Publisher's Weekly recently had a really great interview with Sally Gardner, the author of MAGGOT MOON. MAGGOT MOON has been winning awards in the UK, including the prestigious Costa Children's Prize. I had never heard of the book or author before, but what I read makes me want to check this out--and do so with the enhanced ebook copy!
I never realized there were dyslexic-friendly fonts before, and as a lover of fonts, I want to study this in more detail. This concept is especially intriguing to me, and I want to see the way the font looks in e-book form.
I also love the fact that as you read the e-book edition of MAGGOT MOON, there are samples of what the page would look like to a dyslexic reader. Here is a preview of what I mean:
I think MAGGOT MOON is going to be a strong piece of literature that will help people learn more about dyslexia and introduce a new way of experiencing the world. This will especially help teachers, who may not realize the extent of the way their students work, and lead to new teaching techniques. Technology never ceases to amaze me, and the fact that a book like MAGGOT MOON has become possible is astounding. The only other time I've seen anyone attempt to replicate words through the eyes of someone with dyslexia was in the movie version of Rick Riordan's THE LIGHTNING THIEF, but it didn't make an impact on me the way this enhanced video does.
Thanks to the interview with Publishers Weekly, I really want to read this in enhanced form!
According to MAGGOT MOON's official website, the enhanced ebook is "packed full of interactive content including video interviews with Sally, extracts from the audio book, animated page sequences (see what a page looks like to some dyslexics), dyslexia examples, political talking points and much, much more, this edition is perfect for anyone who wants to ask questions about the world around them."
Have you ever wondered what it's like to be dyslexic? One of my good friends in high school was dyslexic, but I still don't know much more than the basics. The enhanced e-book version of MAGGOT MOON changes that.
Here's the part of the interview that captivated me and made me want to know more:
Tell us about the enhancements to the e-book edition of Maggot Moon that were designed with dyslexic readers in mind.
I am so glad you asked about that because I am immensely proud of this. It is extraordinary and all credit goes to the people at Hot Key. There has never been a program that shows what writing looks like for a dyslexic person. Apple got behind it and created these pages where the text actually moves [see a sample here]. Every teacher who’s ever said to a dyslexic student, ‘You’re just not concentrating!’ needs to see it. It’s been incredibly eye-opening to show it to people who finally understand what I see when I look at words.
The e-book was also formatted in a “dyslexic-friendly font.” Can you explain what that is?
Take the letter ‘b.’ A ‘b’ flips to ‘d’ in my head all the time. So a dyslexic-friendly font puts the weight of b where it should sit on the page. It’s thicker in the round of the ‘b,’ so visually, it helps prevent me from twisting the b to the d. It looks a bit like comic sans but it’s fairly subtle. I work with it all the time because it stops the letters from bouncing.
I am so glad you asked about that because I am immensely proud of this. It is extraordinary and all credit goes to the people at Hot Key. There has never been a program that shows what writing looks like for a dyslexic person. Apple got behind it and created these pages where the text actually moves [see a sample here]. Every teacher who’s ever said to a dyslexic student, ‘You’re just not concentrating!’ needs to see it. It’s been incredibly eye-opening to show it to people who finally understand what I see when I look at words.
The e-book was also formatted in a “dyslexic-friendly font.” Can you explain what that is?
Take the letter ‘b.’ A ‘b’ flips to ‘d’ in my head all the time. So a dyslexic-friendly font puts the weight of b where it should sit on the page. It’s thicker in the round of the ‘b,’ so visually, it helps prevent me from twisting the b to the d. It looks a bit like comic sans but it’s fairly subtle. I work with it all the time because it stops the letters from bouncing.
I also love the fact that as you read the e-book edition of MAGGOT MOON, there are samples of what the page would look like to a dyslexic reader. Here is a preview of what I mean:
I think MAGGOT MOON is going to be a strong piece of literature that will help people learn more about dyslexia and introduce a new way of experiencing the world. This will especially help teachers, who may not realize the extent of the way their students work, and lead to new teaching techniques. Technology never ceases to amaze me, and the fact that a book like MAGGOT MOON has become possible is astounding. The only other time I've seen anyone attempt to replicate words through the eyes of someone with dyslexia was in the movie version of Rick Riordan's THE LIGHTNING THIEF, but it didn't make an impact on me the way this enhanced video does.
Thanks to the interview with Publishers Weekly, I really want to read this in enhanced form!
According to MAGGOT MOON's official website, the enhanced ebook is "packed full of interactive content including video interviews with Sally, extracts from the audio book, animated page sequences (see what a page looks like to some dyslexics), dyslexia examples, political talking points and much, much more, this edition is perfect for anyone who wants to ask questions about the world around them."
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