Private and Confidential by: Marion Ripley (Realistic Fiction)

Brother and sister, Laura and Joe, were going through the mail one day and noticed a letter for their mother that said "private and confidential" on it.  Laura was sad because she was the only one in the family who didn't receive any mail.  Luckily, the next day at school Laura's teacher told the class that they had the opportunity to write a penpail in Australia.  There were only six boys to choose from, so Laura randomly chose Malcolm.  In her first letter to Malcolm she just described herself and told him how much she loved swimming and talking to her friends.  At the end of the letter she asked Malcolm to send a picture of himself along with his letter.  Malcolm was so excited and quickly wrote a letter back to Laura telling her how much he liked to swim as well.  Laura really enjoyed the letter and the picture that Malcolm sent of himself.  Laura immediately wrote him back, and waited three weeks for a letter back.  One day she checked the mail and she received a letter from Malcom's sister telling her that Malcolm was going to be in the hospital getting surgery for the next week because he is almost completely blind.  She also told her that Malcolm has to type his letters because he can't see to actually write them.  After receiving this terrible news, Laura knew a blind teacher at her school and asked to use her Brailling machine to type Malcom's next letter.  Ten days later Laura finally received a letter from Malcom, but it was also in braille!  When her dad asked her what the letter said she replied, "It's private and confidential!"

This is such a great book to use in the classroom because it can teach the student about what Braille is and how it is used.  This also teaches the children that just because someone is blind does not mean that they are a different person.  Laura thought Malcolm was perfectly normal the first letter she received and had no idea that he was blind.  Just because he told her he was blind does not mean that he is a different person.  In the book, they actually have the letter that Malcolm sent Laura in braille with an attached alphabet card to figure out what it says.  I would use that as an activity for the students to practice using braille so they can see what it is like for people who are blind.