My Name Is Helen Keller

October 1, 2020

PreS-Gr 3-This picture book biography spotlights Helen Keller. The text relies on several biographies and incorporates Keller's writing; her own words are featured in italics throughout the narrative. In this work primarily written in the first person with third-person narration interspersed for contextual clarification, Keller chronicles her life. She recalls the loss of her hearing and sight at the age of 19 months, the richness of her time with her teacher (presumably Anne Sullivan), and the accomplishments of her adult life. Uhlberg notes that little has been written about the 61 months Keller spent trying to express herself without sign or Braille. A quarter of the narrative delves into this time. The next half of the story focuses on Keller's experiences learning to attach signs and words to sensations and experiences. A narrow train escape provides the dramatic climax of both her learning process and the story. Following the train incident, the text skips to 19-year-old Keller as a college student and then briefly covers her life as an adult. The lack of information about her adult years could leave some readers with questions. Throughout, Kocsmiersky's impressionistic watercolor illustrations enrich the text. Extensive back matter includes an author's note, a time line, and a manual sign alphabet. VERDICT A well-intentioned, if uneven, portrait of the ever-fascinating Helen Keller.-Jamie Winchell, Percy Julian M.S., IL

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August 1, 2020
Uhlberg tells the story of Helen Keller using her own words. As it tells the story of Keller's childhood and, more briefly, her adult life, the narrative alternates between Keller's imagined perspective, enhanced with quotes from her book The Story of My Life, and that of a third-person narrator. The two narratives are distinguished by distinct typefaces. The illustrations support the text well, and the best of them are depictions of young Keller with a joyful smile. All the well-known events of her childhood appear in the text. Though this book would be a suitable introduction and is interesting in its use of quotes, it is disappointing in its failure to say anything new about her life. Like far too many Keller biographies for children, it shies away from discussing her political and social achievements or the complex intersections of privilege in her life, offering instead platitudes about love and hope. In 2020, why settle for another indistinguishable Helen Keller book suggesting that her greatest achievements were getting an education, petting a tiger, and giving inspirational talks? Why relegate her disability advocacy to a single sentence in the narrative (the only page that introduces characters of color to the otherwise all-White cast) and a few bullet points in the timeline? Why not discuss her feminism, political activism, or the founding of the ACLU? A charming exemplar of a type of book we don't need. (author's note, timeline, manual sign alphabet, source notes) (Picture book/biography. 4-8)

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