Books with author Helen Keller

An American classic rediscovered by each generation, The Story of My Life is Helen Keller’s account of her triumph over deafness and blindness. Popularized by the stage play and movie The Miracle Worker, Keller’s story has become a symbol of hope for people all over the world. This book–published when Keller was only twenty-two–portrays the wild child who is locked in the dark and silent prison of her own body. With an extraordinary immediacy, Keller reveals her frustrations and rage, and takes the reader on the unforgettable journey of her education and breakthroughs into the world of communication. From the moment Keller recognizes the word “water” when her teacher finger-spells the letters, we share her triumph as “that living word awakened my soul, gave it light, hope, joy, set it free!” An unparalleled chronicle of courage, The Story of My Life remains startlingly fresh and vital more than a century after its first publication, a timeless testament to an indomitable will.

The Story of My LifeHelen KELLER (1888 - 1968)The Story of My Life is a personal account of Helen Keller's life, from her early days to those as an adult. It includes how she came to meet her teacher Ann Sullivan, and learnt to communicate using the manual alphabet. It then goes on to chronicle her days as a college student.Helen KellerHelen Adams Keller (June 27, 1880 – June 1, 1968) was an American author, political activist, and lecturer. She was the first deafblind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree. The story of how Keller's teacher, Anne Sullivan, broke through the isolation imposed by a near complete lack of language, allowing the girl to blossom as she learned to communicate, has become widely known through the dramatic depictions of the play and film The Miracle Worker.

This edition includes 10 illustrations. No one who knew Helen Keller before her transformational years with Anne Sullivan could have ever guessed that the young woman, struck by scarlet fever at 19 months of age and left both deaf and blind, would go on to overcome both physical impairments – learning to speak and read – and leave the world with a moving autobiography that would inspire millions. The Story of My Life recounts those early years, meeting the woman who would change her life forever and the pivotal moment – recreated on-screen in The Miracle Worker – where Keller first associated letters with words and words with meaning.

Helen Keller’s well-known autobiography, “The Story of My Life,” was written while she was in college and published in 1903. Much less known is her shorter autobiography, “My Story,” which she wrote at age 12 especially for a magazine called “Youth’s Companion.” As Helen Keller explained in her 1903 autobiography: “[Miss Sullivan] persuaded me to write for the ‘Youth’s Companion’ a brief account of my life. I was then twelve years old. As I look back on my struggle to write that little story, it seems to me that I must have had a prophetic vision of the good that would come of the undertaking, or I should surely have failed. I wrote timidly, fearfully, but resolutely, urged on by my teacher.” When “Youth’s Companion” published the four-part account, Helen Keller was not yet well known, and her story was prefaced by the explanatory remark: “Written wholly without help of any sort by Helen Keller, a deaf and blind girl, twelve years old, and printed without change.”This Kindle edition, equivalent in length to a physical book of approximately 16 pages, includes the complete text of the very rare autobiography of 12-year-old Helen Keller, “My Story.”Sample passage:I was born twelve years ago, one bright June morning, in Tuscumbia, a pleasant little town in the northern part of Alabama. The beginning of my life was very simple, and very much like the beginning of every other little life; for I could see and hear when I first came to live in this beautiful world. But I did not notice anything in my new home for several days. Content in my mother’s tender arms I lay, and smiled as if my little heart were filled with sweetest memories of the world I just had left.I like to think I lived with God in the beautiful Somewhere before I came here, and that is why I always knew God loved me, even when I had forgotten his name.But when I did begin to notice things, my blue eyes were filled with wondering joy. I gazed long at the lovely, deep-blue sky, and stretched out my tiny hands for the golden sunbeams that came to play hide-and-seek with me. So my happy baby hours went. I grew and cried and laughed, as all infants do.

Helen Keller is a name associated with success in overcoming the many challenges faced by the deaf and blind. Born in 1880 in Alabama, USA, it was Keller who first made people realise that a disability should not be a barrier to achievement and fullness of life.When an illness at the age of 19 months left Helen bereft of sight and hearing and with communication all but lost to her, she struggled in fear and frustration to connect with the world around her. Anne Sullivan, a teacher from the Perkins Institute for the Blind in Boston, was engaged by Helen’s parents to teach their seven-year old daughter at home and it proved the beginning of an impressive and lasting transformation. The famous eureka moment in Helen’s awareness is poignantly featured in the many films made about her, when Anne fingerspelt the word ‘water’ into Helen’s palm while holding the other under the spout. At that moment, Helen realised that words were labels for ‘things’. With the bit between her teeth, Helen was determined to achieve what seeing and hearing people took for granted and she went on to learn to speak, to read braille and to write – and even discovered she could enjoy music by feeling the vibrations of the beat.The Story of My Life is Helen Keller’s heart-warming and inspiring memoir of her early life.

"The Story of My Life" is the Autobiography of Helen Keller, a classic American story of overcoming great hardship. Helen Keller, born in 1880, fell ill at age six. While the illness did not last long it left her both deaf and blind. Helen's family soon contacted the "Perkins Institute for the Blind" and the Institute sent Anne Sullivan, who herself was visually impaired, to help educate Helen. "The Story of My Life" is a story of a young woman's struggle to deal with a great physical handicap. Included here in this edition is a selection of Helen's letters and a supplementary account of her education, including passages from the reports and letters of her teacher, Anne Mansfield Sullivan, by John Albert Macy.

Enriched Classics offer readers accessible editions of great works of literature enhanced by helpful notes and commentary. Each book includes educational tools alongside the text, enabling students and readers alike to gain a deeper and more developed understanding of the writer and their work.Left blind, deaf, and mute after an illness in infancy, Helen Keller overcame her disabilities with the help of Anne Sullivan, her inspired teacher. Her classic autobiography, first published in 1903, covers her first twenty-two years, including the memorable moment at a water pump when she first made the connection between the word “water” and the cold liquid flowing over her hand. She also discusses her friendships with Oliver Wendell Holmes and other notables, her education at Radcliffe, her joy at learning to speak, and above all, her extraordinary relationship with her teacher. This deeply moving memoir, full of love and compassion for others, offers an unforgettable portrait of one of the twentieth century’s most remarkable women. Enriched Classics enhance your engagement by introducing and explaining the historical and cultural significance of the work, the author’s personal history, and what impact this book had on subsequent scholarship. Each book includes discussion questions that help clarify and reinforce major themes and reading recommendations for further research. Read with confidence.

[Read by Mary Woods] A serious illness destroyed Helen Keller's sight and hearing before she reached the age of two. At seven, she was introduced to Ann Sullivan, the beloved teacher and friend who helped Helen to make contact with her world. Through sheer determination and resolve, Helen learned to speak, read, and write, and prepared herself for entry into prep school by the age of sixteen. She later enrolled at Radcliffe and graduated with honors. Her motto: ''There are no handicaps, only challenges.''

A beautiful, moving souvenir of one of the world's most admired women, this memorable collection of quotations by Helen Keller brings words of wisdom, courage, humor, and inspiration from a remarkable individual, who above all wanted to make a difference in the lives of her fellow men and women. The thoughts captured here--many from previously unpublished letters and speeches housed in the Helen Keller Archives of the American Foundation for the Blind--offer profound reflections on the meaning of being human and on life in all its complexity. Illustrated with beautiful vintage photographs, this volume makes a wonderful gift. Foreword by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter. Preface by Keller Johnson-Thompson, great-grandniece of Helen Keller.