Posted on November 12, 2020 at 11:07 AM by Maggie Witte
If you’re searching for another reason to use BARD (Braille and Audio Reading Download), access to locally produced materials is perhaps one of the most important. The National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled (NLS) records hundreds of books each year and produces thousands more with the help of commercial audiobook publishers. However, these books are focused on satisfying the reading needs of the general population of patrons using the service. NLS relies on the recording studios of individuals states to help produce books of local interest. It also relies on BARD to provide patrons access to these books from all over the country.
At Kansas Talking Books (KTB), and at other talking book libraries, are recording studios where we record books, with the help of volunteers, about Kansas (its history, people, and places), by Kansans, or books for children and young adults. Once a book has been recorded and edited, it is posted to BARD for all talking books patrons to have access to read. There are hundreds of books that have been produced by our staff and volunteers that are available on BARD.
KTB Produced Books
Some of the books KTB has produced over the years includes:
DBC05152 Temple Grandin: how the girl who loved cows embraced autism and changed the world by Sy Montgomery
An authorized portrait about Grandin's life with autism and her groundbreaking work as a scientist and designer of cruelty-free livestock facilities describes how she overcame key disabilities through education and the support of her mother. For grades 5-8.
DBC14923 Notorious Kansas bank heists: gunslingers to gangsters by Rod Beemer
Bank robbers wreaked havoc in the Sunflower State. After robbing the Chautauqua State Bank in 1911, outlaw Elmer McCurdy was killed by lawmen but wasn't buried for sixty-six years. His afterlife can be described only as bizarre. Belle Starr's nephew Henry Starr claimed to have robbed twenty-one banks. The Dalton gang failed in their attempt to rob two banks simultaneously, but others accomplished this in Waterville in 1911. Nearly four thousand known vigilantes patrolled the Sunflower State during the 1920s and 1930s to combat the criminal menace. One group even had an airplane with a .50-caliber machine gun. Join author Rod Beemer for a wild ride into Kansas's tumultuous bank heist history. Some strong language and some violence.
DBC14925 To the stars through difficulties: a Kansas renga by Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg
A "renga" is a collaborative poem based on the Japanese haiku form, often about nature. In To the Stars Through Difficulties: A Kansas Renga in 150 Voices, poets in the chain take readers across the mythological as well as physical landscape of Kansas. Each poet begins with the seed of an idea from the poem before, writes, and leads the way for the next poet, all the way to the end. The group includes all poets laureate of the state, professional writers, and newcomers. The poets follow images and questions threading through the unfolding form of the renga, creating together one winding poem, a river of words on what place can and does mean. Some strong language.
DBC14966 The kitchen sink: new and selected poems, 1972-2007 by Albert Goldbarth
Albert Goldbarth has created an unmistakable signature style - learned, copious, hilarious, and heartbreaking - which has so far spanned an award-winning career of thirty-five years. The Kitchen Sink brings together his newest work with a selection of earlier poetry, ranging from the brief, flickering lyric to the long, narrative sequence. In both forms, Goldbarth exerts a wild exuberance matched with a luminous exactitude to illustrate the complex character of and interconnectedness of humanity, history, and art. The Kitchen Sink is the definitive book by one of America's most original and entertaining poets. Explicit descriptions of sex, some violence, and strong language. Award winner.
DBC15009 Phog Allen: the father of basketball coaching by Blair Kerkhoff
Forrest C. ("Phog") Allen overcame the argument of James Naismith, inventor of the game, that basketball didn't need a coach. Allen served (for a while under Naismith) at the University of Kansas as coach from 1907 to 1909 and from 1919 to 1956, and as Athletic Director from 1919 to 1937, also heading the Physical Education Department for a time. Kansas City Star Sportswriter Kerkhoff has written an evenhanded yet generally laudatory story of a highly controversial figure who spoke his mind even when his words spelled trouble for him. He attacked some of his faculty colleagues in the KU Medical School, who objected to having a department head with a degree in osteopathy, carried on a running battle with the National Collegiate Athletic Association and stubbornly clung to his opinion --never heeded -- that the basket should be raised from 10 to 12 feet above court.
DBC17258 Magnificent Midnight’s marvelous memories: a loving relationship between a young woman and her therapy horse by Tally L. Russell
Tally was compelled to write this book to share her experiences with Therapeutic Horseback Riding. Tally had ridden horses since she was 4 years old and longed to have a horse of her own. Welcoming Midnight into her life was a dream come true for Tally. She conveys the story of the incredible 10 1/2 years she and Midnight shared together. An underlying theme of the book is the mindset of how there are infinite possibilities when one believes in oneself, and that one's greatest dreams can come true! For grades 2-4.
Popular on BARD
Those books are just a small number of the books we have produced over the years that are all available through BARD. With patrons from around the country having access to the books we produce, it is always interesting to see what has been the most popular. Here are some of the most popular KTB produced books for the month of October:
Adult
DBC06654 Above by Isla Morley
Abducted and locked in an abandoned missile silo by a mad survivalist, a Kansas teen endures loneliness and despair while struggling to raise a baby in isolation before escaping into a world more changed than she anticipated. Some descriptions of sex, some strong language and some violence.
DBC15010 CSI: cold burn by Max Allan Collins
Based upon the popular CSI television series, investigators Sara Sidle and Gil Grissom stumble on to a crime scene while attending a forensic science conference at the Mumford Mountain Hotel. Meanwhile, Catherine, Warrick and Nick uncover trouble of their own in Las Vegas by the discovery of a nude corpse with wet hair left alongside of a deserted road.
DBC17254 Thin air: New Earth series, book 5: Star Trek, the original series by Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Diane Carey, John J. Ordover, and Dean Wesley Smith
Many lightyears away from the safety of the Federation, the Starship Enterprise stands guard over an alien world whose unique natural resources could change the balance of power throughout the galaxy. The ship's crucial assignment: to maintain a Federation presence on the planet below, to defend the world's newly arrived inhabitants from hostile aliens, and to fight a solitary battle against all who would claim the planet's riches for their own.
DBC08754 The Roanoke girls by Any Engel
After her mother's suicide, fifteen-year-old Lane Roanoke moved in with her grandparents and fireball cousin, Allegra, on their vast estate in rural Kansas. Lane knew little of her mother's mysterious family but quickly embraced life as one of the rich and beautiful Roanoke girls until she discovered the dark truth at the heart of the family and ran... Fast and far away. Eleven years later, lane is adrift in Los Angeles when her grandfather calls to tell her Allegra has gone missing. Descriptions of sex, strong language, and violence.
DBC05122 The one year book of hymns by Robert K Brown, William J. Petersen, Randy Petersen, and Mark R. Norton
A devotional collection featuring the lyrics to 365 hymns. Each devotional focuses on attributes of God and/or the Christian life reflected in the hymn.
Juvenile and Young Adult
DBC02447 Halloween day by Anne F. Rockwell
The ten preschoolers in Mrs. Madoff's class wear their Halloween costumes to school, filling the room with a cat, a pirate, a witch, and other characters.
DBC02423 13 hangmen by Art Corriveau (narrated by KTB director Michael Lang)
Some people won't believe any of this story. You might be one of them. But every single word is true. Tony DiMarco does catch a murderer, solve a mystery, and find a treasure--all in the first few days after he moves, unexpectedly, to 13 Hangmen's Court in Boston. The fact that he also turns thirteen at the same time is not a coincidence." So begins the story of Tony and his friends--five 13-year-old boys, all of whom are living in the same house in the same attic bedroom but at different times in history! None are ghosts, all are flesh and blood, and somehow all have come together in the attic room, visible only to one another. And all are somehow linked to a murder, a mystery, and a treasure.
DBC08686 Mouse and Mole, a perfect Halloween by Wong Herbert Yee
As Halloween approaches, Mouse helps her friend Mole get over his fear and enjoy the holiday. For grades 2-4.
DBC14997 Pumpkin Jack by Will Hubbell
In the course of one year, a jack-o-lantern, discarded after Halloween, decomposes in the backyard and eventually grows new pumpkins from its seeds. For preschool-grade 2.
DBC08685 Click, clack, book: a tricky treat by Doreen Cronin
Farmer Brown does not like Halloween, but the animals hold a Halloween party in his barn. For preschool-grade 2.