Large Print Book Gift Ideas

Everyone wants to find a gift for their family and friends that's something really special. Something they'll enjoy that will appeal to their style, tastes and preferences.

But what if the person was Partially Sighted? What if they could no longer see well enough to make the most of the gift you buy them? This narrows down the options quite a bit!

Large Print Books can be a godsend to partially sighted people, especially if one of their favorite pastimes has always been reading.

There are lots of large print books available these days from puzzle books to fiction books in most genres.

Read on to find out why we buy Large Print Books as gifts for my Dad

Image Credit

Why Large Print Books are great for him!

My Dad has always been tricky to buy gifts for but if in doubt, we could always resort to buying him a book. He loved to read in bed at night and he especially liked Westerns, Horrors and Thrillers.

Then about 3 years ago he began to lose his sight. The problem was caused by high blood pressure and within a matter of months his sight had deteriorated so much he had to sell his beloved car. He is now quite severely visually impaired. All of his hobbies - driving, gardening, DIY and reading are now either out of the question or very difficult for him.

Buying him something different as a gift has become more of a challenge every time there's a special occasion, such as Christmas, birthdays or Fathers Day. Anyone would get fed up with jumpers and socks eventually!

He missed reading his books very much too. Until my sister discovered Large Print Books on the Internet. She bought him one for Christmas one year and he found that with the help of his magnifier, he was able to read again with relative comfort. He doesn't go out very much and watching TV is also tiring for him, so he enjoys relaxing and passing his time with his Large Print Books instead.

We try not to flood him with books as gifts and do look for other things, but at least we can now go back to the old principle of "if all else fails, get him a book".

Even if someone is blind or partially sighted, they can usually read print in one medium or other.

Regular print is usually somewhere between size 10 and size 14 font. Large print books tend to come in size 16 font or higher, up to around 48 point fonts. Books in font size 22 point or higher are sometimes referred to as giant print.

If you are producing documents or print for partially sighted people to read, there are some generally guidelines which may be useful to follow:

Use text size of at least 14pt

Use clear, unstyled fonts, such as Ariel

Keep text left aligned, not fully justified

Only highlight a few words in bold, not a full paragraph

Use a clear, consistent layout

Don't use italics, underlining or blocks of capital letters

Read further information about RNIB clear print guidelines here

If YOU became partially sighted would you consider trying out large print books?

Do you know someone who would find a large print book useful? Maybe you have other recommendations for partially sighted reading materials? Feel free to leave your comments here...