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<b>Dear Fellow Federationists:<br>
</b>In 1991 the National Federation of the Blind began publishing a
series of small volumes called Kernel Books. The books contained stories
written by blind people about our lives, designed to show that they are
not much different from the lives of our sighted friends, family members,
and peers. We called them Kernel Books because each story contained a
"kernel," such as an incident or a challenge that revealed a
truth about blindness and blind people. We encouraged the sharing of
these volumes with the public to increase understanding and combat low
expectations and misconceptions about blindness.<br>
The Kernel Books are a valuable part of our organizational literature and
heritage. As an organization, we deeply value and treasure the real-life
stories of hope and inspiration contained in our Kernel Book series. But
the way that the public acquires information has changed, with more and
more people reading and consuming information in a digital form. While
the stories in the Kernel Books are timeless, the paperback volumes that
contain them are not. Consequently, we are planning to repurpose these
stories to make them more widely available in digital formats. At the
same time, we would like to get many of the existing paperback Kernel
Books in our storage facility out into the world and into the hands of
those who would benefit from reading them. To that end, we are offering
free cases (a case contains fifty books) on a first-come, first-served
basis of the following Kernel Books published after 2000:<br>
Oh, Wow <br>
Safari <br>
Reaching for the Top in the Land Down Under <br>
Not Much of a Muchness <br>
The Lessons of the Earth <br>
Imagine <br>
Celebrate<br>
To Reach for the Stars<br>
We are making these cases of books available so that chapters,
affiliates, and divisions can distribute them within their local
communities or to new members and supporters. You might donate some books
to your local library, distribute copies to senior centers, take some
books to church or to meetings of community organizations with which you
are involved, give the books out as free literature at community
festivals and events, and more. If you are interested in receiving a free
case of any of these titles, please contact the Independence Market at
(410) 659-9314, extension 2216, or at independencemarket@nfb.org. <br>
We hope that many individuals, chapters, and affiliates will take
advantage of this opportunity to spread our message of hope, love, and
determination far and wide. The Kernel Books show how blind people live
the lives we want and invite others to understand and support our work
for the full and equal integration of the blind into society. Let's make
sure that all of the copies of these books we can get into circulation
are distributed before we transition these stories to new platforms and
formats oriented towards reaching a new generation of readers.<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
Christopher S. Danielsen, J.D.<br>
Director of Public Relations<br>
200 East Wells Street, Baltimore, MD 21230<br>
(410) 659-9314, Ext. 2330 | cdanielsen@nfb.org<br>
Twitter: @rlawyer <br>
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The National Federation of the Blind is a community of members and
friends who believe in the hopes and dreams of the nations blind. Every
day we work together to help blind people live the lives they want. <br>
<br>
<br><br>
<br>
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