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Formatting Electronic Picture Books

Linda Bastiani Wilson of Montgomery County Public Schools in Maryland and Darlene Brodbeck of ACES in Connecticut have formatted a number of our easy readers to Classroom Suite format and Clicker 5 format. We have chosen these formats because they are frequently available in classrooms. The following explanation was written by Linda Bastiani Wilson and is, as Linda says, a work in progress. If you would like to comment on the following explanation send them directly to Linda at bastiani@gmail.com. Actually Linda would appreciate comments.

Follow these links to a list of books formatted in Classroom Suite or Clicker format. To actually obtain the book go to our regular book list and click on the download link. When you open the folder for the chosen title you will find a number of files. The file with an .xsd extension is the Classroom Suite formatted version of the book and the file with a .clkx extension is a Clicker formatted version of the book. Some of the books in Clicker format have also been narrated in addition to having text to speech capacity.

To get your free copy of The Tale of Peter Rabbit email us at joe@accessiblebookcollection.org and request either the Classroom Suite version or the Clicker 5 version or both. Since this book is out of copyright you are free to use it with all children.

You may have noticed we have stopped referring to Intellipics format. We now use the name Classroom Suite since this appears to be the preferred name. Rest assured that nothing has changed except the name. Classroom Suite format equals Intellipics format.

 

Universal Design for Learning and Electronic Picture Books

Following is a rational for creating e-books with features to support young children. While there are many formats for creating e-picture-books using a variety of authoring tools (Power Point, Classroom Suite, Clicker, My Own Bookshelf, and others), many of these books are still inaccessible to children with physical and visual disabilities. In keeping with the philosophy of universal design for learning, these criteria are suggested as a way to make e-picture-books accessible to all children.

1) Provide alternative access to the book reading experience

As much as possible, this includes a way for young children with physical disabilities to exercise as much independence as possible by mimicking the book handling experiences that typical children would have: choose a book, turn pages, go backwards, read, reread, see the text on the same page as the picture, point (virtually).

Features of an e-book designed to support young children with physical disabilities are:

Switch accessibility either through auto scan or step scan to:

  • Turn page forward

  • Turn page backward

  • Read text

  • Click on a picture and hear the name of the picture spoken

  • The option to choose a book from the shelf

2) Provide a formatting to support individuals with visual impairments

Many children with physical disabilities get reduced visual enjoyment from books, either because of reduced visual acuity, characteristics associated with cortical visual impairment, or because their motor skills affect their ability to turn their head and eyes easily to focus on a book. Online books that are well designed provide a static location for the visual input (the book doesn’t move with the hands of the person holding it). In addition, students with CVI may not be able to focus on auditory and visual stimuli at the same time, so the child should be able to control any animation or auditory output.

Features of an e-book designed to support students with vision issues are:

  • Use of original picture book art on a high contrast background

  • Text located in the same place on every page as much as possible

  • Text in high contrast colors

  • Navigation buttons with an auditory scan option so that the student can focus visually on the pictures and text

  • Animations and auditory output should be able to be controlled by the student

 

Books in Classroom Suite format

 
Andrew's Bath McPhail, David
Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See Martin, Bill
Clifford the Big Red Dog Bridwell, Norman
Clifford to the Rescue Bridwell, Norman
Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs Barrett, Judith
Corduroy Freeman, Don
Digby Hazen, Barbara Shook
Fat Cat Sat on a Mat, The Nurit Karlin
Harry the Dirty Dog Zion, Gene
Jesse Bear, What Will You Wear? Carlstrom, Nancy White
Just a Little Different Dobkin, Bonnie
Kitten's First Full Moon Henkes, Kevin
Leo the Late Bloomer Kraus, Robert
My Five Senses Aliki
Pocket For Corduroy, A Freeman, Don
Runaway Bunny, The Brown, Margaret Wise
Snowy Day, The Keats, Ezra Jack
Sylvester and the Magic Pebble Steig, William
The Tale of Peter Rabbit Intellipics Potter, Beatrix
Where the Wild Things Are Sendak, Maurice
Whose Mouse Are You? Kraus, Robert
Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge Fox, Mem

 

Books in Clicker format
 
Adventures of BERT, The Ahlberg, Allan
Animal Babies Hamsa, Bobbie
Anna Banana and Me Blegvad, Lenore
Are You My Mother? Eastman, P.D.
Art Lesson, The dePaola, Tomie
Atuk Damjan, Mischa
Barney's Horse Hoff, Syd
Bat Loves the Night Davies, Nicola
Because a Little Bug went Ka-CHOO! Stone, Rosetta
Bravo, Amelia Bedelia! Parish, Herman
Bread, Bread, Bread Morris, Ann
Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See  Martin, Bill
Buffalo Bill and the Pony Express Coerr, Eleanor
Caps for Sale Slobodkina, Esphyr
Carrot Seed, The Krauss, Ruth
Cat in the Hat Dr. Seuss
Chicken Soup with Rice Sendak, Maurice
Chickens to the Rescue Himmelman, John
Corn Burckhardt, Ann L.
Cow Doyle, Malachy
Curious George  Rey, H.A.
Danny and the Dinosaur Syd Hoff
Day in the Life of a Doctor, A Hayward, Linda
Enormous Potato, The Davis, Aubrey
Extraordinary Egg, An Lionni, Leo
Families Morris, Ann
Fat Cat Sat on the Mat, The Karlin, Nurit
Frog and Toad Are Friends Lobel, Arnold
From Cocoa Bean to Chocolate Nelson, Robin
GEORGE THE DRUMMER BOY Benchley, Nathaniel
Gettysburg Address, The LINCOLN, ABRAHAM
Girl Wonder: A Baseball Story in Nine Innings Hopkinson, Deborah
GOOD DRIVING, AMELIA BEDELIA Parish, Herman
Goodnight Moon Brown, Margaret Wise
Green Eggs and Ham Dr. Seuss
Harold and the Purple Crayon Johnson, Crockett
Henny-Penny Ziefert, Harriet
Here Are My Hands Martin, Bill
Home Run Burleigh, Robert
Hop on Pop Dr. Seuss
HUMPTY DUMPTY Kirk, Daniel
If You Find a Rock Christian, Peggy
I Like It When... Auster, Benjamin
Island in theSun Belafonte, Harry
It Looked Like Spilt Milk Shaw, Charles G.
I Love You with All My Heart Kern, Noris
Jump, Frog, Jump! Kalan, Robert
Junie B., First Grader : Toothless Wonder Park, Barbara
Little Old Lady
Who Was Not Afraid of Anything, The
Williams, Linda
Little Penguin, The Wood, A. J.
Looking for a Moose Root, Phyllis
Love You Forever Munsch, Robert N.
MIKE MULLIGAN AND HIS STEAM SHOVEL BURTON, VIRGINIA LEE
More Spaghetti, I Say!  Gelman, Rita Golden
Mouse Soup Lobel, Arnold
My Special Day at Third Street School Bunting, Eve
Nate the Great Sharmat, Marjorie Weinman
Peanut Butter and Jelly WESTCOTT, NADINE BERNARD
Planting a Rainbow Ehlert, Lois
Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear?  Martin Jr., Bill
Polar Express, The Van Allsburg, Chris
Potatoes Burckhardt, Ann L.
Reason for a Flower, The Heller, Ruth
Sam and the Firefly Eastman, P. D.
Show and Tell Hood, Susan
Silly Sally Audrey Wood
Sprouts 1 Animals at the Zoo Dux, Amy Croney
Sprouts 1 Friends Ramsey, Nancy
Sprouts 1 Going Shopping Watson, Christine
Sprouts 1 My Five Senses Watson, Christine
Sprouts 1 My New Bike Mahoney, Pamela
Sprouts 1 On the Playground Pryor and Poracro
Sprouts 1 Splash! Dux, Amy Croney
Sprouts 1 We Went to the Movies Pryor, Rose
Sprouts 1 Who Helps You? Ramsey, Nancy
Sprouts 1 You Can Play Soccer Pryor, Rose
Sprouts 2 Going to McDonald's DeCou, Nancy
Sprouts 2 Meeka Goes Swimming Dux, Amy Croney
Sprouts 2 My New School Straub, Mary
Sprouts 2 Pizza Day Fidelman, Susan
Sprouts 2 Shadows Pryor, Rose
Sprouts 2 The Pumpkin Patch Watson, Christine
Sprouts 2 The Three Little Pigs Ramsey, Nancy
Sprouts 2 Worms Are Everywhere McLaughlin, Catherine
Susan Laughs  Willis, Jeanne
Tale of Peter Rabbit --Clicker Potter, Beatrix
Ten Little Mice Dunbar, Joyce
Thomas Edison Schaefer, Lola M.
Tikki Tikki Tembo Mosel, Arlene
Today I Feel Silly Curtis, Jamie Lee
Very Busy Spider, The Carle, Eric.
Very Hungry Caterpillar, The Carle, Eric
Very Lovely Firefly, The Carle, Eric
Wake up. Sun! Harrison, David Lee
We're Going on a Bear Hunt Rosen, Michael
What Do You See in a Cloud Fowler, Allan
WHEN I FIRST CAME TO THIS LAND BRAND, OSCAR
Where the Wild Things Are Sendak, Maurice
Wind Blew, The Hammersmith, Craig