Louis Braille certainly wasn't your average teenager. Blind from the age of four, he was only fifteen when in 1824 he invented a reading system that converted printed words into columns of raised dots. Through touch, Braille opened the world of books to the sightless, and almost two hundred years later, no one has ever improved upon his simple, brilliant idea.

Louis Braille: A Touch of Genius is the first ever, full-color biography to include thirty-one of his extant letters, some written by his own hand, and translated into English for the first time.Three great men were born in the early weeks of January 1809: Abraham Lincoln, Charles Darwin, and Louis Braille. Only one has remained virtually unknown ? the man who invented a means of reading and writing still used today in almost every country in the world, adapted to almost every known language from Albanian to Zulu.Born sighted, Louis Braille accidentally blinded himself at the age of 3. He was lucky enough to be sent to a school for blind children in Paris, one of the first in the world. There, at the age of sixteen, he worked tirelessly on a revolutionary system of finger reading that became braille. He was a talented musician, astute businessman, and genius inventor ? collaborating with another Frenchman to invent the first dot-matrix printer around 1840.

Louis Braille (PB)

Biography of the blind French boy who invented the Braille alphabet when he was only fifteen.

Louis Braille was only twelve years old - and he was blind. But he made up his mind - somehow he was going to invent an easy way for all blind people to read and write ? In 1809, Simon-Rene and Monique Braille lived in a small town in France. The town of Coupvray was 25 miles (40 km) outside Paris. Life was good for the family. Simon worked as a harness maker and leatherer. He made many items out of leather, including harnesses and saddles for horses, leather slippers and shoes, and leather satchels. Simon was well known in the town, and his work supported his wife and three children, two girls and a boy. On January 4, 1809, the new year brought the family a new baby boy. They named him Louis. Find out how Louis Braille lost his sight, and how he invented an alphabet that helped all blind children to read in this fun 15-minute biography.

This series tells the life stories and achievements of famous men and women in history. Readers will be inspired by the great courage and determination shown by these people.

점자를 만든 사람 루이 브라유 11권 ‘루이 브라유’ 편은 맹인들을 위한 점자 알파벳을 만든 눈 먼 소년 루이 브라유의 이야기입니다. 3살 때 송곳에 눈이 찔리는 사고로 맹인이 된 소년 루이 브라유는 책을 읽고 공부하고 싶다는 열망으로 맹인들을 위한 글자를 만들기에 이릅니다. 자신도 앞이 보이지 않는 상황에서 새로운 글자를 만드는 일은 무척 어려웠습니다. 하지만 포기하지 않고 도전한 결과 누구나 쉽고 빠르게 읽고 쓸 수 있는 점자 알파벳을 발명하게 됩니다. 장애인들은 일반인보다 뒤떨어진 생활을 하는 것이 당연히 여겨지던 당시에는 점자 알파벳이 사람들의 환영을 받지 못했지만, 루이 브라유가 세상을 떠난 지 100년 후에는 전 세계 많은 사람들이 그를 기리게 됩니다. 권말에 있는 워크북에는 단어 찾기, 단어 퀴즈, 문장 표현 연습, 루이 브라유 관련 퀴즈, 점자 퀴즈, 점자 알파벳에 대한 배경 지식이 들어 있습니다.

Louis Braille was born in Coupvray; France; a small town about twenty miles east of Paris. He and his three elder siblings – Monique Catherine Josephine Braille (b.1793); Louis-Simon Braille (b.1795); and Marie Céline Braille (b.1797) – lived with their mother; Monique; and father; Simon-René; on three hectares of land and vineyards in the countryside. Louis Braille survived the torment of the infection but by the age of five he was completely blind in both eyes. Braille studied in Coupvray until the age of ten. Because of his combination of intelligence and diligence; Braille was permitted to attend one of the first schools for blind children in the world; the Royal Institute for Blind Youth. Braille was determined to fashion a system of reading and writing that could bridge the critical gap in communication between the sighted and the blind. In his own words: "Access to communication in the widest sense is access to knowledge; and that is vitally important for us if we [the blind] are not to go on being despised or patronized by condescending sighted people. We do not need pity; nor do we need to be reminded we are vulnerable. We must be treated as equals – and communication is the way this can be brought about." Through the overwhelming insistence of the blind pupils; Braille's system was finally adopted by the Institute in 1854; two years after his death.

In 1809, Simon-Rene and Monique Braille lived in a small town in France. The town of Coupvray was 25 miles (40 km) outside Paris. Life was good for the family. Simon worked as a harness maker and leatherer. He made many items out of leather, including harnesses and saddles for horses, leather slippers and shoes, and leather satchels. Simon was well known in the town, and his work supported his wife and three children, two girls and a boy. On January 4, 1809, the new year brought the family a new baby boy. They named him Louis. Find out how Louis Braille lost his sight, and how he invented an alphabet that helped all blind children to read in this fun 15-minute biography. Ages 8 and up. LearningIsland.com believes in the value of children practicing reading for 15 minutes every day. Our 15-Minute Books give children lots of fun, exciting choices to read, from classic stories, to mysteries, to books of knowledge. Many books are appropriate for hi-lo readers. Open the world of reading to a child by having them read for 15 minutes a day.

Improve reading fluency while providing fun and purposeful practice for performance. Motivate students with this reader's theater script and build students' knowledge through grade-level content. Included graphic organizer helps visual learners.