Living Paintings, a national charity creating unique audio-tactile books and resources for children who are blind or partially sighted, launched an accessible version of Gruffalo Granny on Thursday 10th September, the same day as the book’s UK mainstream publication.
The launch represents a landmark moment for Living Paintings, as, until now, children with visual impairment have always had to wait for specially adapted versions of new picture books to be available. Living Paintings has worked with Macmillan Children’s Books to ensure this highly anticipated new Gruffalo story is available from its free postal library from day one.
Camilla Oldland, CEO at Living Paintings, said: “The first new Gruffalo story in more than 20 years is the biggest children’s publishing event of the year, so it was incredibly important that blind children didn’t miss out.
“Too often, accessible books arrive long after the excitement of a new book has faded. Working together with Macmillan Children’s Books we’ve shown that our audio-tactile books can be available from day one and we’re incredibly grateful to them for making this possible.
“We hope this collaboration encourages more publishers to make simultaneous book launches standard practice rather than a rare event.”
How has the Gruffalo Granny been made accessible for blind and partially sighted children?
The Living Paintings adaptation of Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler’s latest story combines raised tactile illustrations, clear braille inserts and an exclusive audio guide read by the voice of Gruffalo Granny, Dame Imelda Staunton. The unique combination of touch and sound allows children who are blind or partially sighted to explore the characters, illustrations and story, and fully immerse themselves in the world of Gruffalo Granny.
Living Paintings Trustee Louis Moorhouse has been blind since he was two years old. He is a freelance musician and audio producer, and managed the studio recording of the Living Paintings audio guide for Gruffalo Granny. He said:
“Experiencing Living Paintings audio-tactile books as a child was genuinely life-changing. The characters and stories I loved, like The Gruffalo, suddenly became something I could explore for myself. I could run my fingers over the tactile images and build a picture in my mind of the characters and scenes I was hearing about. I’m delighted that a new generation of children can now have that same experience with Gruffalo Granny.”
The Living Paintings accessible adaptations were made possible with funding from Macmillan Children’s Books and the Focus Foundation.
Read: From Personal Experience To National Action: Disability Inclusion in Schools Cannot Wait
The excitement of blind and partially sighted children receiving the Gruffalo Granny audio-tactile book
One lucky young girl who received a copy of the audio-tactile Gruffalo Granny book via special delivery the morning of the book release was six-year-old Mia Betts.
Speaking to Living Paintings as Mia began reading the book, her mum Alice said:
“So Mia started using Living Paintings when she was about two years old. She’s always had a love for books, so we were really happy and excited when we found Living Paintings charity. And we’ve used them ever since. She absolutely loves Julia Donaldson’s books. They’ve always been her favourite since she was three. That’s what she asked her birthday cake to be. So she absolutely loved it.
“It’s just so amazing that they can access it on the same day because it’s not something that normally happens. So the fact that Mia is able to access the book at the same time in a way that she can read and feel the tactile pictures, it’s just incredible. I’m really grateful for Living Paintings.”
A qualified teacher of children and young people with vision impairment at Dalneigh Primary School, Inverness, also shared the delight of two of her pupils receiving the accessible book on the release date:
“I am so pleased that my pupils got to share a story that their classmates know about rather than have something shared with them. They can be involved in conversations about the characters as they can also experience them by having them jump out of the page! As braille learners they loved having braille in a book they know others can read too. The beautiful tactile representations bring the story to life and it made my day seeing their excitement.”
Read: Navigating Adoption And Parenthood With A Visual Impairment
How Living Paintings’ accessible books can also benefit parents with sight loss
Living Paintings books not only benefit children with sight loss but also blind and visually impaired parents who still want to read stories to their children.
One mother who has benefited from Living Paintings’ accessible books is Alba, who has been blind since birth and has two children, Eliot and Amy. In the early days, Alba and her sighted husband would manually convert their children’s books into braille, but when she discovered Living Paintings, she found every possible children’s book available to her, including the Gruffalo series.
Sharing her experience with Living Paintings in 2021, Alba said: “Now we order books constantly from Living Paintings, we get three or four at a time, we read them and re-read them, we return them and order new ones. It feels like going to a physical library, something I had always felt very jealous of because other mums could do it with their kids.
“I now read to Eliot every evening, he sits on my lap and listens, and then he takes my hand and shows me the pictures, and we talk about them together. He is particularly fond of Julia Donaldson’s books, but anything with planes or dinosaurs are always a thrill!”
Beneficiaries can borrow the accessible version of Gruffalo Granny from Living Paintings’ free postal library.