Helen Keller was born in Tuscumbia, Alabama, in 1880. When she was nineteen months old, she suffered a serious illness which left her both blind and deaf, and prevented her from learning to talk. Her parents pitied her, and she became headstrong and spoiled.

When Helen was five years old, her parents obtained a young tutor, Anne Sullivan, from the Perkins School for the Blind in Boston, Massachusetts, to stay with the family. Miss Sullivan could see that Helen was intelligent, but realized that she would have to conquer the child before she could teach her.

Miss Sullivan and Helen had many battles, and one proved to be about as stubborn as the other. In many cases Miss Sullivan was opposed by Helen’s parents as well as the girl herself. Finally, Miss Sullivan won and taught Helen the manual alphabet by spelling the names of familiar objects into her hand.

The real breakthrough came when Helen learned to spell the word water, as she felt water falling from the spout of a pump. From then on, she wanted to touch objects all about her and have their names spelled into her hand.

She spent all her waking hours exploring her environment and learning how to spell names.

Helen learned rapidly under Miss Sullivan’s direction. In a few years she entered the Perkins School for the blind in Boston with Miss Sullivan accompanying her. She learned to read Braille and spent many hours in the school library. Later she learned to speak and became an effective speaker.

In a few years Helen left the Perkins School and attended other private schools. She decided to enter Radcliffe College, where she became an outstanding student and graduated with honors. While she was in college, she wrote The Story of My Life, the first of several popular books that she wrote.

We know Miss Keller was widely known for her accomplishments. Following graduation, she accepted a long, successful career of writing, speaking, and traveling to help the blind, not only in America but in many parts of the world. During World War II she traveled widely to help blind soldiers-to relieve their suffering and to cheer and encourage them.

This delightful story of Helen Keller has been written by Katharine E. Wilkie, author of seven other volumes in the Childhood of Famous Americans Series. In preparing this volume, which she carefully researched, she has told the challenging story of a successful American, who could neither see nor hear.

From the dust jacket