Review: Private and Confidential by Marion Ripley

"Laura got out the photo of Malcolm. He looked so fit and happy in the picture, it was hard to imagine him being ill in hospital. The she had an idea. She would send him a Get Well card, and she would do it in braille!"
- Private and confidential by Marion Ripley

Review submitted by: Sonja
Title: Private and confidential
Author: Marion Ripley
ISBN: 0711220972
Publisher: Frances Lincoln
Published: 2003
Genre: Picture books
Age group: Children
Rating: 4 out of 5

Synopsis: When Laura's Australian penfriend goes blind she decides to learn braille so that she can send him a get-well-soon card. They are soon corresponding in Braille, making their letters private and confidential.

How do you write to a friend who can't see?

This is a touching story about a young girl who wants to have a pen friend. She starts writing to a boy in Australia and wonders why it is taking him so long to write back. Eventually a letter arrives from Australia but is is from her pen pal's sister. She discovers that her pen pal has very poor eyesight and that he is going to have a very serious eye operation! She is very upset to hear this news, but she quickly realises that she can still write to him in a language that he can read without eyes...

A beautifully illustrated book that introduces younger readers to the difficulties that blind people face in communicating to others and what the braille text actually looks like. There is a braille letter included that the reader can interprete for themselves using the braille alphabet.