The Story of My Life by Helen Keller (autobiography)

Name of Book: The Story of My Life (autobiography)

Author:Helen Keller

Number of pages: 225

This week I finished reading "The Story of My Life", which is an autobiography of Helen Keller. The second part of this book includes all the letters which Helen Keller wrote from 1887-1901. They explain and tell a lot about her life at that time. The first few letters were written when she was only 7, when she only started to write so they were very hard to understand. Her first letter was written only 3 1/2 months after her teacher, Miss Sullivan, started teaching her on March 3rd, 1887.  Helen Keller's first letter:

"TO HER COUSIN ANNA (MRS. GEORGE T. TURNER)

TUSCUMBIA, ALABAMA, June 17, 1887

helen write anna george will give helen apple simpson will shoot bird jack will give helen stick of candy doctor will give mildred medicine mother will make mildred new dress." 
(page 115)
There is a great improvement from her first letters to her later letters and they are a lot longer as Helen Keller gets older. These letters also show that Helen always had a need to communicate with someone by writing because she couldn't speak because she was deaf. She wrote letters to many of her relatives and friends and told them about her daily life, thoughts, ideas, feelings, opinions and questions.     

Here is one of Helen's letters which she wrote when she was 9 years old:

"TO MISS DELLA BENNETT

TUSCUMBIA,Alabama, Jan. 29,1889.

My dear Miss Bennett:–I am delighted to write to you this morning. We have just eaten our breakfast. Mildred is running about downstairs. I have been reading in my book about astronomers. Astronomer comes from the Latin word astra, which means stars; and astronomers are men who study the stars, and tell us about them. When we are sleeping quietly in our beds, they are watching the beautiful sky through the telescope. A telescope is like a very strong eye. The stars are so far away that people cannot tell much about them, without very excellent instruments. Do you like to look out of your window, and see little stars? Teacher says she can see Venus from our window, and it is a large and beautiful star. The stars are called the earth's brothers and sisters.

There are a great many instruments besides those which the astronomers use. A knife is an instrument to cut with. I think the bell is an instrument, too. I will tell you what I know about bells.

Some bells are musical and others are unmusical. Some are very tiny and some are very large. I saw a very large bell at Wellesley. It came from Japan. Bells are used for many purposes. They tell us when breakfast is ready, when to go to school, when it is time for church, and when there is a fire. They tell people when to go to work, and when to go home and rest. The engine-bell tells the passengers that they are coming to a station, and it tells the people to keep out of the way. Sometimes very terrible accidents happen, and many people are burned and drowned and injured. The other day I broke my doll's head off; but that was not a dreadful accident, because dolls do not live and feel, like people. My little pigeons are well, and so is my little bird. I would like to have some clay. Teacher says it is time for me to study now. Good-bye.

With much love, and many kisses,
HELEN A. KELLER"

This letter shows a great improvement from her first letter even though this letter was written only two years after her first letter. It explained some of the facts which the learned and her connections to the topic. 

I recommend this book to everyone because when you are about to give up on something in life you should remember Helen Keller because even though she was deaf and blind she never gave up in life and accomplished her goal of earning a college degree.