Ruby in Her Own Time

Chasity Griffin, a wonderful VI Assistant, created this tactile book. Her tactile images are beautiful! She uses “layering” meaning that some pictures have multiple layers of textures. Example: The eggs have a “squishy” material (sponge-type texture) under the top texture. The eggs that are waiting to be hatched not only have the squishy material but there is a hard material in the basic shape of a duck under the squishy material! On the pictures that show flying ducks, the wings actually move to show how the wings flap. (The page has a slit. The wing slides through the slit and is taped on the backside.) FYI: The moveable wings will eventually tear and have to be replaced, as they are more fragile than the rest of the tactile pictures.) However, this really teaches the concept of how wings flap! The young ducks have feathers. The orange ducks (like the first picture) is made from material that I bought in a fabric store – it feels realistic and is the same material as the physical toy duck that I included in my kit.

When creating the ducks with feathers, draw the duck shape on the double sided adhesive page. Peel off the backing on one side and attach feathers to the sticky side. Then, cut out the duck shape (cutting through both the feathers and the sticky material). Peel off the second side of backing and stick the feathered duck shape to the page in the book.

FYI: Most of the duck shapes used in the tactile book were traced from the actual print book. Sometimes I use the copy machine to enlarge or shrink a picture so that it will work for the tactile picture.

Listen to the story of “Ruby in Her Own Time” here:

Ruby in Her Own Time by Jonathan Emmett & Rebecca Harry	Once upon a time, upon a nest, beside a lake, there lived two ducks.
a mother duck and a father duck.	There were five eggs in the nest. Mother Duck sat upon the nest all day and all night…
through howling wind… and driving rain. looking after the eggs all five of them.	Then, one bright morning. The eggs began to hatch. One two three four little beaks poked out. Into the sunlight.
Little ducklings shook their feathers in the breeze. ‘We’ll call them Rufus, Rory, Rosie, and Rebecca” said Father Duck and Mother Duck agreed.	But the fifth egg did nothing.
“‘Will it EVER hatch?” said Father Duck. “It will,” said Mother Duck “in its own time.”	And – sure enough – it did.
“‘She’s very small’ said Father Duck. ‘What shall we call her?’ ‘We’ll call her Ruby” said Mother Duck “because she’s small and precious.'”	They ate whatever they were given. They ate anything and everything.
“Will she ever eat?” said Father Duck “She will,” said Mother Duck “in her own time.”	And – sure enough – she did.
Roofus, Rory, Rose and Rebecca swam off whenever they were able. They swam anywhere and everywhere. But Ruby swam nowhere. “Will she ever swim?” said Father Duck. “She will,” said Mother Duck, ‘”n her own time.”	And – sure enough – she did. Roofus, Rory, Rose, and Rebecca grew bigger.
And Ruby grew bigger too. Her feathers grew out and her wings grew broad and beautiful. And when Roofus, Rory, Rosie and Rebecca began to fly…	Ruby flew too!
Roofus, Rory, Rosie and Rebecca flew far and wide. They flew out across the water. They flew up among the trees.	But Ruby flew farther and wider. She flew out beyond the water. She flew up above the trees. She flew anywhere and everywhere.
She stretched out her beautiful wings… and soared high among the clouds.	Mother Duck and Father Duck watched Ruby flying off into the distance. “Will she ever come back?” said Mother Duck. “She will,” said Father Duck, “in her own time.”
And – sure enough – SHE DID.