Private and Confidential

Ripley, Marion. Private and Confidential. Dial Books For Young Readers, 2003.

Private and Confidential is a children’s book about a girl Laura and her pen pal Malcom from Australia. Laura is so thrilled when she receives her first letter from Malcom. When she writes him a long letter back about herself, she gets very worried when she does not receive a reply back. When she finally receives one, it is not who she expected- Malcom’s sister. She tells Laura in the letter that he has gone to the hospital for an operation. Laura is quickly surprised to find out that Malcom is nearly completely blind. At first Laura was very hurt by Malcom for not telling her he was blind, but after her father’s comfort she decides to take a challenge by learning Braille so that she can send him a get-well-soon card. Shortly after her card, Laura and Malcom are both corresponding to one another in Braille, making their letters private and confidential.

This book is a positive portrayal about children with disabilities for its realistic pictures and text, the message it teaches, as well as the information it brings about visual impairment. All of the characters in this story look like real people by the illustrations used, however, there is only a couple of small illustrations of Malcom because he is only shown as a picture placed in Laura’s hand. By the illustration it is difficult to see that Malcom is in fact blind, which could cause some difficulty to show children an exact portrayal of someone who is blind. Yet at the same time, not noticing the visual impairment of Malcom is part of the story, so it would take out the learning experience that Laura later faces. It can also teach stereotypes about people who have visual impairment always have their eyes completely closed; they may also have them open or half way closed. This story also portrays visual impairment in a positive way by not focusing just on the disability itself- but by defining someone such as Malcom on their characteristics or interests. For example, when Laura asked her father why Malcom did not tell her his disability, he responded by saying, “Perhaps he didn’t think it was the most important thing about him” (16). This then identifies Malcom as being a person in everyday life, just like Laura, and not defining him or labeling him as simply “disabled.”

A lot of children probably assume that if someone is blind, they are incapable of reading. However, this story proves that this misconception is wrong. Not only does this book have an information spread about Braille, but it also has a Braille sample as a way to show children what it really feels like to be blind and read. When children encounter this hands-on activity, they are able to learn and appreciate the disability of blindness by using an alphabet key to show how Braille works. This book shows even if a child has a disability, it should not be a barrier to friendship. There are different ways to communicate that can be just as rewarding and fun, and the power of Braille in this story proves this capability. As a result, I think that this unique book can offer a meaningful way to introduce children to the subject of visual impairment.

Maron Ripley who is the author of this book, can be seen as an insider to people with the disability of blindness because she runs the Clear Vision Project. This project is a UK postal lending library of typical children's books, but Braille is added to each one. All of these books have Braille for the print and pictures, in order for books to suit the visually impaired, as well as the sighted children and adults to share (Clear Vision).