Earlier this year, at our member party at the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) conference (2013), we met lots of cool members! One of these members, was 17 year old, Jessie Rogers, a budding teen author. Jessie’s first book is Fairy Sight, about a magical orb and it’s now available in the Bookshare collection and on Amazon.
Fairy Sight is about a magical orb that protects the kingdom of Adoraun. When the orb disappears, the prince believes his betrothed bride has taken it. He sets out on an adventure to regain the stolen magic and is thrust into a perilous battle with evil. Jessie had the inspiration to write the book after a visit to a local museum where she touched a plasma ball. Now, she goes by the pen name, ‘Blind Writer,’ and when asked about her disability, she says, “Yes, I’m blind, but I will never let that fact darken my world.”
This avid reader fell in love with words in 3rd grade through the encouragement of her teacher aide, Gladys Justice. Jessie pays tribute to Mrs. Justice in her book for the love and support. As a young child, Jessie was encouraged to write poetry, songs and short stories. She also loved spending time in her library in Churchill TN reading/listening to audio books. In 7th grade, a vision teacher introduced her to Bookshare. “That’s when my voracious appetite for reading grew exponentially!” shared Jessie. “You can find and read books faster in digital accessible formats.”
Jessie says, “I love Bookshare because the collections are vast and include my favorite genres — magic, vampires, and science fiction. Books are easy to download directly to my smart phone with Read2Go or to my Victor Reader Stream.” She estimates that she has 20 books downloaded on her reading list today and typically reads two books at a time. Her favorite book is “Moss Flower” by Brian Jacques and she also enjoys titles by Scott Westerfield and P.C. Cast, who writes the “House of Night” series. A quick search in the Bookshare library on science fiction holds more than 10,100 titles.
When Fairy Sight was published, Jessie’s friends asked how they could read her book. “That’s when I knew I had to get it into Bookshare. I wanted teens, like me, to enjoy reading as much as I do and it only took a week to get it into the collection.”
In addition to her fans online, Jessie recently met a local fan at a youth church. The fan was reading Fairy Sight for a back to school writing assignment. What about a sequel? Jessie is writing a dystopian thriller. Bookshare looks forward to adding it to the collection. Watch an interview with Jessie on a local TV station on You Tube and visit her blog, “Musings from a Blind Writer.
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