Free Braille Books for Children
APH ConnectCenter For Families is on a mission to make obtaining braille books easier. We’ve compiled a list of organizations offering free braille books or materials for children in the United States and Canada.
Braille Tales
APH partnered with the Dolly Parton Imagination Library offering free books to children under six years old. We love how Braille Tales provides access to books with print and braille. About 10,000 books are mailed to children annually. Braille Tales incorporates at least one bilingual Spanish/English book annually. US territories are represented, books are shipped to American Samoa and Puerto Rico. Hawaii is currently the only state without subscribers.
Registering your child to participate in the Braille Tales program is easy! Click here to submit your information to receive your free books.
To further support your child’s engagement with the books they receive, make corresponding story boxes using items around your house.
APH/Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library Audio Books
APH/Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library Audio Book program now offers APH-recorded Braille Tales books available here using free playback equipment loaned to eligible individuals through the National Library Service (NLS) Talking Book program.
Register your child with the National Library Service (NLS) to access the audiobooks. Registration requires completing a printable application, obtaining a teacher’s signature, and providing eligibility confirmation from an eye care professional or therapist. You can mail the forms to a local network library to finalize the process.
Stay tuned as we continue to develop APH and Dolly Parton Imagination Library collaborations!
Seedlings Braille Books for Children
Seedlings has given thousands of children who are blind or low vision access to popular literature! Seedlings contributes to literacy by providing children who are blind or low vision equal opportunity to develop the love of reading.
Seedings Revised Book Angel Program (BAP) has sent children over 83,000 free braille books since 2002! Every child (0-21) who is blind or low vision in the U.S. and Canada can now receive five free braille books per calendar year.
To order, browse the Seedlings catalog and add six books to the cart, excluding 3- and 4-volume books; we will send five. Follow the detailed instructions to order online. Alternatively, you can find paper registration forms here.
American Action Fund- Braille Books Program
Since 1997, over 330 titles children’s reading series have been distributed to thousands of blind children. Last year, the program provided over 45,000 braille books to blind/low-vision children and classrooms nationwide. The Braille Book Program allows children who are braille readers to discuss the latest book or magazine with their classmates. This is a great way for your child to build their braille library just like their peers.
Your child can receive a free braille book monthly from the Braille Books Program.
Applicants must be blind or low vision and be a braille reader. Register here.
Braille Institute- The Braille Special Collection
The Braille Special Collection program provides up to four books a year to children who are blind or low vision living in the United States or Canada and TVIs. The program is intended to increase braille literacy and passion reading.
CVI Book Nook
CVI Book Nook creates materials for students with cortical visual impairment (CVI) or low vision. They offer downloadable PowerPoints of book pages that parents or teachers can customize to suit their child’s unique needs. You can add specific photos, change the background, font size, or color. CVI Book Nook features a book titled “What’s Your Story?” that enables you to create a book about your child, including a page that highlights the child’s strengths, hobbies, achievements, and dreams, as well as a page for information about the child’s eye condition. This book is excellent for preparing for new teachers or sharing at an IEP meeting.
The CVI Book Nook also offers books that explore letters, numbers, seasons, calendars, animals, food, and nursery rhymes. They provide books covering concepts like stop-go, hot-cold-warm, fast-slow, above-below, left-right, and more. These books embark on adventures with children, and exploring CVI Book Nook’s adventure books is a way to start with captivating stories that you can personalize to your child’s needs and interests.
To discover the many books you can customize for your child, head to CVI Book Nook.
National Braille Press- The ReadBooks! Program
ReadBooks! is a national children’s braille literacy program encouraging families with blind children to read print/braille books together. Children who are blind/ low vision from birth to seven years of age are eligible to receive National Braille Press beginning braille materials. The materials are distributed to Early Intervention professionals and educators in the U.S. and Canada. You can request one bag for every blind child in your family!
National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled- Braille-on-Demand
Registered NLS users can request up to five hardcopy braille books per month—to keep! Titles are limited to books available on BARD. Simply complete and submit the NLS Braille on Demand Request Form; contact [email protected] if you have any questions. Note that books are braille only, not print/braille.
Oakmont Visual Aids Workshop
The Oakmont Visual Aids Workshop provides free, handmade braille materials assembled by volunteers at Oakmont Village, an active adult community in Santa Rosa, California. These learning materials are for those who work with children who are blind or low vision. The learning materials teach concepts such as letters, numbers, punctuation, shapes, simple comparisons, complex concepts, counting cards, and more. Browse the catalog or print off their order form.
American Action Fund- Share Braille
American Action Fund for Blind Children and Adults promotes braille literacy and increases the life of braille materials. Their free, online service facilitates the exchange of braille books. The online community-run library offers registrants the chance to both share their braille materials and request braille materials at no cost. Additionally, they host an annual Braille Book Fair held during the National Federation for the Blind’s National Convention. This event serves as an excellent platform for exchanging braille materials and identifying new braille requirements.
After registering and logging in, you can share your own braille books or browse the growing catalog.
Temple Beth El Braille Bindery
Temple Beth El Braille Bindery volunteers type, bind, and distribute reading materials in braille. Click here to learn what books they have available; search by grades (through 8th), early reading, uncontracted braille, and contracted braille.