

Here is part of Wonder’s address, courtesy of The New Yorker:

“While I know that it is critical not to act to the detriment of the authors who labor to create the great works that enlighten and nourish our minds, hearts and souls, we must develop a protocol that allows the easy import and export of copyright materials so that people with print disabilities can join the mainstream of the literate world.”

“According to the AFP,” reports The New Yorker, “aides to Wonder said that just ‘five percent of printed materials and books are available in a readable form for the blind or visually impaired in industrialized nations, and just one percent in developing countries.’”   You may wonder, as I certainly did, how come such a small amount of books get translated into formats accessible to the visually-impaired, such as Braille and audiobooks. Ian Crouch of The New Yorker interviewed Paul Schroeder, the Vice President of Programs and Policy at the American Foundation for the Blind to find out more about this issue.

According to Shroeder, while several developed countries have different copyright laws allowing books to be reproduced in Braille, audio, and electronic or large print, the materials must fulfill two limitations, first that the books only go to those who are unable to read print books due to a disability, and secondly that the books are made by “specialized format producers who work with people with print-reading disabilities.”

In the U.S. the copyright provisions, also known as the Chafee provisions after former Senator Lincoln Chafee, allow these specialized producers to reproduce books in formats that are accessible to people with print-reading disabilities. A problem arises, however, with the fact that the provisions don’t allow for export outside the U.S., a law that other counties have in common with us.

According to Shroeder, “We definitely want to see a treaty or other mechanism that allows books to be shared across borders for use by people with print disabilities.” Stevie Wonder’s advocacy work is in alignment with this goal.

It’s an inspiration to see other artists working on behalf of children who aren’t typically represented in the children’s literacy issue.  After visiting with the bright children of Blossom Montessori School for the Deaf on my East Coast book tour, I released Danny the Dragon Meets Jimmy, the first book of my children’s book series, on DVD with a sign interpretation, and the profits are going to the causes of literacy and education. Now the DVD has been released by iStorytime, of Dreamworks and Shrek Forever After, as an app for the iPhone, iTouch, and iPad. I hope to see other artists and individuals follow in Stevie Wonder’s example by championing causes that are special to them, and I look forward to seeing progress in developing a global system whereby the millions of visually-impaired are able to enjoy the books we ourselves are lucky to have access to.

Tina Turbin

www.TinaTurbin.com

Resources:

New Yorker: Stevie Wonder and Books for the Blind http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2010/09/stevie-wonder-and-books-for-the-blind.html#ixzz10K3xYhi1

Huffington Post: Stevie Wonder To UN: Ease Copyrights For The Blind http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/20/stevie-wonder-to-un-ease-_n_732281.html

The renowned and distinguished School Library Journal LOVES my Danny the Dragon children’s book series just as much as the kids do.

A terrific review of the Danny the Dragon Meets Jimmy DVD was published in the June 2010 issue.  I’m very pleased to share it with you below.

Tina Turbin

Danny the Dragon Meets Jimmy. DVD. 21 min. Imagination Publishing Group.2009, 2010 release.

PreS-Gr 3–When Jimmy and Sally visit the beach, they find a beautiful shell and take it home with them. They soon discover that it houses a dragon named Danny, wearing red tennis shoes and carrying a yellow backpack, and his navigator friend, Skipper. Danny and Skipper have dinner with Jimmy’s family and stay the night. The picture book by Tina Turbin (Imagination Pub. Group, 2008) closes with a promise that the friendly dragon will guide the children through a series of upcoming adventures. The DVD opens with a message from the author. Interpreter Carol Downing signs the entire story, standing on the right side of the screen as the pages turn. The fun cartoon illustrations by Aija Jasuna are scanned. Sound effects add to the narration, underscoring word meaning and helping children with some hearing identify sounds. Recommended especially for schools and libraries seeking to offer a greater variety of material to hearing-impaired children.

–Mary Landrum, Lexington Public Library, KY

Tina Turbin

Booklist, Issue: April 15th 2010

Danny the Dragon Meets Jimmy.

Apr 2010. Victory, DVD

In this presentation of author Tina Turbin’s picture book, Carol Downing interprets the story in sign language while Janis Welch reads the text. Jimmy finds a large green shell at the beach. When the youngster lifts the shell, he hears voices coming from inside the vessel. After Jimmy takes the shell home, two creatures, Danny the Dragon and Skipper, emerge. The brightly colored illustrations depict Jimmy and his family as they serve dinner, play catch in the yard with friends, and finally settle down for the night.

Instead of utilizing animation, the film merely displays the book pages. But what sets the program apart is Downing’s signing, making the charming story accessible to both hearing and deaf children. See also ASL Tales: The Princess and the Pea (2009), featuring performance artist Pinky Aiello telling a nontraditional version of the familiar tale in American Sign Language.

— Candace Smith

“What a terrific cover illustration!  Danny the Dragon is wonderfully drawn and is sure to appeal to kid readers; Skipper and Jimmy are wonderfully drawn, too.  The interior illustrations are as wonderful: bold, bright, comical, full of amazing detail, quirkily fun – wonderful for the story and wonderful on their own.  The story itself is delightful.  What child wouldn’t be intrigued by a talking shell – that turns out to house a talking dragon?  Kids will love that the mother very calmly and casually invites Danny and Skipper to stay for dinner and even agrees to let the dragon spend the night.  (They’ll wish their own moms would be so accommodating.)  Danny is loveable and polite (a nice, subtle lesson in manners for the kids reading this book); Jimmy and Sally’s reactions to his appearance in their household ring true (it’s also nice that they’re shown, without comment, cleaning up after themselves – a nice lesson for kid readers that is done subtly enough to not seem like a lesson).  The story sets up itself for a series of future adventures.  Children will enjoy reading about Danny again and again.”

Sunset Park Elementary School, located in Windermere, Florida, welcomes author Tina Turbin on Thursday November 19^th, to share her Danny the Dragon Meets Jimmy book with over 500 students, teachers, and parents. She will be sharing her work with large groups and will talk about what it is like to write children’s books. In January, Danny the Dragon will make a return appearance when the school cafeteria celebrates “Appreciate a Dragon Day” on January 16th. We are thankful to have stumbled upon Ms. Turbin’s character building and nutritionally themed-works and can’t wait for the kids to be introduced to the delightful characters!

Keep this in mind for your holiday shopping!

Tell your bookstore to order copies quickly for the holiday season!

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