Diane Debrovner’s Responses
Roxie in Color tells the story of a seventh grade girl who longs to fit in at her new school and finally be seen as more than just “the girl with blind parents.” She is a talented artist who paints pictures on walls of her bedroom; many are of Nash, her mother’s big-hearted guide dog who instinctively understands Roxie and has provided the unconditional acceptance she wishes she had from close friends. Although she loves her parents (a psychologist and a software engineer) and is totally comfortable with their blindness, she wants to keep it a secret until kids have a chance to get to know her.
The font used in Roxie in Color, Atkinson Hyperlegible Next, was developed by Braille Institute for low-vision readers—but the clear, distinctive letters can help make reading easier and more accessible for anyone. We’re excited that the book will also be available in braille, in addition to digital and audio formats.
Stacy Cervenka’s Responses
Roxie is a 12-year-old girl navigating what it means to grow up in a family that other people stigmatize. She’s struggling to reconcile the love and normalcy she feels at home with the misconceptions and prejudice her parents often face. Throughout the book, she discovers what it means to define herself beyond other people’s assumptions.
Guide dogs are beloved by their handlers, but they are increasingly rare. Only about 2-3% of blind Americans use guide dogs. Most blind adults—like Roxie’s father and her parents’ adult firends—travel using long white canes. This is because of advances in handheld GPS technology (such as the apps Roxie’s father uses on his phone) and because blind people have worked hard to advocate for better and more widely available cane travel training.
The Iowa Department for the Blind helps blind and low vision people enter, remain, and advance in the workforce. We offer programs that provide blind adults with the tools and training they need to pursue their employment goals, raise families, and live the lives they choose. We also prepare blind youth for college and careers and we teach older adults with vision loss the skills they need to remain independent in their homes and communities.
Roxie in Color releases on June 2, 2026.
Roxie wants to blend in at a new school, which is hard to do when your parents are blind, in this remarkable novel about friendship, misperceptions, and family—plus a dog’s view of the world.
Roxie loves her parents, but other people can’t seem to see past the fact that they’re blind—and they don’t really see Roxie, either. To them, she’s just “the girl with the blind parents.” So when her family moves to a new town and Roxie starts seventh grade at a new school, she’s determined to be known for the other parts of who she is: an artist, an animal lover, and the kind of person who bakes cookies for people she cares about for no special reason. But that means keeping her parents’ blindness a secret from the kids at school and definitely not telling anyone that she might inherit the eye condition that caused her mother’s vision loss—at least until they get to know her.
For a while, Roxie is happier than she’s ever been. But when her lies and omissions lead to a visit from Child Protective Services, will Roxie find and the courage to be fully honest with her friends, her parents, and herself? This heartfelt depiction of a girl establishing her own identity, with some chapters told from the perspective of her mother’s loyal guide dog, is an authentic portrayal of the joys, challenges, and everyday ordinariness of being raised by parents who have a disability.
Note: The novel is typeset in Atkinson Hyperlegible, a font developed by Braille Institute specifically for low-vision readers.
Diane Debrovner is the former deputy editor of Parents magazine and author of the article “What Blind Parents Want You to See,” which provided the spark for this novel. She now helps nonprofits share their stories to raise the funding they need. Diane lives in New York City with her family and a dog who loves watermelon.
Stacy Cervenka is the director of the Iowa Department for the Blind and previously led the Blind Parents Group of the National Federation of the Blind. She divides her time between Des Moines and Lincoln, Nebraska, where she lives with her husband and two children. Just like Roxie’s family, Stacy and her husband, Greg, are blind, while their children, Leo and Josephine, are sighted.
