Nursery rhymes, old or new, are timeless, but nursery rhymes reflect the culture of the times in which they were written. Here is a collection of new nursery rhymes, which reflect the beginning of the 21st Century. Cute rhymes of animals are little different from those of centuries past, but rhymes of the digital age, of new moons, and of frozen Floridian swamps are new, and were never seen in the traditional rhymes of Mother Goose. Here are some of those new nursery rhymes, written and illustrated to delight children and adults of the 21st Century. They are presented in large print, to make them easier for young eyes to read, and accessible to the visually impaired, young and old. Debbie Barry, author and illustrator of these nursery rhymes is legally blind. Reminding children and parents that blindness does not keep a person from being an active, creative, productive person, nor do other physical, mental, or developmental handicaps, as long as they decide to do everything they can do, instead of letting things they cannot do limit them. Debbie encourages every child and parent to enjoy the freedom of what they CAN do, and to delight in the wonders of life. The high-contrast, white-on-black text combines with the large text, making this book accessible for many visually-impaired and legally-blind readers. Visually accessible books are important, not only for adults, but for those children who, through illness, injury, or from birth experience reduced vision. This is a personal mission of the illustrator, who was blessed to grow up with normal vision, and had a love of reading from early child, but who lost most of her vision while her children were still young.
Author Biography:
Debbie Barry lives with her husband in southeastern Michigan with their two cats, Mister and Goblin. They enjoy exploring history through French and Indian War re-enactment and through medieval re-enactment in the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA). Debbie grew up in southwestern Vermont, where she heard and collected many family stories that she enjoys retelling as historical fiction for young audiences, and as family and local history for genealogists, as well as memory stories of her own life. Debbie graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. in dual majors of social sciences with an education concentration and of English in 2013. She is on hiatus from pursuing her master's degree in linguistics, specializing in teaching English as a second language (TESOL), at Oakland University, in Rochester, Michigan, as a result of going blind and battling long-term illness. Debbie went blind suddenly, without obvious cause, on December 15, 2014, at the age of 45. Her family, friends, and doctors expected her to give in to the darkness and become bitter and angry. Instead, Debbie chose to adopt a positive attitude, even when she felt anything but positive, and to find as much light as possible in her life. She wrote an autobiographical account of her first full year of living in the twilight semi-vision of blindness to share her experience with others; it was also therapy to help her face the darkness. Before going blind, Debbie was an avid, even voracious, reader. She enjoyed drawing in many traditional media and painting in acrylic, gouache, and watercolor. She enjoyed sewing, crocheting, needlepoint, embroidery, beadwork, spinning, and weaving. Since going blind, Debbie has turned to audio books from Audible.com, BARD Talking Books Library, and on CDs. She crochets blankets and crochets scarves for charity. She makes paper beads to make rosaries for the missions. She has recently begun exploring resuming drawing and painting with the limitations of her vision. Debbie is an active member of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) and the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA). She is a past member of the LEO Club, the Lions Club, the Civil Air Patrol (CAP), the Girl Scouts, the Explorer Scouts, and the Order of the Eastern Star (OES), as well as various academic and social groups in high school, college, and graduate school. She is a member of the National Honor Society, Phi Theta Kappa, and the Golden Key Honor Society. She likes to be active.
