Helen Keller

Author: Margaret Davidson
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Copyright: 1969
Genre: Biography
Pages: 96
Reading Level: Ages 7 to 10 (Barnes and Noble)
Summary: Helen Keller got a bad fever when she was little and the doctors thought she was going to die. She miraculously got better but her mother soon found out that she was blind and then later that she was deaf. She couldn’t talk either because she never learned how to talk well before all of this happened. She became a very angry young child and had horrible tantrums. Her parents were afraid of what would happen if she didn’t get help so they looked into a school for the blind who had taught someone like Helen before. The school sent a young woman named Annie Sullivan to help Helen learn. Annie Sullivan first taught Helen to mind and be calm by being loving but firm with Helen when no one else would be. Then she taught Helen to communicate using sign language. She also eventually learned to speak, though never completely normally. Annie would spell things out in sign language on the palm of Helen’s hand and then let her experience what she was spelling out. Helen learned to read with raised letters and Braille. With the help of Annie Sullivan Helen Keller eventually graduated from college and travelled around writing and doing inspirational programs for people. Eventually Annie died but Helen went on doing these programs until she died in 1968 at the age of eighty-seven. She has inspired many.
Who would you recommend this book to? I would recommend this book to any children or adult who could use a good inspirational story.
Potential problems or conflicts: I don't see any potential problems or conflicts with this book.
My reaction: I enjoyed this book. I had no idea that Helen Keller went to college and everything. She was an incredible woman and very inspirational!