PAL Reading Services and Books That Made Us Cry

PAL reading services is a non-profit, registered charity service that will record a human narration of any text you submit, no questions asked, at no charge. Perfect for all those titles that don't make it into CELA's library and for all of those hyper-technical science and engineering textbooks that you want but never get made into accessible formats.

Long time PAL readers Danielle McLaughlin and Suzan Laube talk to us about their work.

Plus, we unpack the answers from the most recent question to the book club: What's the last book that made you cry? Here are a few of the books that were mentioned:

Aamer Khan's pick -  Homes: A Refugee Story by Abu Bakr al Rabeeah

Julie Martin's pick - The Chain by Adrian McKinty

Karen Magee's pick - The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks

Thalia Homes' pick - The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Jacob Shymanski's pick - Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe 

Link to PAL reading services' website: https://www.palreading.org/

PAL-Reading Services Inc. (“PAL”) was founded in 1975 with a small federal grant. Originally named “Periodical Audio Library”, PAL was the idea of Jim Hamilton, a blind student at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, now part of the University of Toronto (OISE/UT). At that time, no other agency offered an audio recording service for print-challenged students who needed academic journal articles recorded quickly enough to meet weekly study deadlines.

Ever since, PAL has provided this much-needed reading service to print-challenged people not only for elementary to post-graduate studies, but also for work and personal use. Since 1975 we have served numerous print-challenged individuals many of whom continue to use our services year after year.

Audiobook Café is broadcast on AMI-audio in Canada and publishes two new podcast episodes a week on Saturdays and Sundays.

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AMI is a media company that entertains, informs and empowers Canadians with disabilities through three broadcast services — AMI-tv and AMI-audio in English and AMI-télé in French — and streaming platform AMI+. Our vision is to establish AMI as a leader in the offering of accessible content, providing a voice for Canadians with disabilities through authentic storytelling, representation and positive portrayal. To learn more visit AMI.ca and AMItele.ca.

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