After enchanting children the world over for four decades, the classic children story “The Very Hungary Caterpillar by Eric Carle is now available in Arabic Braille.
Al-Balsam Publishing House is behind this project, and “Caterpillar is the region’s first Arabic Braille children’s book.
“It was quite a challenge but we are grateful that it happened, Balsam Saad, founder and managing director of Al-Balsam Publishing House, said. This year marks the 40th anniversary of “The Very Hungry Caterpillar, which was published in 1969.
“[The project] was on the shelf for two years but we couldn’t find partners to make it happen because it is very expensive to produce. Since it was for children with a disability we didn’t really know the market for this type of book, Saad explained.
Around a year ago, at a workshop for publishers at the Anna Lindh Foundation, Saad proposed the project for the organization.
The Anna Lindh Foundation is an organization “shared and resourced by over 40 Euro-Mediterranean countries, to bring people together as a way to promote dialogue between cultures and respect for diversity, their official website states.
They partnered with the publishing house to provide part of the funding. Then another non-governmental organization, Resala, came in and translated the book into Arabic Braille.
While the translation process took a considerable amount of time, it was the actual production of the book that took the longest. The book was produced in India by people who were not familiar with Arabic Braille.
Finally, the book saw the light of day this year in a large, tactile format, complete with Braille letters alongside the printed text in Arabic. The book is meant to be read with hands as much as with eyes. The pictures were constructed out of various textured materials, including cloth and textured papers, creating pictures that fingers can easily recognize.
The Anna Lindh Foundation has produced 300 copies of the book for its offices around the region, along with additional copies for the publishing house.
Released just last month at Diwan Bookstore – the official launch has not yet been scheduled – the book has received positive feedback so far.
“The book is filling a gap; we already have people asking for upcoming books along the same line in this quality of Braille so we hope there would be a market, said Saad, noting that these books are relatively expensive to buy.
Established in 2005, the bulk of Al-Balsam Publishing House’s work is focused on Arabic books for children and young adults of high content, quality and design. “We are trying to revive the language, culture and to give children pride in their own culture, said Saad.
“Even though we have a lot of translated books, so not all are locally developed, we [also] bring the best from abroad and make them available here, she added.
“The Very Hungary Caterpillar is not the only book published by Al-Balsam that targets children with disabilities. Among the publishing house’s other releases is “Al-Dufdaa Al-Nari, an Arabic translation of “Firebelly by J.C. Michaels which centers on how a person can learn to live with a disability.
“We would love to do more, though it was not part of our main focus, said Saad. She adds that they would like to work on similar projects in Braille.
“To do it again it will definitely take less time because we now have the know-how, she said.
The shortage of Braille books is a problem for students in Egypt. There is only one publishing house producing Braille books in the country, the Demonstration Center for the Rehabilitation of the Blind, but it mainly prints Braille books for primary education and minor texts. So when it comes to finding Braille books, chances are slim to none; and while Al-Balsam’s initiative may encourage more publishers to follow suit, there’s a long way to go before Braille books thrive in Egypt.
