Booktalking "Mirror, Mirror on the Wall" by Barry Denenberg

Bess and identical twin sister Elin went for a fateful sled ride in the winter of 1932. Unfortunately, schoolboy Brian McManus pushed his sled into Bess' path, and she slammed into a tree. Bess became blind, and she started attending the Perkins School for the Blind. There, she becomes close with her roommates shy Eva and flamboyant Amanda. They amuse themselves with talk about their evil housemother, Mrs. Burton.

Twin Elin wonders what it is like to be blind. Bess worries about bumping into things. Amanda teaches her how to use echolocation to determine when she is close to her destination. They count steps between locations in order to learn their way around the school campus. Basic self-care, such as eating, dressing, taking care of hair and cleaning one's room, are much more challenging without the benefit of sight. The only thing that Bess does not like about the school was the lack of privacy. When she went home for weekends, her family took care to ensure that items were not on the floor that she might trip over.

Bess was able to learn braille, each symbol of which occupies six cells. Each number and letter has a series of dots. Braille is read from left to right, and it is written from right to left because the dots are pushed out of the other side of the paper. 

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall: the Diary of Bess Brennan by Barry Denenberg, 2002