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(The Times, Magnus Linklater 29/06/05)
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Touch Me
by Seon-hee Kim and Dan-ah Kim
Age Range: Under_5
Touch Me was included in the ‘Reading the Way’: Inclusive Books from Around the World Research and ‘Reading the Way 2 projects. (Full reports in the Education Zone of this website)
Touch Me is a tactile book about animals and birds. The text is in large print and braille. On each double page the text is printed on the left-hand side and the animal, made from thick felt, is placed on a transparent plastic sheet. This allows the reader to lift the plastic to feel the skin or fur of the animal. Various materials are used including leather, fake fur and sequins to imitate the real feel of animals. The text is also provided on an audio CD.
The research noted the book was not suitable for very young children and that there would be safety issues. That said, the feedback received observed that it was surprisingly 'child-proof' despite the many components. The book features SEB braille and if it were to be published in the UK it would, of course, need to be UEB.
Touch Me would generally be too expensive to produce in a mainstream publishing setting. The challenge of producing it for a UK audience would be the stringent UK safety standards that they would need to meet. These safety tests will often mean such books are unlikely to make it onto the bookshelves of UK children. High production costs are also a major challenge - these books are hand-made which means that the retail price will be extremely high.
OIW would like to see ways of making such valuable books available, perhaps by exploring opportunities to part-subsidise, in order to ensure viability for a commercial partner and an affordable price for the end user.