Helen
Keller and her teacher Annie Sullivan shared
a fascinating journey. Just out of Perkins Institution for the Blind in 1887,
Annie Sullivan took Helen as her first student, a lively six-year-old girl deaf-blind from early childhood and prone to
tantrums. Annie and Helen by Deborah
Hopkinson tells the story of their amazing forty-nine-year partnership in a fresh and inviting
way through excerpts from Annie’s letters to her former teacher, concise and
engaging text, and affectionate and informative illustrations by Raul Colón. Annie,
visually impaired herself, recognized Helen’s earnest intelligence from the
beginning and was determined to give her language with which to communicate. Using
the finger spelling technique she had learned at Perkins, Annie patiently
introduced Helen to concepts and objects. It was the moment when Helen put her
hand under water from a pump and Annie spelled w-a-t-e-r into Helen’s other hand
that she perceived what language was. From that moment, Helen “began to devour
words, minute by minute, hour by hour.” Eventually Keller became the first
deaf-blind person to receive a college degree, thereafter conducting a long
life of advocacy for a number of causes in addition to being a heroine to the
deaf-blind community. Young readers will not forget the perseverance exemplified by Annie and Helen in this remarkable biographical picture book.
Ages 4-9.
