Children from our NextSense School and Preschools all tuned in to enjoy an accessible storytime session in May to celebrate National Simultaneous Storytime.

National Simultaneous Storytime is an annual event, with a book written by an Australian author and illustrator selected and read simultaneously around the country to promote reading and literacy.

Our Accessibility and Inclusion team was keen to get onboard to ensure this year’s book pick—'Bowerbird Blues’—could be enjoyed by our students and young clients who are blind or have low vision. The story, by Australian author and illustrator Aura Parker, is about a bowerbird who, on his search for blue objects, attracts something greater and more fulfilling than he could ever have imagined. 

NextSense Accessible Format Officer Emilyn first reviewed the original book to determine what adjustments needed to be made for people who have low vision. She increased colour contrast and font size, adjusting font alignment for easy reading and reducing image clutter to make it easier to differentiate between objects. The version of the book used for our students has clear inserts with braille that sit atop a large print version, so that it can be read by sighted people and those who are blind at the same time.

Touch is very important to help convey meaning for children who are blind or have low vision, and the team sourced objects mentioned in the book (such as blue straws, bottle caps and eggs) to include in a special book pack. Our 3D printer also got a workout, producing a custom-designed broken plate, which also features in the book. Karen, our talented School Librarian, even knitted bowerbirds.

When the time came to read the story, the Auslan version of the story was projected onto the screen in our school hall, with our students who are blind or have low vision reading along with the braille version. There was a resounding thumbs up from the crowd when they were asked to rate the book.

Our school teachers—donned in blue—led a scavenger hunt in the spirit of the bowerbird, which likes to decorate its nest (known as a bower) with blue objects. ‘Can we use imaginary binoculars to find everything?’, asked 10-year-old Aiden. The teachers conferred and agreed that this was indeed permitted, so the students got going on their hunt.

Children attending our Preschool and Kindergarten in Sydney and Melbourne also joined in the fun, with readings at both locations.