Helen Keller

Title: Helen Keller
Author: Margaret Davidson
Illustrated: Wendy Watson
Published: Scholastic Inc, New York
Date: 1969
Summary: This scholasti biography tells about the life of Helen Keller and how she conquered and accepted her blindness and deafness.
Age Level: Upper Level (5-6)
Strengths: This is written like a chapter book but it is very easy to follow. I like how there are some specific pictures in order to show the readers how Helen Keller lived when she was a little girl to the time when she was a grown-up. There are also some real life pictures of Helen Keller at the end of the book. I like how not only is this biograpghy in the form of a chapter book, but the chapter titles are very convincing, because they foreshadow what happened throughout Helen Keller's life. I also like that there is a braille alphabet on the back cover of the book so the reader can see and feel the braille letters, in order to get a sense of what Helen Keller went through. She was a remarkable woman, who got Scarlet Fever when she was a baby that affected her hearing and vision. I liked how though this story was not told in Helen Keller's perspective, the unseen narrator tells the reader how she felt. She was very frustrated when she could understand a word but not its meaning, and she didn't know different emotions, and she grew angry and more frustrated each day. However, with the help of Miss Anne Sullivan from Perkins Institute, she was able to help Helen with words, understanding its meaning and living like a regular person (because Helen wanted to know more about the world around her). I also love the different quotes used from Anne Sullivan and Helen Keller themself. During the beginning of the book, the author uses some of Miss Sullivan's letters in order to show the improvements of Helen, while the author puts beautiful quotes by Helen towards the end of the story.
Concerns: I have no concerns.
Comments: I think this would be a great book for students to learn about different people because everyone is different. Perhaps before starting this biography, the students can do a little activity that does not involve using their hands or eyes, in order to get a sense of what Helen Keller went through. This could also be a good time to talk about the braille alphabet and how the deaf and blind adapt to their surroundings.