It’s difficult for amateur astronomers to fully share the wonders of the night sky with a visually impaired child. Well, that task has gotten a bit easier thanks to All About Orion, the new book by Dean Regas. This large (8½” by 11″) book contains 24 pages full of information about most people’s favorite constellation. It’s published by Clovernook Press, a division of Clovernook Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired in Cincinnati.
The author
Dean Regas formerly was the astronomer at the Cincinnati Observatory. He’s a well-regarded public speaker, author of six books, and the celebrity behind the “Looking Up” podcast.
Contents
Regas first defines what a constellation is and then offers a short description of how to identify Orion’s shape. Following are single-page chapters about three star patterns directly related to the mythology of Orion: “The Seven Sisters,” “Scorpius the Scorpion,” and “Taurus the Bull.”
Five more chapters — “The Three Belt Stars,” “Betelgeuse,” “Other Brilliant Stars,” “The Orion Nebula,” and “The Horsehead Nebula” — describe the brightest stars and the two most famous deep-sky objects in the constellation.
Two more chapters, “Create Your Own Constellation” and “Make Your Own Starry Story” allow young readers a bit of creative interaction.
But what sets the book apart is that the publisher has included translucent pages with raised dots that anyone who knows braille can read. The paperback book has pages that allow someone to trace the patterns of the objects discussed on the previous page. The spiral bound version adds the complete text in braille.
This would be a wonderful addition to any child’s library, and will be an important one for visually impaired students. Nice job, Dean!
