When my grandparents’ number flashed on my phone, my stomach dropped.
Grandma always calls first on birthdays to sing Happy Birthday, but it wasn’t my birthday.
It was just a random Thursday night.
She’s never been the type to call out of the blue, especially not right after a cross-country trip to see them.
Half my worry subsided when I heard her voice on the other end.
“Why helloooo there!” she greeted me in her signature sing-song.
“…Is everything okay, Grandma?”
“Well, I had to call you to tell you something!”
“…Okay…”
“I just finished reading your book. It’s really an excellent read. Even I, at 85, learned a thing or two about resiliency and fear!”
Whoa.
I’d given my grandparents a signed copy of my bestselling book, Don’t Snooze Your Dreams, but I hadn’t expected Grandma to read it. I honestly didn’t think she physically could.
You see, my grandma is almost blind.
She suffers from macular degeneration, which means she can’t read newspapers, magazines, or most books. Even large objects like people are now blurry and distorted to her.
With the help of a large magnifying light, she can still read limited high-contrast, larger-font text, so I’d watched her slowly read the title and subtitle on my book’s cover when I gave it to her.
Even that took a few minutes.
But she’d gone on to read the entire book!
My 86-year-old grandma binge-read my 210-page book, using a magnifying glass, in just a week.
How?
Well, beyond her unstoppable drive (a family trait), I’d designed my book with accessibility in mind. Four intentional features make it easier for a wide range of readers—seniors, those with vision impairments, dyslexia, ADHD, and non-native English speakers:
- Larger font size
- High-contrast font against the paper
- Plain, sans-serif font
- Short paragraphs, sometimes just one line (like this story)
These choices don’t just help those with specific needs—they make reading easier for everyone. Most people, after all, prefer a bit more space and larger fonts.
Yes, it costs more to print. Larger fonts and spacing mean a higher page count and added printing costs. But to keep my book affordable, my publisher and I absorb that cost.
And it was worth every cent.
Because I didn’t expect Grandma to read my book, but I’m grateful she could.
This could very well be the last book she reads on her own.
And knowing that? Well, that’s everything to me.
