Look at the guest lists of Learning Ally's studios around the country and you'll discover something remarkable: all year long, droves of acclaimed, accomplished authors visit our recording booths to bring their books to life in accessible audio format. This wave of literary volunteerism has been going on under the radar for decades. This year, we're giving a more public identity to the movement: Authors for Access. First in a series of many blog pieces to come.
Case in point: Learning Ally was recently honored to host authors
Hal and
Alex Malchow at our Washington D.C. studio. The father and son writing duo came over to record the opening pages and first chapter of their acclaimed debut novel,
The Sword of Darrow.
A thrilling adventure novel for young readers in the vein of
The Black Caldron and
The Hobbit, The Sword of Darrow enjoyed the highest Amazon customer rating of any of the top 60 bestsellers in the Children’s Action and Adventure and the Children’s Science Fiction and Fantasy categories last year.
Alex Malchow is dyslexic and was a student at the Lab School in Washington, DC when he began his writing collaboration with his father. The Lab School is focused on teaching students with learning differences. Now a junior in high school, Alex juggles a full calendar joining with his father to speak with students in person and via Skype, and has toured more than a dozen cities to promote the book.
Learning Ally is thrilled to have hosted Hal and Alex Malchow to kick off our Washington D.C. volunteers’ work to record their novel -- adding the book to our digital library so that countless readers with learning differences can download and enjoy it for decades to come.
Visits like these take place frequently at Learning Ally's 19 studios around the country and will be chronicled regularly in our blog. Stay tuned for more reflections of the
Authors for Access campaign in action.
To learn more about the Malchow's book and the moving story behind their collaboration, visit their website at http://www.swordofdarrow.com/
-Ed Bray and Doug Sprei