13th October World Sight Day

World Sight Day is observed every year on the second Thursday of October, falling on October 13th this year. It was initiated by the Lions Clubs International Foundation during their ‘SightFirstCampaign’ in an effort to spread awareness about preventable blindness and to help people who are visually impaired. 

It’s an international event that provides an opportunity to focus the world’s attention on the importance of good eye health and vision care. This year's World Sight Day will focus on the #LoveYourEyes campaign which aims for 5 million sight tests to be pledged during the month leading up to World Sight Day. 

#LoveYourEyes is about creating awareness that everyone, at some stage in life, will experience an eye health issue. Those of us who can access eye care should prioritise our eye health and support efforts to ensure that everyone enjoys the same access.  

This is a 'big' day, encompassing so many things. Just what do I look for book-wise?

I've divided it up...

1. Eyes. In the section of books about the body we have a few with details about eyes.

• The Eyes by Lorna Hendry

• Little Genius: Eyes  by Kate Lennard and Elvind Gulliksen

• Eye to Eye: How Animals See the World  by Steve Jenkins

• Eye: How it Works by David MacAuley

2. Sight, one of our senses. There used to be a large number of books in our library about the senses because it was a topic preschoolers and kindergarten used to explore. We had separate books on each of the senses, sight, touch, hearing, smell and taste. We now have only two, these

• Sight  by Mandy Suhr and  Mike Gordon

• Seeing by Kimberley Jane Prior

3. Blindness and being blind. There are stories that will help children 'feel' what it means to be blind. Look for these:

• Mole's Sunrise  by Jeanne Willis and Sarah Fox-Davies

• Dan and Diesel by Charlotte Hudson and Lindsey Gardiner

• Looking Out for Sarah  by Glenna Lang

• Lucy's Picture  by Nicola Moon and Alex Ayliffe

• My Three Best Friends and Me, Zulay by Cari Best and Vanessa Brantley-Newton

• Yuko-Chan and the Drama Doll: the Adventures of a Blind Girl Who Saves her Village by Sunny Seki

• The Black Book of Colours by Menina Cottin and Rosana Faria

• The Seeing Stick  by Jane Yolen and Daniela Terrazzini

• Footsteps Through the Fog  by Margaret Mary and Gavin Bishop

• The Sound of Colors by Jimmy Liao

• My City Speaks by Darren LeBeuf and Ashley Barron

       

4. Going for an Eye Test

• Topsy and Tim: Have their Eyes Tested by Jean Adamson

• Peppa Pig: Peppa's First Glasses 

• Optometrists and What they Do  by Liesbet Slegers

• I Really Absolutely Have to Have Glasses by Lauren Child

        

5. Wearing glasses (spectacles)

• Arthur's Eyes  by Marc Brown

• Specs for Rex by Yasmeen Ismail

• Ava's Spectacular Spectacles by Alex Rex and Angela Perrini

• Princess Peepers by Pam Calvert and Tuesday Mourning

• Eureka! Glasses by Lori Haskins Houran and John Jovan

• Calvin, Look Out! by Jennifer Berne and Keith Bendis

        

6. Eye interventions (including amblyopia, double vision and lazy eye)

• The Patch by Justina Chen Headley and Mitch Vane

• Jacob's Eye Patch  by  Beth Kobliner Shaw and Jacob Shaw and Jules Feiffer

• The Pirate of Kindergarten by George Ella Lyon and Lynne Avril

• My Travellin' Eye by Jenny Sue Kostecki-Shaw

  

7. Braille (includes books about Braille and books that include Braille)

• Private and Confidential  by Marion Ripley and Colin Blackhouse

• Off to the Park! by Stephen Cheetham

8. Biographies of people who have had an impact on sight interventions

• Six Dots: A Story of Young Louis Braille by Jen Bryant and Boris Kulikov

• Helen Keller  by Kitson Jazynka

• Helen Keller by Maria Isabel Sanchez Vegara

• The Flying Optometrist by Joanne Anderson and Karen Erasmus

• The Doctor with an Eye for Eyes: The Story of Dr Patricia Bath by Julia Finley Mosca and Daniel Rieley

• Stevie Wonder  by Maria Isabel Sanchez Vegara

• The Amazing Bike Ride by Lorin Nicholson and David Emerson

• Keep Your Ear on the Ball by Genevieve Petrillo and Lea Lyon