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Category: Bookshare Collection Highlights

Help Your Child Become a Reading STAR

Follow these guidelines to set your child up for summer reading success As the end of school draws near, students dream of summer freedom – freedom to choose some fun activities as well as the books they want to read. Is your child ready for summer reading? Make sure they have access to Bookshare, either with a Student Login provided by their teacher or with an Individual Membership. Then follow these guidelines to help your child become a reading STAR*: Space Encourage reading anywhere and everywhere Try places like the beach, the pool, grandma’s house, a tent in the backyard,…

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Set Students Up for Reading Success this Summer and Beyond

Teachers: follow this checklist before school ends so students are ready for a summer reading bonanza Great readers are made, not born. For students with disabilities, the path to reading greatness may require tools and support. We know the final weeks of the school year are hectic, so here’s a handy checklist to help you get your students ready for delightful summer reading and the upcoming school year. According to Reading Rockets, studies show that most students experience a loss of reading skills over the summer months, but children who continue to read will gain skills. Help students avoid the…

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Bookshare Welcomes Fountas & Pinnell Leveled Literacy Intervention Series to Collection

Donation by Carol Lake provides 110 engaging leveled books in accessible format to help young readers The Bookshare team receives several hundred requests each month from students and educators looking for specific books. If we can’t get a book directly from one of the 820 publishers we have agreements with, we buy the book, chop it up, and scan it. But what happens when the request is for a series consisting of 110 books? According to Robin Reddell, a member of Bookshare’s Collection Development team, “Many teachers have requested the Fountas and Pinnell Leveled Literacy Intervention (LLI) Green System for…

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For Jonathan Perry, Life Had Other Plans

Unexpected blindness prompted life and career reinvention It is not uncommon for adults in mid-life to reinvent themselves for another career. Some just want to pursue a new field or industry. Others are forced to make a career change due to a layoff or an evolving marketplace. For Jonathan Perry, resident of Athens, Georgia, and a successful pharmacist for over twenty-five years, his life screeched to a halt one day in April, 2012. After celebrating his son’s wedding, a bout of endocarditis – a bacterial infection of the heart valve – sent endotoxins into his body, brain, and retinas. The…

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Bookshare Members Now Have Access to Over 500,000 Ebooks

Benetech accelerates toward a future in which all digital content is Born Accessible By Brad Turner, VP Global Literacy, Benetech On November 29, 2016, Bookshare hit a momentous milestone when it passed the mark of 500,000 titles in its collection. That means that people unable to read standard print now have access to 500,000 ebooks in various formats to suit their individual needs. It wasn’t that long ago that the blind community had to rely on braille, a limited number of human-narrated books, or having someone read to them if they wanted to enjoy a book. Even just 15 years…

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Bookshare Touches Lives All Year Long

The goal of Benetech’s Bookshare initiative is to make reading accessible to everyone. Bookshare is the world’s largest accessible online library that serves over 400,000 members with print disabilities. In September, Bookshare reached a significant milestone when it delivered the ten millionth book downloaded. That’s an awful lot of accessible ebooks making reading possible for individuals with blindness, low vision, a physical disability, or a learning disability like dyslexia. Another way we are bringing the benefits of Bookshare to a wider audience is through partnerships with public libraries. Libraries in New York, Georgia, Pittsburgh, and Philadelphia now offer free Bookshare…

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Make the Holidays Special with Bookshare

Bookshare has a wealth of titles for pleasure reading, cooking, crafting, and celebrating holiday traditions. The holiday season is full of joy and wonderment, especially when you explore new ways to make the season bright. Think back to baking or smelling a warm pie fresh from the oven, making a homemade gift, or hearing a child’s laughter reading a favorite bedtime story. Books about these holiday-themed activities and many more can be found in the Bookshare library. The collections team has chosen a variety of books that appeal to all ages and interests. Here are a few favorites for you to discover and…

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2016 Man Booker Prize Winner Available on Bookshare

The Sellout, by Paul Beatty, is the 2016 winner of the Man Booker Prize, a leading literary award that has brought recognition, reward, and readership to outstanding fiction for over four decades. The book showcases a comic genius at the top of his game. It is a biting satire about a young man’s isolated upbringing and the race trial that sends him to the Supreme Court. The Sellout challenges the sacred tenets of the U.S. Constitution, urban life, the civil rights movement, a father-son relationship, and the holy grail of racial equality. Paul Beatty is a fifty-four year-old New York…

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