Born in Tuscumbia, Alabama in 1880, Helen Keller lived the first two years of her life as any normal seeing and hearing child might. Then, one dreary February, Helen was stricken with a mysterious illness that left her blind and deaf. It wasn’t until the age of six, when Miss Sullivan—“Teacher”—entered her life, that Helen acquired the means to communicate with those she loved.

 

Helen shares her struggles with unassuming charm and intelligence: the frustration of not being able to express herself—like wandering through a dense fog—and the happiness of finally apprehending light breaking through the mist. The joy she felt when she first made the connection between the word WATER and the cold, wet liquid that poured over her fingers, comes spilling onto the pages with girlish, infectious enthusiasm.

 

Written when she was just 22, Helen’s story would gain the attention of some of the most famous people of her day, among them Alexander Graham Bell, the poet Oliver Wendell Holmes and Mark Twain.

 

Later popularized by the stage play and movie, The Miracle Worker, Helen Keller’s story continues to be as popular and inspiring today as it was when it was first published in 1902.