The story in three lines. Louis Braille, blinded at three, met Charles Barbier's twelve-dot "night writing" at twelve. Over three years he cut it to six dots that stand for letters and fit under one fingertip, and finished it at fifteen. The school did not adopt it officially until 1854, two years after he died.

One question to ask. "Which line would you keep?" Then: "Why did the grown-ups wait thirty years?" A good answer notices that they could not read it themselves.

One thing to do at the table. Take a sheet of thin card and a blunt pencil. Press six dots from the back in two columns of three, and let someone find the letter "a" (one dot, top left) with their eyes closed. Then try "c" (top left and top right). Is one fingertip enough?

The grown-up layer. The story is told without a moral on purpose. Teenagers who are asked what a true story means to them, instead of told, are more likely to think past the facts to what they value. The Honest Page separates what the documents show from what people like to tell: the Napoleon story is everywhere and has no document behind it. If your teenager asks "how do we know?", the page is where to look first.

Ask for the line before you offer yours.